Laptop for Nav and Radio only

[Anonymous]

I've decided to buy a second laptop - new, not used - that I will dedicate to my navigation and SSB control to leave running 24/24 at sea. I am not depending on this for 'navigation' per se - only passage planning in harbour, tidal info, weatherfaxes, RTTY, SailMail, Winlink, etc. so I am not interested in installing a marinised PC, or a laptop with waterproof keyboard. Indeed, the laptop will be in a place guaranteed to be very dry and splash-free (unless we sink /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif). I do need an ethernet port to link to my present WiFi bridge; can I add that from DIY upgrades from the high street? Does anyone know of a good low-cost offer available, preferably in the high street but could be online, at the moment? Or just steer me in the direction of a good supplier. I am in Chichester at the moment.

EDIT:- I really need a serial port as well

Many thanks. David

 

[Close hauled]

Try Panasonic Toughbook on ebay

 

[BrendanS]

The big killer here is the serial port. Serial ports have been dropped from many laptops, primarily in the lower end of the range. This pretty much constrains your choice, and will probably elevate the price range you need to look in. What sort of budget did you have in mind?

 

[BrendanS]

How about this. good solid entry level spec that shouldn't have any problems running your applications, at an amazing price for the specs. It's by the laptop arm of the highly regarded Evesham micros

£500 including VAT

Processor Mobile AMD Sempron 2600+
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Memory 256MB DDR RAM
Hard Drive 40GB hard drive
Graphics Integrated graphics
Display 15" TFT display
Optical Drives DVD/CD-RW drive
Battery 8 cell Li-Ion battery
Network 10/100 LAN
Modem v92 56k
Speakers Built in audio & speakers
Ports 3x USB2.0, Parallel, Serial, PS2, VGA, PCMCIA Type II x 1
Smart Card Reader Supports MMC, MS/PRO, SD
Dimensions 329mm x 275mm x 36.5mm
Weight 3.5kg


Review here
http://www.itreviews.co.uk/h712-evesham-quest-explorer-s26-review.htm

You can only buy it here onine
here

 

[jamied]

Try these people

Then do second user laptops, sometimes they have good deals

all have warrenty

http://www.itfactory.co.uk/categories/Laptops

if not toshiba www.toshiba.co.uk have some good prices.

be careful of serial port as many new ones do not have them , you would have to get a usb to serial device

 

[LittleShip]

http://www.sterlingxs.co.uk/scpages/panasonictoughbooklaptopcf27.html

 

[iangrant]

Don't worry about the serial port issue, the USB to serial converters work very well as long as they come with drivers. Once installed they show a com port number.
I have wired the cables for printer sat phone modem, USB GPS, to a USB hub so all the laptop needs is one port and one cable plus a 12 - 18v step up transformer.

Ian

 

[BrendanS]

several people have posted with issues with usb serial convertors, and many examples on pc help boards, so probably a good idea for guaranteed stability to go with a serial port if at all possible. It just reduces one or more possible problems, no software, no conflicts, no loose connections etc. Though I agree, it's not a show stopper at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Brendan, and everyone who has replied, thank you so much for a terrific response /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The Evesham looks like the best deal for me as it has the ethernet, serial port, better spec and is new and fully warranted. Amazing value with XP included and MS Works at only £9.99 extra. Works will more than I will need for this laptop. David

 

[BrendanS]

It was quite interesting doing a search.

This machine is extremely well specced for the price. I think Evesham are on to a winner with this concept. They already have a very good reputation for quality and customer service, and undercutting the mainstream boys with better spec for less price has to be a winner. I'll certainly be pointing people towards that website if they are after leisure laptops

 

[Stemar]

If you can get a memory upgrade on the Evesham machine for a sensible price, I'd do it. 256Mb is near the bottom of what XP needs to function well. I had 256Mb until recently and my system was slow, with the hard disk thrashing away - classic symptoms of insufficient memory.

Memory's cheap at the moment - at least, desktop memory is - and another 256Mb, or better 512Mb will make all the difference, especially with integrated graphics, which will use system memory to run the display.

 

[jfkal]

Not really there are USB-SERIAL adapters on the market and they are pretty cheap.
PCMCIA serial cards are on the market as ell but expensive.

 

[Oldhand]

Some applications will only work with a serial port recognised by the compuer BIOS so USB/serial adapters are not suitable for all applications.

 

[Oldhand]

Your requirements are easily met by reconditioned units sold by specialists on ebay.

I have used onboard PC for nav and radio functions for 4 years and the prime considerations should be minimum power consumption with adequate performance. I find that a PC with an 800Mhz Celeron processor, 256Mb RAM running Windows 98SE is perfectly adequate for running MaxSea for nav and Bonito RadioCom for weatherfax, RTTY, SYNOP etc. I would thus suggest that anything more powerful will be using more DC power than necessary and also consider Windows XP has much higher overheads than Windows 98SE, which also means more power consuption by the processor.

I use a semi-built-in "Capuccino" type PC as I already have a monitor built in at the chart table. However, as you want a laptop I would suggest one of the Dell, Toshiba ot IBM secondhand laptops sold frequently by "laptopscheap" on UK ebay. I got an IBM T22 900MHz PIII, 20Gb HDD, 256Mb RAM, 14.1" TFT, serial port, ethernet port, USB port, iR port, DVD ROM, floppy drive machine form them for under £300, but the more usual price they were going for was around £330. I found a problem with the floppy drive and they sent another immediately I advised the problem, so I can recommend them. This machine runs the afore-mentioned applications with ease. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There are other quantity ebay sellers but watch our for some which charge VAT on top of the winning bid price, it increases the cost considerably. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[BrendanS]

He did specify though that he wanted new not secondhand. Anyway that's irrelevant really, as he's already posted that he's going to buy the evesham.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

what is the current draw on that evesham?

I have an old thinkpad which will run all marine packages so far, 300MHz.

It draws around 1.8A from the ships power supply.

I tentatively looked at faster machines and got a bit frightened by the difference....

 

[BrendanS]

No idea, I'm afraid

 

[Ships_Cat]

I use a 1.something GHz Athlon Compaq (one of the bulkier multimedia oriented hungrier ones) on the boat and that draws considerably less than 2 amps when running the charting software (which has the hard drive running and writing all the time as it logs every NMEA sentence that comes in) and not charging.

I would assume others would be similar.

John

 

[Oldhand]

I was trying to point out that buying new in terms of power it will be overspecified for the task and thus probably use more power than necessary while looking at refurbished he can get everything he needs for £200 less. New PC's are all more powerfull than required for Nav & Radio and it is difficult to find a RS232 port.

I have put considerable study into boat PC requirements, with guidance from a senior vice president of a major US computer company who is also a racing and cruising yachtie and thought someone might appreciate my findings. I only bought a refurbished laptop to prove it could be perfectly adequate and an acquaintance appears to be happy with a second hand Dell of only half the performance I suggest but then he isn't using it for Nav.

I saw he had decided to buy a new Evesham but hoped he might take another look at the forum before he went ahead. I have had an Evesham PC in the past and it was OK and the service was good for home PC's.

 

[geronimo]

Another laptop question

Can I use a step up transformer 12 to 19 or 20 Volts for a Dell that needs 19.5 Volts

If yes is 19 or 20 better

Can I ruin the computer if I make a mistake

Thanks