Laptop for astro imaging

[kakadush (Dan)]

Hello , i hope i am posting this at the right place

I recently started planetary astro imagning with a ZWO ASI 120 MMC cam and i would like to get a laptop to make the process more comfortable ,
the laptop will be used for capturing only , i will do the post processing on my desktop .
The question is , what specs should i aim for ? i was told that with the new ASI 120 USB 3 siries the more ram i have the more fps i will get , can any one confirm this ? i was also told that my processor needs to be pretty strong , will i5 suffice ?
it's important to note that i will also be using this laptop for DSO imagning in the future so it should be suitable for that aswell.
Any tips and pointers regarding recommanded laptop specs will be greatly appriciated (if some 1 has spesific models in mind , i would also love to hear about them) ,

Thank you.
(sorry for bad english , not my native language)

[RB (Andrew)]

Hi Dan.
I've moved your thread to the right section, Software & Computers.

[sil (Steve)]

Fast GHz CPU rather than more cores will help. Memory is cheap so get heaps, but above 3.5GB you need a 64bit OS (I use full Window 7 on mine). Storage, get a Solid State Drive (SSD) rather than a Hard Disc Drive (HDD) as SSD can be written to MUCH faster than HDD. Large SSD is essential, you will run out of space fast. USB 3 if possible (not all usb cams support it but you will be limiting yourself if your cam does and you only use it on usb2 ports. Don't have anything else installed or running if you want to get the best capture rate and limit dropped frames. I dedicated a laptop entirely to just capturing and its so much better once I reinstalled the system with just the minimal for capturing. Any compromise you make will limit your peformance, I got a thinkpad with 16GB ram, 3.2+GHZ i7, Windows 7, 320GB SSD + external SSD to transfer captures to and free up space quicker on longer sessions. I use a ZWO 120 MC and can get above 120 FPS reliably (I usually capture at 800x600 roughly, not full resolution, as my targets are small in the view anyway why waste FPS on capturing so much wasted space. I only capture full resolution for lunar mosaics.)