Looked at custom made boat PC at LIBS.

[rays]

Does anyone have experience of this type of kit vs a laptop? Is it worth the extra £££s? See here for details ;www.cbme.co.uk

SOB uses C-map which is handy since I have this in my old Raymarine plotter/radar. Who else offers this kind of PC?

I haven't seen any reviews recently in PBO/YM. Have there been any?

 

[Marsupial]

Had a look at the spec - it ticks all the boxes, solid state water proof ish. So it is superior to a Lap top with a disc drive.

BUT you could buy 4 Eeepc's and have change.

 

[Refueler]

Go for fanless ITX and save money.

 

[nigelhudson]

Seems expensive for what it is. They've compromised the storage capacity by going solid-state but then added a DVD drive - seems bizarre. I built my own last year based around the Intel board rather than the VIA and included 8Gb of solid state memory - cost around £250. If I wanted to use a DVD drive on board I'd use a USB plug-in.

 

[rays]

What's a fanless ITX??

 

[nimbusgb]

The ones at LIBs were pricey. Much more reasonable systems are available. from about 250 for the pc then add screen ( TV/player/PCscreen combined) , keyboard(waterproof ) and rat( wireless )

 

[gavina]

Have a look at http://www.seawhisper.co.uk/page117.html - can also quote for other specs and 12V DC touch screen displays from 7 - 15 inch are also available

 

[rays]

Gavina,

What I liked about the LIBS offering was it was solid state. Less worries about hard drive failure from pounding at sea.

Do you offer?

 

[gavina]

Yes we can quote for a solid state drive

 

[rays]

Gavin, PM sent.

 

[Refueler]

ITX as mine is a POS mini PC box. But mine is one of the early ones with fan. Later were fanless to reduce openings in the case.
They are 12V powered, about 1/3rd the size of a standard desktop. Add the other bits and you'd have a full system for less than half the one in OP.

example : http://www.itx-warehouse.co.uk/Product.aspx?ProductID=569

Many people who have them choose components / case design etc. and then build it themselves. But like here - they will put together for you.

Looking at the OP machine - it quotes VIA .... which may mean they are using Via-ITX gear ... if so then IMHO I can save a lot of dosh on it !!

BUT take note - the biggest problem is to find a waterproof system. Marinised may give impression it is - but sorry - not true.

Friend and I worked hard at trying to create a working system for boats that would be at least spray protected ... nope. And I don't believe that there's one out there yet.

IMHO - if you really want something - ebay for IBM Thinkpad 600E up to a T20 model ... 100 - 200 quid a throw. Rugged, will survive most knocks. At that price you can afford a few instead of the OP machine !!

 

[Refueler]

As I said earlier it appears very similar to ITX gear - in fact after checking further - it is based on the ITX gear and their cases.
Second no way is it anywhere near waterproof or even protected. It's the standard Vroom2 ITX case and needs airflow through.
Having gone down this route some time ago - IMHO such systems are only suitable for a larger vessel with dry nav / conning station such as a hard wheelhouse etc.

Price ? You can build one yourself at far less cost.

 

[ditchcrawler]

This guy www.suffolkyachtservices.com does them on the east coast.

 

[Refueler]

There's quite a number of people who put together VIA systems (ITX) and having been involved with another in trying to develop a real marinised system - we found too many problems with water.
SYS system in it's spec says ... 93% humidity max non-condensing. Good reason for that. But his system is good like all ITX systems.

I have one of the older ones, but it works a treat. Not waterprotected though.