New Laptop for AP work - suggestions please?

[JohnH]

Hi,

I have an old clunker of a laptop - an IBM Thinkpad T60 running xp - 2007 vintage.

I am having issues with the USB connections as I add/remove and reconfigure my imaging rig quite a bit. The issues result in devices not being recognised, warnings about speed and sometimes outright failure/crashing resulting in BSODs instability etc. I have had to re-install windows a couple of times in the last 6 months which is not much fun. So....

What is a good laptop machine to use with the following:

SBig ST2000xm/CFW10/AO8
Moonlite Focuser plus usb controller
Losmandy G11G via usb/serial (Belikin)
QHY5 guidecam

Alternate Configs

Canon20d imaging
Opticstar 616 (similar to QHY6) imaging
Opticstar 145 (similar to QHY2) guiding

Running CCDSoft, AstroArt 4 or ImagesPlus for data collection. Image processing is done elsewhere.

I do try to ensure that the same devices are always connected to the same ports but this is not always possible as I have to test individual components from time to time and do that with a single connection to the laptop whereas the real system has all devices connected to a hub at the mount and then back to the laptop in the house with a USB repeater cable.

I do not think data acquisition is much a strain on CPU or memory but the number and solidity of the USB ports is key here - the more the better. Also the USB support in the O/S is key - XP was not to greast in this regard - is Windows 7 better? Is it worth going for the 64 bit version? And will I have issues with any of my Astro programs in Win7, these includde:

ASCOM6
The Sky 6
CCDsoft 5
AstroAst 4
PHD
Guidemaster
ImagesPlus

Have you upgraded recently - and have you any recommendations for me?

[netwolf]

John
The only suggestion I will give is to try and get one with USB 3.0 and at least one expresscard slot. This was my mistake got one with USB 3.0 but no expresscard so now I can't add firewire to mine. I took the chance that the popular planet camera flee 3 would come in USB form. Also I'm sure down the road there will be other interfaces and a express card may allow add on cards for them.

Regards
Fahim

[TrevorW]

HP Compaq

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Toshiba Qosmio, as long as you don't wander too far from power. It tends to eat batteries alive. This one, now superseded, has an i7, 8G RAM, NVidia GTX 560M, 350+700GB disk. Also Toshiba seem to have the best Bluetooth stack.

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by mithrandir

Toshiba Qosmio, as long as you don't wander too far from power. It tends to eat batteries alive. This one, now superseded, has an i7, 8G RAM, NVidia GTX 560M, 350+700GB disk. Also Toshiba seem to have the best Bluetooth stack.

Yep, I love my Qosmio, but yes battery power is an issue so mainly use it at home.
I've opted for Win 7, 64 bit to take advantage of the 8GB.
I've yet to try many astro software with it though for 64 bit compatibility.
On that issue, I think it will only get better and 64 bit will be (if not already) the standard and all future updates will be compatible.

[2stroke (Jay)]

560m would be sweet for cuda I guess 1 thing to look at is if you can use extended cell battery packs. I tripple boot alot, winxp for 32 bit apps and win 7 ulti for 64bit and throw linux or osx on just for kicks. I have found running atleast daul boot winxp 32 and win 7 64bit extreamly useful, as old apps can be hell under win7 64bit even using compat mode and then some apps really need 64bit (illegal downloaded adobe ones ) So check that you get a win 7 disc with your notebook so you can reformat and partion adding xp then win 7, or a bootloader if your techy

Other aspects are how much of a beatting it can take, you don't want something to fragil. Also if your not doing your image editing on it then save some money and don't go all out on an i7 and dedi vid, but if you are these help a ton

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Another Qosmio (X770-00X) fan here. Red backlit keyboard, i7 2630, 560M, 17.3" screen, running Win7 64. Great machine unless you don't have a power point handy. Battery life is not a problem for me as I'm an observatory based imager.

Cheers, Marcus

[netwolf]

John, also Laptops due April-May this year will come with thunderbolt. I have seen thunderbolt to express-card adapters that open some possibilities for future expansion. I have a Toshiba P750/02J I7 2630QM which does the job right now, but I am tempted to switch to the HP Mobileworkstation series 8560W or Lenovo W series. But I am also being tempted by the Macbook pro dual boot setup. Plenty of choices. It really depends on your budget and preference.

[JohnH]

Thanks guys - I was not on a power trip! This machine is only for data acquisition - processing is done elsewhere - I have tech coming out of my ears at home. So I was thinking small, simple and cheap - that is in the $500ish range.

So required features are - lots of usb ports - decent screen size - and Windows 32 bit option for the sake of compatibility.

Was thinking netbook 12" might suffice - Asus 1215B looked ok but could not find one in Sydney - HP Minibook - good but only 64 bit windows (on a netbook with 2Gb??!!), next stop Sony mini - sorry can't sell you the display machine (thanks JB ended up with a better deal!).

It turns out you end up with Toshiba or Toshiba if you want the option of 32 bit windoze, all other manufacturers have standardised on 64 bit. I just did not want to risk it given the reason I need this machine is because of driver conflict issues and no-one was will to take a return if 64 failed (I asked).

So now I have a Tosh 750 i7 - which is more than I wanted but it has USB3, lots of grunt, and can run 32 or 64 bit. Great.

Of course I have had to re-install the o/s. And man do they put a lot of crapware on these machines, and some nasty power saving options that can, and do, screw up wireless networking, sheesh. Just about through all that now....CCD bench test working ok...full system test tonight I hope.

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Pure power, backlite keyboard and poor battery performance - I love it, I bought 3 at $700 each on eBay, all refurbished with full warranty.

http://www.asus.com.au/Notebooks/Gam...erhouse/G73Jh/

Steve

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

PS: all i7 with 8gb RAM, 750gb HDD, USB 3.0 too.

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Whoops, may be no USB 3.0

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Whoops, forgot to mention, 17" screen. You need to watch the youtube video on the link. Hate waiting for PS CS to start? These take only a few seconds and your up and running...

[stevous67 (Steve M)]

Last thing, from your software list, ASCOM 6 is the only issue, All others and previous ASCOM versions all work on these with Win7 64bit. G11, QHY equipment, STL, AP900, all working.