First Astrophotography Laptop

[Startrek (Martin)]

Would appreciate some advice on purchasing my first Astronomy / Astrophotography Laptop over the next couple of months

I have a HEQ5 mount with a 150" F6 reflector and a Canon 600D DSLR

At the moment I drift align / 2 star align and take photos of objects using the Synscan Hand controller to guide me around the night sky.I also use Stellarium on the desk top to provide info

I would like to progress to the next level and utilise various software for controlling the mount, guiding , imaging , stacking and processing etc..

From what ive read so far from various forums , websites etc.. the specs for a goodAstro Laptop should be geared towards the following -

15.6" HD screen
Intel Core i7 processor
Memory up to 16GB RAM
Storage 1TB HDD and 512GB SSD
At least 3 x USB 3.0 ports
1 x HDMI port
1 x Card reader
At least 5 to 6 hours of battery life ??
Windows 10 Home operating system
Colour preferably black

If the above Laptop specs are generally ok can anyone suggest a brand , model or type that they have been happy with over the last 12 to 18 months

Appreciate any advice on the above

Thanks in advance !

[jwoody (Jeremy)]

Gday Martin
If there are no budget constraints then yes that spec looks good. Overkill IMHO but good.

A core i3 would do.
8 gig ram is enough.
A 64 or 128 SSD plus a data drive

I used to image with a 10.6" netbook, 4 ram and Intel Atom (or something) processor and it was fine with Eqmod, stellarium, Astro Photography tool etc. Admittedly I did not do any processing on it.

My 2 cents
Jeremy

[doppler (Rick)]

Hi Martin,

If you are only capturing data and controlling the scope a low spec laptop is fine.

High spec's with plenty of ram is needed for processing though.

I only use mine for capture, an imaging camera, a guide camera and computer control of the mount. I use a $300 Toshiba with a 14" screen, an Intel celeron processor, 2 gig of ram, 500gig hdd and about 8 hrs battery life (low spec laptops don't use as much power). I do the processing on my desktop. A high spec laptop can get expensive and out in the field things can get a bit damp at times so a cheap laptop is something less to worry about.