Best Laptop for Controlling (not processing) Imaging Equipment

[AstroAndy]

Hello folks,

Any suggestions on a laptop to control (not necessarily process) astro imaging equipment, such as a SW EQ8 Pro mount, high speed USB cameras, and, of course, all the usual suspects, such as the Ascom Platform, EQ Mod.,  equipment drivers (native and Ascom, Atik and ZWO, cams, filterwheels, focusers), capture software (Atik, ZWO, Firecapture, APT).

I was thinking something like a rugged laptop that can withstand all nighters, 16GB of RAM, with a capacity for high frame rates (planetary, high USB traffic) coupled with a (as friendly as possible) energy consumption, and of course, it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg (although I might be looking at those that only cost an arm, lol).

Somehow, my old venerable Lenovo T440 only lets me get a frame rate of about 77 at a highly reduced resolution (480x320); my camera is rated at 60 fps at full resolution (1280x960).

Andy

[ollypenrice]

Has to be a laptop?  If not, I prefer an office PC with lots of USB ports, possibly an older one., second hand. This gets rid of unreliable hubs and scope-top computers which do not generally impress by their reliability in my remote hosting sheds.

Olly

[Fegato]

Can't help really. I have a setup that I just roll outside, and have gone down the mini PC route. I use a Mele 2Q (now 3Q) which is tiny and was under £300. Sits under my tripod with other bits and pieces and is all covered by a tripod cover. I access this from inside using Windows Remote Desktop. Must admit I've been focusing on DSO work, and haven't really tested its frame rate limits.

I guess you're talking about taking it away to dark sites? In which case your plan sounds like the best bet really. Olly's set up sounds sensible for a fixed observatory. And mine works well for the quick set up outside option (key thing for me is that it reduces USB cable lengths and gives USB stability). Horses for courses.

[irtuk]

My vote would be with a mini-pc or "NUC" standing for next unit computing but essentially just a really small PC, that's for a fixed installation, if you are taking out and about yeah maybe a laptop is more what you need.

If you want to capture at a high framerate the key component there is going to be disk write speed, so swap out any spinning platter HDD's for solid state drives straight away.

[Dark Raven]

Patriot Astro has a three-part series on mini PCs that can be powered by a 12V battery.