Laptop for astrophotography?

[jman17]

Hi,

I am doing some fixed tripod astrophotography with a Nikon D3100 DSLR and want to buy a laptop to help with checking my focusing etc before I do my shots, using a tethering program. I want to buy a laptop that will also be able to be used with a GOTO mount and scope if I buy them in the future, including for long exposure astrophotography. What sort of laptop should I look for? I read that an older operating system is preferred so take it that I should be looking for a laptop with Windows 7 or 8 on it. Is this advisable? What specs should I be looking for?
Thanks,
jman17

[Atmos]

If you just want it for basic tethering and mount control, the cheapest new laptop you can find will be more than capable :)

[doppler]

Cheap low spec laptops are fine for the capturing aspect, and you will find that low spec laptops have a much longer battery life before recharging as well.

[thegableguy]

You'll struggle to tether the D3100, I'm sorry to say. But otherwise, yeah - literally any laptop from the last 8 years will suit your needs. You'll probably want something a little more robust for image processing if you're planning to stack etc.

[DarkKnight]

Chris, the D3100 seems to have a USB hub so tethering should be possible.

I bought a cheap Toshiba Satellite for $349.00, updated the 2GB of RAM to 8GB for $47.96 and swapped the 5400rpm spindle drive for a 120GB SSD for $63.20, total cost $460.16, and it's now quite capable of running CS6.

Oh and the other thing I did was to download and install a clean copy of W10 as the W10 OS it shipped with had so much bloatware included it slowed start-up down to a snail's pace.

[traveller]

If it's purely for DSLR control and mount control (assume you want to use guiding and planetarium as well), then an old laptop with win 7 is sufficient. But if you want to use it for stacking and processing, you will need more grunt (more RAM and SSD as well as good graphics card).
I have an Alienware M14X with 16 GB of RAM and SSD. The SSD runs Win 7 and all the programs including Photoshop and camera capture and control programs. The data is saved on a 500 GB internal hard drive and back up to a 1 TB external HDD.
Hope that helps.
Bo

[ChrisV]

You could also consider a PCstick?

I have one with sharpcap phd2 astrotoaster and stellarium on it. I remotely run the stick over wifi from a computer or ipad using RDPWRAP. Then I later download images to my desktop computer.

[Nortilus]

if windows 10, minimum quad core CPU, 8gig of ram and at least 2 usb2 ports.
im using a very old toshiba dual core cpu with 4gig of ram and only 1 usb2 port and im finding it is getting flooded with data coming in from the mount, guide camera and imaging camera...just a thought for the future.

[thegableguy]

Try it, by all means, but I don't think so. The usb connection is just for data transfer; the entry-level Nikons don't have the software compatibility that all the others (ie D5100 and upwards) have. Backyard Nikon, for example, doesn't recognise any D3XXX models. I learned that after buying my D3300, and I was pretty annoyed I can tell you.

Your laptop sounds like a great little machine for the price! My work just bought me one with basically the same specs, but it cost double what you paid. Nice work.

[jman17]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I looked into digicamControl and it actually doesn't have the Live View function for the NikonD3100, so I am looking for other software that will let me tether it to a laptop. I have heard of a 'DIYPhotobits' program that may have compatibility for the D3100. Does anyone know anything about this program and if it would be suitable for tethering a D3100 to a laptop for astrophotography, and checking focus etc in a test shot on a laptop screen before doing the main shots? Would anyone have any other options for tethering the D3100 to a laptop like this? All the programs I have looked into so far apart from DIYPhotobits have not been compatible with my DSLR. I would buy a laptop for this which would probably be new and Windows 10 and this program (or another) would have to work on that with the D3100.

jman17

[thegableguy]

Mate the problem isn't software or laptops, it's the camera. Because of the D3xxx series' SDK, you're simply not going to be able to tether it. They're just not designed with that capability. Most other Nikons will tether just fine with any laptop from the past decade, but not your D3100. By all means research it further on your own if you still don't believe me; just trying to save you the time.

[jman17]

Hi,

I'll take your word for it. I'll consider my options for a new camera. I appreciate the help.

jman17

[jman17]

Hi,

I am looking at a HP 15-AY057TU laptop with a 15.6 inch screen for
$600 which seems to match the specs that have been recommended for capturing at least but it has a 1366 by 768 resolution screen. I read that this isn't the best quality but could anyone please tell me if this would be good enough to properly check the focus of my shots or would it be too poor? Thanks for any help.

jman17

[LostInSp_ce]

Like everyone else has suggested if it's not being used for processing then get the cheapest thing that boots up. However if you plan to use it for processing then you'll need a fa$t laptop. Something with gaming or multimedia specs. Fa$t CPU, fa$t SSD drive, 16GB RAM minimum 32GB is better, a fast GPU and make sure it has at least one USB 3/3.1 or Thunderbolt 2 port. This comes in handy if moving lots of images from the laptop to an external device i.e. larger external HDD.