New laptop for observatory

[avandonk]

Just ordered this monster. The keys can be lit with a dim red LED light. The screen and KB lights can be shut off at a touch of button. It has three USB 2 and two USB three ports. Should run all the lot including camera filter wheel focusser and mount.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1013_1258&products_id=18829

Bert

[iceman]

Nice.. Are you going to install Call of Duty on it? :)

[avandonk]

I am sure my mates will without my knowledge Mike!

Games bore me after about five minutes. I want the grunt to collect data.

All that matters is more data and with that more knowledge!

Bert

[DavidU]

That will be great to handle all the data.Nice one.

[marki]

Similar specs to mine only it is a HP. You cant beat gaming laptops with a lot of grunt to run AP rigs. Yes you can do it with an old clapped out special but with the extra power a lot of problems just go away.

Mark

[mithrandir]

Funny you should say that. As said in another thread Marcus and I both have Toshiba X770 "gaming" laptops.

[avandonk]

PC case gear could not supply the laptop I ordered but they sent me a better version for the same price as the one I ordered.

This one
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1013_1262&products_id=18856


A mate of mine tested it with some shoot em up game before xmas and said it would run flawlessly with all the settings at max. I had to wipe the drool off the keyboard.

It runs quite cool even with the processor running at 100% 3.1 GHz max. but typically 2.6 GHz when all four cores are flat out.

I tested it by getting my desktop (i7 920 12GB ram) and the new laptop to stack twenty images in DSS in a race. The laptop won by about two minutes in a thirty minute race!

My desktop is about 2.5 years old and at the time was about as fast as you could get.

This laptop is worth every cent as it has all the features needed for an observatory computer. Being able to switch off the screen and keyboard LED's with touch switches just above the keyboard is a very useful feature.
This laptop will run the PMX mount and the FLI camera, filter wheel and focuser and the off axis guiding.

The laptop will be controlled from inside by Logmein which is actually working over the internet. So the new astrophotography system will be ultimately totally controllable from anywhere with a reasonable internet connexion.

Lots of interesting possibilities.

Bert

[Kal]

Damn that is a beast of a notebook, very nice!



Tried overclocking that desktop yet? I have the same CPU and with a stock intel cooler it would easily do ~3.5Ghz on all 4 cores. My macine will happily run 24x7 100% load@ 3.8Ghz on air with an upgraded CPU cooler, had it at this speed for 2 years now :) .

[batema]

I'm not much of a computer expert as you will see as a result of my next question. I am fortunate to have received a laptop as a teacher but the number of times that education queensland change something and I run into problems is now rediculous. I have read reviews of this computer and it sounds very impressive but my question is will you be running windows 7 and does this impact on your astronomy software or is it all compatible?

Mark