Netbooks

[Astroman]

Anyone use a netbook to do image capturing and guiding etc... ? I was given one and wanted to know if it's possible to use, it has win7 32 bit.

[A23649]

Yes that should be fine to run an imaging session. As for the operating system it is the same as I run and have had no problems with. Just try not to process on it or it will struggle a fair bit.
Cheers,
Nathan

[Astroman]

Thanks Nathan,

All processing is done on another laptop which has quite a bit more grunt than the little netbook. I was thinking of attaching my portable HDD to it for image capture, would make a nice compact unit then.

[Irish stargazer]

I use mine for running my DMK camera for planet imaging. Battery life is great. Have also used it for guiding with no problems. It will run registax and have used it in the field. It's an older model too.

[hotspur]

What is a robust model net book,and what prices are these? and where too purchase?

I need to get one for field use-mainly checking trail cam videos,as some of my trail cams do not allow viewing on back screen-even the ones it does-its very tiny.

Also need it for downloading data from CF and SD cards in the field,and operating auto guide and camera on scopes.

Also-what is a good little egg shell case for these?

Any thoughts or suggestions most welcome-thanks

[Irish stargazer]

I use a Samsung Netbook which is the bee's knees. I saw Harvey Norman selling Toshiba netbooks yesterday for just under $300 which is a bargain as these have the newer faster chips and upgraded speakers and HDMI.
Check the battery life as a good guide for field work.

[Larryp]

Hi John
I think the Toshiba you saw in Harvey Norman is probably the 550D. It has HDMI, Dolby audio and Harmon/Kardon speakers and an AMD processor which apparently has better graphics capability than the Intel Atom chip. I have one and it is really good, but it needs upgrade to 2 gigabites ram to run well.
Under $300 is a good price. I paid $420 for mine 12 months ago.

[hotspur]

Thanks John-its amazing what $300 can buy-I just go a larger i7 laptop for PP,but what you mention sounds very handy for out side on the fly.

[Astroman]

I got no idea, I got this from my Dad who passed away last week so not really sure whats on it or how good it is yet... Just needed to know if it's usable for image capture.

[MrB]

Another option is the HP Pavilion dm-1.... I consider it the only option in this size class
It has 3x USB 2.0 ports, 1x HDMI out, 1x VGA out, Bluetooth + WiFi, Beats Audio(sounds surprisingly good for it's size).
It has a 11.6" screen where the larger Eeepc's have 12.1" but I couldn't really notice the difference side-by-side instore.

The dm-1's CPU(APU) is an AMD E-450(2Core 1.65GHz) with Radeon HD6320 gfx which plays HD video's fine.
It is better than the Atom based stuff, tho it sacrifices some of the battery life.
The 12" Eee's claim 8-12 hours battery. With the dm-1 I get between 6-8 hours battery life depending on what I'm doing.

It also comes with 64bit Windows 7 Home Premium(SP1) instead of the dodgy Windows Starter that all the other netbooks size machines come with.
The screen(11.6") is waaay better (I compared side-by-side with all the Eee's in store) and the keyboard is so nice(and silent!) I almost forget I'm typing on a 12" netbook.
Unlike the new Eee's, the dm-1's RAM can be user-upgraded, it comes with 2GB but you can upgrade to 2x 4GB SODIMM's for 8GB total.
Windows Experience scores: (yes I know WE isn't great... but it is atleast easy to compare)
Overall: 3.9
Processor: 3.9
RAM: 5.5 (2GB)
2D Graphics: 4.6
3D Graphics: 5.9(!)
Hard Disk: 5.9

CPU benchmarks: (Passmark)
Atom N570 1.66: 639 (old Eee's)
Atom N2600 1.6: 590 (current budget Eee's)
Atom N2800 1.83: 723 (current Eee's)
E-450 1.65: 742 (HP dm-1)
*E2-1800: 793 (new model dm-1, see below)

I upgraded the RAM about a week ago to 8GB (2x 4GB Kingston kit) for about $50 (from MSY)

I bought the dm-1 from JBhifi for $370 just over a month ago I think, about a week later it was $358, then recently it was $318.
This drop in price is apparently due to the newer model soon being released with the new AMD Brazos 2.0 processors – the E1-1200 and E2-1800, see above for the Passmark score for these.

Note that the Toshiba 550D mentioned in other posts is a bit wimpy... It has an AMD C50 cpu which gets a low Passmark score of 449 and only comes with 1GB ram as standard.
The Samsung NC series Netbooks have Intel Atoms (see above benchmarks), also only come with 1GB ram (max upgrade only 2GB) and have a RRP of 499

[Irish stargazer]

Spoke to soon. Tried to turn on my Samsung N110 netbook this afternoon and have a dead battery.:( It's 3 years old). Anyone know a good place to get a replacement battery?

[dannat]

We use dell m102 at work, slightly more robust than the acre equivalent, they run fairly well, you can buy a small SSD & then they sing, store your images on 32 Gb Sd cards- work a treat

[silv]

John, I'd call Samsung/check their online store for pricing of this particular model's battery.
then go to ebay and buy it off a known trusted seller.

[Irish stargazer]

Thanks.
I checked their approved service centers and got a battery through Sibnet in Roseville. Not cheap but at least it's a genuine and brand new Samsung battery and could pick it up the same day. Some of the websites for clone batteries were a bit dodgy and not worth the risk even if quite a bit cheaper.
Seriously thought about buying a new netbook though given the price.
I need windows XP to run the DMK camera driver so didn't want to upgrade to Windows 7. Hopefully get another two years out of it. Still a great lappy.

[MrB]

Will it not run on Win7 in XP compatibility mode?
Seems some people don't experience issues:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3793384/Main/3577645