Image capture laptop -minimum recommended requirements?

[rustigsmed]

Hi IIS'ers,

my old 2gb ram 500gb laptop struggles a fair bit with PHD2 and byeos, sometimes it will lose the guidestar while downloading an image or previewing an image.

I'm shortly moving over to Mono - and will be plopping some new software on, I was thinking of buying SGPro for example. With the change I think I should probably upgrade the old lappy while i'm there.

looking for a budget lappy, minimum recommended standards so things run smooth (ie I can have phd2 running and have other software running nicely) I would guess if I tried automated focus it would take an eternity on my existing laptop.

is something with 4 gig ram enough, or should I be looking at 8 gig ram for example? I have built a reasonably powerful desktop for home (i5 4690k @4.4ghz 16gig ram, gtx 970, ssd etc etc etc) so only really will use it for capture.

Cheers.

Russ

[glend]

Russ, is it feasible to run one of the mini-pc boxes, as recently discussed here, and split the software load across that pier or tripod mounted box and your existing laptop? I am considering this for my observatory and go to dark site setup. I will leave the image processing on my big laptop at home. The little netbook I use for guiding and a mini-pc draw little power in the field well within my battery capacity for all night sessions. Of course, I still capture everything to my camera SD card and that makes it possible. Still even without camera memory some of the little box pcs could work for capture devices for CCD cameras.

[rustigsmed]

hi glen, its possible but I guess I would need another screen.
if I had an obsy i'd probably consider it but thinking a stable notebook will do me, keep it a bit more simple. I can't believe I used to photo edit on my old laptop, dss stacking or registax video files took hours!

[ZeroID]

Can you not up the RAM on the old Laptop ? Sounds like it might be running out of resources if it's dropping the app now and then. It's not like guiding or downloading are particularly hungry applications.
Doubling the RAM and giving it some more Virtual Memory might solve the issue. I normally double the RAM size for the VM.

What is the OS btw ?

[rustigsmed]

thanks brent, I have a vague recollection of when I purchased it that the hardware wasn't upgradeable, whether that's true or not i'm not sure (I know my way around desktops not laptops), but it was pretty much the cheapest I could get at the time so could be some truth to it. I deleted everything else off it not related to astro so its all pretty clear but it just struggles a bit too much. O/S is windows 7.

do you think 4gb ram will suffice on a newer system? or should I aim for 8bg?

[Octane]

For capture and running of all the software, I'd suspect 4 GB would be fine. But, if possible, go more. This hobby is always changing with respect to software and what not. Nothing wrong with future-proofing yourself. :)

I'm running TheSky6, MaxIm DL, FocusMax, RoboFocus, Gemini ASCOM, CCD Commander, and TeamViewer on a ten year old Dell Inspiron 9200 that has just 2 GB of RAM and is constantly running at 90% CPU utilisation. It just gets by. Time to upgrade, too.

H

[rustigsmed]

That is running a lot H, yes I think mine would be about 10 years old too. Perhaps 4gb will be fine, I guess I have been downloading / previewing 18mpix dslr files, the new cam is 6mpix.

I might see how the funds go, I see you can pick up a basic 4gb ram laptop for $350 new, the best priced 8gb I have found is this http://www.msy.com.au/viconline/notebooks/16179-hp-15-g207aul0l05pa-black-amd-a8-6410-8g-1t-156-dvdrw-win81-64bit-r5.html will probably last a while $630.

Thanks for the input everyone

[ZeroID]

What type RAM you running H? and Russell ? I may have 2 gig SIMMs available for nowt from stripped laptops at work.
When we dump them the JSOX standard is to remove HD, battery and RAM just in case any data is still on it. Figure THAT one out ??!! :shrug:

But I can gets heaps of older RAM in both 1 and 2 gig sizes if you know the type.

I get some desktop RAM as well, 1 and 2 gig mostly. Most of the hardware being scrapped is 4-5 years old. There will be a big scrapping session soon as we are about to shift premises and we need to get rid of heaps of stuff. Screens, keyboards, PC's, you name it. All my Ob PC hardware is repurposed from work. All about to be dumped in the recycling skip. RAM, I can just post you over a handful of them or so. Share them about.

[Octane]

Brent,

You're a legend. I'll have a look tomorrow and get back to you.

Sadly, though, I think that the Inspiron 9200 had a maximum of 2 GB of RAM. I'll double-check and let you know.

Thanks!

H

[ZeroID]

Probably has 2 SIMM slots, so 2 x 2 gig SIMMs could do the job.
Inspiron is a DELL model, yes ?
You could be really in luck, just pulled out 4 SIMMs from 2 DELL Latitude E5420, could be just the ticket if we're lucky.

Hmmm, bugga, just googled the specs, looks like 1 slot as it was launched 2005 with just 1 gig in. Although could be two slots of 500 meg. That was pretty common as well then. Fingers crossed.
How big is the Hard Drive ? Specs say 60 gig !! Could chuck in something a bit bigger, I got heaps of them. Format, reload and go.

[sil]

Russ, you can find factory refurbished laptops for good prices (not scratched or anything). I suggest you look for:
- high GHz CPU
- 4+ core CPU
- 8+ GB RAM
- SSD Drive
- USB 3

That will do away with bottlenecks and let you capture without loss from the laptop. Also if you really want this for capture then stick to that . Do not install any games to "see how it runs". Ideally disable its wireless and do not run dumb internet security software, a standalone machine doesn't need it. Every single thing you install or update you apply adds to the fragmentation and bloat of a system decreasing performance and stability.

I spent under $800 for my capture laptop and it is ONLY for capture. Rock solid it never disappoints. 3.2GHz quad core 12GB 250GB SSD. Feel free to cut corners but if you get the right tool for the job and use it properly you can always rely on it.

[ZeroID]

Yeah, my Ob PC does not have antivirus or Office or anything else on it. It's totally off the grid so ca be dedicated purely to the one task without risk.

[ZeroID]

Another question. If you want a Hard drive upgrade.
Check to see whether your current drive is IDE or SATA. I have a couple of 320 gig SATA drives just sitting here.

[Camelopardalis]

Russ, I'd suggest doing a reinstall of Windows...

I use a 5-year old dual-core AMD powered (low wattage) 11" netbook. I've been very strict about what software is installed. It has 4GB memory and a 320GB hard drive. Doesn't miss a beat, and doesn't chew through power like faster machines generally do (unless you buy the latest ultra low power chips). I run APT, PHD2, EQMOD and Canon DPP, the only time it seems slowish is when I double-click on a raw image to get the full size and it has to debayer the image, but it only takes a few seconds :shrug:

[Octane]

Brent,

Apparently, the 9200 can take up to 2 GB of RAM. I checked mine, and it's just 1 GB!

If you have a spare 2 GB stick, I'd love to have it. :)

H

[rmuhlack]

I was until recently running my dual obs on a couple of old Core 2 Duo PCs, one with 2GB RAM (running Vista Business) and the other with 4GB running Win7 Pro. Software included SGP, CdC, & PHD2. I was also running a local astrometry.net server there for a while too.

When those PCs finally died a few months back (both being about 6-7 years old), i decided to move my setup to linux/INDI. The new configuration sees my deep sky setup running on a Raspberry Pi 2 (running the latest Raspbian OS), and the lunar setup running Ubuntu Mate 15.04 on a very old P4 with 1.5 GB of RAM.

Moral of the story being that (in my experience at least) you don't need high end hardware to control obs equipment.

[White Rabbit]

I'm in the same boat with the same specs.

I always say to myself that I'll upgrade the pc at some point but it seems to manage fine. It would be nice to have a better graphics card though the one I have doesnt do Open GL that well and TSX runs on Open Gl.

[ZeroID]

Only got 1 SIMM slot H ?
Can you give me the SIMM specs so I can match the BUS speed and configuration. Take a pic of the SIMM label maybe. I can check the base configuration so it fits.
Then PM me your address. I'll put a couple in an envelope with some protection and send them over.

[rustigsmed]

thanks for the information everyone! Seems people do have success on 'lesser' laptops i might try and give mine another cleanout first before making any rash decisions! I don't have the original windows disk for a re-install unless i don't need it?

Brent thanks so much for your offer, i'll try and see what the specs are on my lappy.

I assume people using planetary cameras will needs something relatively quick/powerful to allow high frame rates.

Cheers

Russ

[Octane]

Hi Brent,

I believe there's two slots; it takes PC2700 DDR SDRAM SODIMMs.

Let me know if you've got any of those? :)

H

[ZeroID]

Haven't forgotten this H. Just trying to fnd some compatible stuff.
How old is the PC ? I may have to get some of the older gear out and take a look at what is installed in them. Most of our hardware is PC3 spec.

Breaking News :
How does 2 x 2 gig 2Rx8 PC2-6400S -666 - 12 sound ?
Just pulled apart an old E5400 ...

[Octane]

That sounds great, Brent! Hopefully those DIMMs are compatible.

The laptop is 10 years old now. Inspiron 9200.

Can you send me your email address, please? I'll be in touch.

H