Asus EEE

I picked the Asus because of the SSD ... I thought this would be more robust for the boat use and the battery lasts a long time. Also they're cheap! Would a normal hard drive laptop be ok do you think? ... if so there's no end to the choice ... but what would be most suitable? ... obviously a 15" screen would be good but what sort of spec is required to successfully run a chartplotter/gps set up? ... at a sensible price ... say £350 ish or less! ... and what about the length of battery time?
 
I've used a 17in Toshiba Laptop on board since 2006 without problem, (2 x 60GB Hard Drives), and it coped fine with plotting stuff. Chartplotters arent high spec in computing terms.

I now use my 10in Samsung and it copes with the plotting stuff equally as well, although the screen isnt as big /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It used to be a real bind to cart the big laptop around, on and off planes etc.. This time I brought a small rucksack as handbaggage, and was able to use the netbook on the plane. I also cart it off to the cafe with wifi, or McDonalds, or wherever, which I would never have done with the laptop.

But I would still suggest a dedicated plotter for chartplotting on the move /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Trouble is with a dedicated chartplotter you have to spend getting on for £8/900 ish to get a 9" screen and a small fortune to get the equivalent 15" screen where with a laptop a 15" screen can cost £300 ... and about the same for an SSD Asus with 8.9". You reckon an ordinary non-ssd laptop is up to the job then? Yours have obviously been ok.
 
I use a 5in Lowrance plotter and it is fine because it has a high resolution. A 10in screen would be nice but, having used a 5in, not necessary.

The thing with a dedicated waterproof plotter is that you have it on deck at the wheel, or somewhere else in the cockpit, and can make real use of it.

On the other hand, a laptop in the cockpit is a bit of a liability, in that you have to be careful with it. Also impossible in bad weather.

I, (and many others), started thinking just like you are, but very quickly realised what was best.

http://www.force4.co.uk/4448/Lowrance--5...ampaign=pid4448

or here even cheaper.

http://www.redcar-fish.co.uk/productinfo-nocats.asp?id=517

I have the older model of the above, and found the included chart great for the money. It was fabulous for the bits of the UK we did, and fine down to the Algarve. You could always get Navionics cartridges if you wanted better, but I would wait and see. I bought my med. chart from redcar fish and they were fine to deal with. At £280 it looks a no-brainer to me.

Refueler has the same kit, and he's equally happy.

£280 on a plotter, plus £250 on a netbook ... the whole caboodle for just over £500
 
The eeePC SSD may be more shock proof than a conventional drive, but I think the screen would break before an inbuilt drive would go (vibration rigs apart). However, the Linux set up for the eeePC quite specifically avoids things like swap files and recommends placing certain programs onto an SD card (the eeePC has a slot) because the SSD will only take so many read/writes.

Maybe Apple have better quality drives than the eeePC.

Oh! while I'm winging about it. 16 GB seems quite big, but its partitioned 4 and 12. With ubuntu Linux the updates come thick and fast. I made the mistake of accepting them all, very rapidly the 4 GB partition, where linux was hiding, filled up and crashed the machine. I had to re-install everything. If I was buying again, I would throw in an extra 100 and get a "proper" laptop.
 
I'm with you. I used a laptop as a chartplotter just long enough to realise that I really needed a proper chartplotter. Despite the tiny screen, it does the job so much better. I still use a laptop for passage planning at home and swap the routes and tracks on a memory card.
 
Passage Planning at home?? Whoops!!

I usually end up putting the trips' route in the plotter on the fly as we're leaving port, having passage planned on a tea towel, or just in my mind, weeks or minutes before /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
You've all lost me completely now ... I thought ubuntu was a tribe of African pygmies! I've not got anywhere in the cockpit to position an ordinary chartplotter screen - companionway doors covering the usual positions + engine instruments and a couple of little lockers - which is why I'm going to put whatever I buy down below so thought the biggest display would be best, seeing that it's got to live on the chart table anyway. I don't need to know where every piece of seaweed is between here and Cape Horn so figured that whatever I could get to run on a laptop would be enough. Alas most of the replies make it sound terribly complicated with all the jargon, it's rather put me off getting anything! I'd hoped it might be simple just to buy a laptop, plug in a cable from my gps and download some software and get on with it ... I'd much rather look at a 15" chart than a 5" one however clever the gadget might be ... if you all think a normal laptop would be up to the job I'll get one, if not, I'll get an Asus SSD with about 6 hours battery life ... this one looked pretty good to me - which is where I started I think ... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
You've all lost me completely now ... I thought ubuntu was a tribe of African pygmies! I've not got anywhere in the cockpit to position an ordinary chartplotter screen - companionway doors covering the usual positions + engine instruments and a couple of little lockers - which is why I'm going to put whatever I buy down below so thought the biggest display would be best, seeing that it's got to live on the chart table anyway. I don't need to know where every piece of seaweed is between here and Cape Horn so figured that whatever I could get to run on a laptop would be enough. Alas most of the replies make it sound terribly complicated with all the jargon, it's rather put me off getting anything! I'd hoped it might be simple just to buy a laptop, plug in a cable from my gps and download some software and get on with it ... I'd much rather look at a 15" chart than a 5" one however clever the gadget might be ... if you all think a normal laptop would be up to the job I'll get one, if not, I'll get an Asus SSD with about 6 hours battery life ... this one looked pretty good to me - which is where I started I think ... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Whoops!

An ordinary laptop or netbook will do the job you want it to do.

Get laptop/netbook, d/l Software on Board, (SOB), buy a USB GPS, (or attach the gizmo you already have assuming you have the right cable), buy some C-Map charts for your area, and away you go - is one way of doing it.

Not too difficult to set up, although it probably wont all work out of the respective boxes, but help is at hand here!!

Dont panic.... if you can sail and maintain a boat, this stuff is easy, (or a minor irritation /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

I dont actually believe that you have nowhere for a small plotter when you consider the size of Refuelers' boat.

Cheers for now, and Dont let the B*st*rds Grind You Down!
 
Why not use a normal laptop and replace the internal drive with solid state? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds so to speak? Or how about booting and running the OS from an external USB SSD?
 
Send me some money I will send you a shoe box full of failed 2.5" hard disks!!!!!

I ve got two on the desk in front of me now. ones a Samsung 160GB the other is a Toshi 40GB.

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Passage Planning at home?? Whoops!!

I usually end up putting the trips' route in the plotter on the fly as we're leaving port, having passage planned on a tea towel, or just in my mind, weeks or minutes before /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]You and me too. But I used to use a version of Garmin's MapSource with land maps at home, to work out daily distances to get a rough idea of how far I might be able to get each day.

Since swapping to C-Map, I've started using it for the same purpose, but then discovered it can check for depths, obstructions, etc.. en-route, and that causes me to refine the waypoints, which in turn leads to a set of waypoints that's easily transferred to the plotter.

Then I ignore them and change the route on a daily basis to take best advantage of the wind and curiousity.
 
Confusing isn't it. Ubuntu is just one distribution source (a distro) of Linux, like a flavour. Solution, ignore Linux and get XP. Choose a laptop with the biggest screen for your budget that will fit your chart table nicely. I would not recommend an eeePC for a chart potter task.

Get a GPS/software combination from the same manufacturer. For example, a Garmin eTrex plus USB cable with Garmin MapSouce software and Garmin BlueCharts. With an XP driven laptop, its plug and play.

I've found the eTrex will happily work within a fibre-glass boat, no need for an external placement, just velcro it screen up somewhere high. It seconds as a grab bag GPS too. Velcro is pretty good at holding the laptop in place too, just use a lot.

Mice are an issue, the laptop's touch pad or pressure stick may not be comfortable and a normal mouse needs constraint, my choice was a velcroed down trackball.

Laptops guzzle a bit more power than chartplotters, but some people remove the laptop's battery to reduce consumption.

If there's any way that sea water can reach your chart table (dripping sleeves, wet fingers) think carefully how to protect your laptop. Salt water eats laptops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top