Laptop recommendations

jimi

jimi

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Joined
19 Dec 2001
Messages
28,660
Location
St Neots
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For boat
use for AIS, Chart plotting entertaining bored teenagers
LOw power consumption
DVD player
TV Tuner

Any recommendations?
 
Drop the TV tuner requirement and get an external USB one. Each extra module uses power.

I always use ACERs, but never used it in a marine environment. so that's not good.
 
Thanks never thought of that!

Now thinking of USB GPS receiver, AIS engine, USB TV Tuner and the cheapest laptop i can get with a DVD drive.
 
IBM Thinkpads .... built like brick-s*******'s

Cheap and cheerful of ebay ....

We give 'em to inspectors out here who drag 'em on / off ships .... sling 'em in back of car etc. The HP's, Tosh's, Compaq's etc. all gave up ... the IBM TP's still working ....

For me - I use an ACER Aspire and its fine.
 
ra auld goat's got yin worth thinking aboot .. ? it wus yin orra yon wind-up clockwork jobs that the world bank invested oor dosh fer tae get ra oban-ite tribe orra darkies oan ra internet. mind it cannae be much good when it landed him atop cleit rock yon day but ah've always thocht it wus a bad workman blaming hiss tools, youse ken ....

erm ... dell with centrino has survived longer than any ither oan ma auld tub
 
Re: But so can many others ....

Because "you can record TV and films and make your own DVD's ", or did you miss that part?
 
I have the Novatech Revo 6000 which is perfect for my shipplotter and chart system. I am about to try it with the Maplin hybrid digital and analogue USB tv system. when I get round to that I will report how well it handles it.

All the other hybrids (i.e. that do both digital and analoque) require a 2.0 GHz system or higher.
 
Second the NOT a Toshiba proposal unless you happen to want a nice electric blue coloured one in which case I may have one to sell you, complete with DVD player, busted cooling system, knackered hinges, dodgy drawer on the DVD drive.............
 
Re: But so can many others ....

REcording tv etc....

that is nothing to do wiht the Viao just the software installed. I'd recommend to stay away from the Viao range as they use a lot of non-standards components and a lot of add on hardware and software has issues running on them.
 
Seconded

I have spent more hours givng up getting Viao's working with connectivity than any other brand.

I'm with Nigel, I have a knock about ThinkPad and a widescreen MM Acer Aspire. Both recommended for appropriate tasks / abuse.
 
Re: Seconded

yet my Vaio works well, connects to everything and meets Sir James' requirements except for price. Also good connectivity for sony camera and video.
Just wish they would leave the voltage input the same.....
 
Re: Seconded

Agreed. I am on my 3rd Vaio now and will buy another when I next upgrade.

The only problem I've had was sorted out quick and painlessly within a few days, unlike the Pukehard Hell I owned for all of three months before demanding a refund.
 
My Vaio is great for work, but wouldn't take it on the boat - too expensive in the first place.

I have an old Dell purely cos a mate sold it me for 50quid, complete with XP et al.

The main reason I wanted it was for 12v supply so I can link it straight up to the boat supply without going through an invertor.
 
The Panasonic Toughbooks are not cheap, but they are very resilient. They can be had in low spec for a reasonable price, and if you don't mind slow processing and small memory, which for many applications are trivial hardships then they are available off eBay for not much more than a bog-standard laptop. If you must have instant processing, high quality graphics etc. then a Toughbook will be very pricey, but will outlast most others. Magnesium alloy frame, some degree of water resistance etc.
 
Re: Seconded

Yes, a business friend always buys Vaios - he is also a major toy freak and plugs most things around into them and all seems to work without a problem. Part of his good luck reliability wise may be because he likes them so much that he upgrades them before they have time to break /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

As sbc says, Thinkpad have a very good name in business circles.

(I am not biased - I don't use either).

I took a risk and got one of the current HP's (the marriage of HP and Compaq seems to have done wonders) as had a few things I particularly wanted (like RS232 port and HP happily supply a service manual with dismantling and component details/part #s down to individual screw sizes). Seems to be fine and is nice to use - sound on speakers is not great but there again it is a business oriented machine.

John
 
[ QUOTE ]
Second the NOT a Toshiba proposal

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not a Toshiba.... I have a Qosmio G20 which travels a lot between house and boat, and does everything I want... so far, including TV and DVD.

Cheers
 
Whichever model you buy (and for low power and good wifi performance I would recomend a Centrino) be sure to buy a 3 year warranty - will cost about an extra £100. You are almost guaranteed to need it at some time during the 3 years. Without a warranty notebook repairs are prohibitively expensive and usually lead to a write off.
 
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