Ideal Laptop combination

mikeelawson

mikeelawson

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Joined
20 Apr 2005
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49
www.valeway.com
I am looking for the ideal Laptop combination for a yacht, any recommendations? My wish list:

- Rugged
- Use of Cigarette lighter
- Able to use with lid down
- Attach remote keyboard, mouse, monitor etc
- Interface with Garmin GPS
- DVD
- Big screen
- Low power consumption
- Wireless
- Use as a TV

A lot too ask but somebody must have done a lot of research in this area.
 
Don't buy a Dell for a boat. It is far too power hungry.
I have been using one for 3 years and I myself am looking for something less hungry.
Ed Zacko
 
You can have it all. But NO cig lighter.
The voltages are simply not compatible with 12 or 24 V
we have chosen a set-up that uses a compaq Evo computer, that's laptop size but really a full-size computer, in combination with Philips 150MT screen that's also a TV-set and is fixed at the charts table. It runs on shorepower or - when on the loose - inverter. There's an external DVD-player, a very small Qware keyboard, not a mouse but a trackball - much easier to use on a moving boat as it stays put if you give it a non-skid underpad. All very satisfactury. Mind you: we don't (yet) use the set-up for navigation. I think it would be rather power hungry if switched on all the time.

If you have any questins just let me know
cheers
 
If you really want rugged and are prepared to pay through the nose for it, you need a military spec laptop, which will probably have a magnesium case and cost more in gold than it weighs.

Any laptop can be used through a cigarette lighter socket with the corrrect DC/DC converter (available here) There are basically two types - those that work with older laptops and have abt 70w power, and those for new laptops that require nearer to 100w, different makes require different voltages, and different sockets - I use one of these with my machine and have no problems with it at all, and it is a lot less power hungry than an inverter.

You can convert any laptop to use with the top down by disconnecting the switch (or breaking the contacts) that starts the hibernation sequence.


Any laptop will work with remote mouse, keyboard etc, but dont forget the power requirements for these items

Interface with Garmin GPS - I expect that your model will have a cable that has a serial connector. Older laptops have a serial port, newer ones only have a USB. If the laptop of your choice has a USB only, then you can get a USB/serial converter, but the cost of the garmin lead and usb converter is more expensive than buying a standalone USB/GPS/Mouse from ebay and you will have a lot less trouble getting it connected plus it will give you redundancy.

DVD is fitted to all new laptops and can easily be retrofitted to older ones, but they may not have the processing power to drive it. An alternative is a 12v DVD drive (multi-region that can send the data directly to a big screen (see here)
Another alternative is to get a 100mb Archos drive (see here) which can record up to 250 movies on its hard disc, and has its own 7" display for hand held viewing, or can connect to a larger screen

Big Screen can be obtained with a laptop with one even having a 17" widescreen (see here) alternatively any laptop can drive a larger lcd screen, or even a lcd TV with pc capability (and this would be ideal for the stand alone dvd machine above)

Low power consumption requires an older laptop that wont have its own dvd player, the newer ones need more power, your choice if you have a new laptop, or a stand alone DVD player.

Wireless - most new laptops have it already fitted. Older ones can be easily converted by use of USB dongle or PCMCIA card.

Use as a TV - plenty of options available here too. there is another thread which a quick search should reveal on TV with laptop. Alternatively, if you have gone down the stand alone DVD route, you can have a TV with twin tuners, one of which is the free to view channels and makes TV reception in UK waters much easier.


So there are a lot of alternatives, and the route you chose needs to be worked out with consideration to how you fit the various parts into your boat, and what other software/hardware you want to be able to use.
 
Disagree. We've used our Dell's aboard full time cruising for almost 7 years (and a lot longer overall aboard) and have no problems whatsoever either with power usage or reliability. Excellent equipment IMHO.
 
I recommend the Toughbooks from Panasonic. They are rugged and available at a fair prize at ebay... And most of them come with touchscreens...
 
IMHO it all depends on your boat and where you are going to put the kit.

If it's going to get bashed and dripped on don't get a laptop.

If your boat rides sweetly and keeps dry then any laptop which you'd choose for home will be OK.

The only thing I find with ours is that the 12v input doesn't like it when the ships voltage gets below 12.2. I think these car adaptors are designed on the assumption of a charging voltage, though I may be wrong. I find a second battery really useful for this reason.

Best wishes
 
As Jerry says, Dell are fine. We have been using one that does all you have asked for, as liveaboards, for 18 months, with no power problems. Mine is an Inspiron 8600 - I guess there are newer models now - but Dell are fine. Don't use a non-Dell cigar lighter adaptor, though, as it might cause real problems. Please don't, and ignore those who tell you otherwise - the Dell adaptor isn't expensive. Or better still, use a SINE WAVE mains inverter with the normal charger - NOT a cheap square wave one or a 'modified square wave' or other euphemism for non-sine. Non sine wave inverters can cause problems and are best avoided, especially when it comes to expensive equipment (and electric toothbrushes /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif). Lots of people will argue that they are fine or 'should be' fine but sometimes they are not. Believe me.
 
I will never use again a laptop computer on a boat..

I just trow away my HP Pavillion.. just because one single element on the power supply was not longer working.. and then you should replace the whole mother board.. cost about 800 U.S. $

None (or very few) works on 12 volts..

I think my next onboard computer will be a ITX computer
(see http://www.itx-warehouse.co.uk/ or Itx computers on Google..)

They have nearly all characteristics you are looking for:

- Rugged
- Use of Cigarette lighter
- Able to use with lid down
- Attach remote keyboard, mouse, monitor etc
- Interface with Garmin GPS
- DVD
- Big screen
- Low power consumption
- Wireless
- Use as a TV

They are also cheaper than a laptop and if one component fail.. you don’t have to change the whole engine..
 
You can buy adapters that convert 12v DC to anything from 14 to 20v for laptops, come with a range of plugs for the lappy. I am not sure of the technology, but I think they are more efficient than an inverter to provide mains.
 
I have a Dell 4000 Inspiron that gives 12 hrs use on its two batteries.

It's now elderly but I hesitate to replace it because it has the now-discontinued Speedstep mobile Pentium.

The problem is that too many punters go for a powerful notebook, and then complain about the short battery life.

Using DVDs or CDs will consume power at almost double the rate and I, personally, would not use a PC as my sole chartplotter. They're too vunerable and power hungry.
 
i agree, my IBM X40 uses 3.5amps at 16v or 4amps @12v

@ 12v My old compaq M300 uses 18.7v at 2.7amps. or even more!

All ok for looking at web site nav programs with a large screen in my case 12inch and 10 Inch respectivly but long term a drain.

Large screens use a lot of power! And as the previouse post points out memory also needs power--and in the marine enviroment that is when sailing a lot or spray or sea is constantly comeing aboard some my find its way to a laptop!!

A small old laptop for planing and a fast PDA, dell for example with a 624processor for email and skype or eyeball chat for comunications

MOBOS can use dedicated chart bploters and i hope they look where there going while on route?

Im useing a paper chart breton plotter garmin gps (72) and bins!
 
The lid down bit is easy, with windows xp you can set to do nothing when you close lid (except turn of screen) it does not effect external monitor. go to settings page fro screensaver then power at bottom of window, then advanced at top of window to set it all up.
 
After much research I bought a Toshiba Satellite M30X-154

The biggest consideration I had was power consumption and currently this machine was / is the best compromise. Ok, I only have a 1.6Ghz processor, but it works for all I need. I upped the ram to 1.2Gb which speeds up the machine far more than a good few processor steps.

15.4" wide screen is perfect for watching DVD movies.

If I was interfacing to GPS I would probably buy a usb GPS adaptor than mess around with a h/h.

It is wireless enabled, but I have just bought a wifi card and external antenna to increase range, from my study now I have the choice of three open networks that the internal card could not even see before. I should now be able to log into square mile at the boat. Not tried yet though, could not get a strong enough signal before.

It is not the strongest looking laptop in the world, I have an IBM 300Mhz machine that is streets ahead in build quality, but you pays your money! The Toshiba build quality is as good as its competitors IMO.

The thing that really helps to keep the power down is Intel centrino this allows much more control of the processor. DVD movies can be watched with the processor shut down to it's slowest, really eaking out the power.

I would not bother with television, much better to get a set, will use a quarter of the power of a lappy and allow both to be used at once!
 
There are 3 basic ways to get Internet access on board, not counting ssb mail or satellite here.

wifi hot spot, most modern laptops will have wifi built in, but as I have just found, the signal from the marina is limited, therefore an external antenna might be required, not that easy yet. If you need help I have just bought the kit and it works well at home, still awaiting boat trial.

Mobile telephone connection, using infra red port, not all laptops have infra red port so if your mobile does and you want to save the price of an overpriced cable then stipulate this. Or mobile telephone with cable. The two tariffs are pay by time slower connection, or GPRS pay for the data transferred, GPRS has quite hefty monthly subs IMHO.

Internet pcmcia card, this is pretty much a mobile telephone on a card that plugs into the pcmcia slot. The advantage being no dropped connections when the telephone is knocked and the infra red is broken and no leads all over the shop. Also allows you to keep the telephone operating rather than tying it up when on line.

Telephone connections have a far superior range currently, but have very antiquated connection speeds. wifi hot spots are becoming more and more common.

In answer, all fairly modern laptops can connect to the interweb.
 
Thanks for that very helpful info. Ship's Woofy - I didn't think I was going to get a response - everybody disgusted at my ignorance! - SBO
 
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