Minimum Spec Laptop

[LORDNELSON]

What is the minimum specification for a laptop to be used on board a cruiser for navigation purposes? Boat cruises between Germany and South Brittany. Only 12 volt dc electricity available. The object of this query is to enable me to look around for an oldish laptop for my boat. Thankyou

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[aluijten]

The specifications depend on the type of software you would like to run. There is simple software available for which a Pentium 266 Mhz is sufficient but the the modern pacakages are using more and more the vector-based charts. for this I would recommend at least a Pentum III-M 600 Mhz. Internal memory should in any case be something like 128 MB, preferrably more.
An impotant issue is screen size. Looking at the modern navigation software on a small screen is no fun. Your laptop should have at least a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Dell has a number of popular laptops (also found in the second hand market) with resolutions up to 1400 x 1050. Biggest drawback om Dell is that they are not very rugged... (own experience)
To the powersupply thing. This is actually the biggest killer. There are (almost) no laptops that run on 12V DC. The good news is however that you can buy a step-up converter that converts 12V directly into voltages (adjustable) between 16 and 22 volt. They are specifically designed for usage with laptops.
Now for the big BUT: The thing with laptops is that they consume a lot of power. On average you van say that it will draw 1,5 - 2,5 amps from the 12V battery. That means that after a full day of sailing you might end up with a depleated battery.
Getting enough juice for your laptop is quite an issue on a sailing boat.
It might be worth a look to look at the chart plotters, as they are not as expensive anymore and they use much less power (and run directly on 12V).

Ciao,

Arno

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[Talbot]

As has already been said, the decision on the spec required is really constrained by the applications you want to run. The lower the spec, the lower the power requirement. I run a 200MHz pentium in order to minimise the power consumption, but that means my screen is a 13" with 800/600 resolution. This is adequate for the system I have, but the resolution and screen size would be better at 14" and 1060x768. In order to maximise the capability I have increased RAM to 96m, and fitted a new 20Gb hard disc and CDRW. One benefit from these older machines is that I have a serial port and a USB port. It is also a pretty rugged machine cause it survived my sons use at school for 5 years.

Use a DC/DC converter (available maplins or <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/laptop-car-adapters.htm>here</A>), and be aware of just how much power these things use. Personnally I have this as a back-up to a proper plotter, which is waterproof so I can use it in my cockpit.

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[LORDNELSON]

Many thanks for your helpful comments NM

..

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[Guest]

Most chart software can be run on bog standard Celeron / Pentium 1 or 2 gear.
I use a Cleron 550 Maxdata with 128mb ram, 60Gb HDD ..... and it runs near all there is except the later Raytech - which insists on XP or Win 2000.

There is no need for all singing / dancing P4 or similar ........ Wndows 98 etc. will run Maptech, Maxsea, Seaclear etc. etc.

As to 12V ..... you have 3 ways to sue the 12V ......a) that is direct into laptop instead of charger output, b) via inverter running your normal mains charger, c) Maplins or similar supply 12V to laptop Voltage charger without need for inverter. Tking each in turn ...... 12V direct in will not charge the battery - so is best to isolate the battery by taping over contacts and re-inserting to make sure balance is maintained, b) Inverter is inefficient way to do it but as long as you use a 100 / 150W or greater inverter you know you will charge batterys as well, c) is best way as this is more efficient and you get most from your 12V supply without wastage .... and it charges your battery.

Many NOTEBOOK computers ...... (laptop actually refers to an older larger design of Computer that happily has passed into history !!) ..... are available secondhand at 200 quid and up and are perfectly capable of use in this work .... infact I would never use better - as then at cheap prices you can afford to replace more often ......



<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel ..... <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/>http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/</A>

 

[Guest]

Mr. aluijten ......

Sorry to say it - but I do not agree with you on a few points .....

a) You do NOT need a P III 600 ...... what for ???? I run full vector on Celeron 550 and it runs perfectly. For example Professional Commercial CMap93 runs on 256 colour ....... far lower spec than a modern PC displays .....

b) Power consumption ...... what you quote is where it is charging batterys also ... simple idea is to isolate the battery and not charge on board ... use 12V direct to PC without intermediate cahrger ..... OR use the 12V to PC convertor .....which will charge the battery

Final comment ------- near all notebooks WILL run of 12V direct ..... as they only need extra voltage etc. to cover charging batterys .... if you do not isolate the battery and run direct of 12V ..... you will find that battery just doesn't charge and LED will show poor battery state ......

Suggest that old-wives tales are being brought up again .....

I use my Notebook computer on board my boat with nothing special in way of electrics and survive quite happily for days on end ..... so where is this 'That means that after a full day of sailing you might end up with a depleated battery' .......


<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel ..... <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/>http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/</A>

 

[oldgit]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

Go for cheap Toshiba if poss will run from 12V.My previous 150.00 quid 266mhz P2 ran Tsunami 99 with ease.
My lastest 250.00 quid HP Notebook which is also a P2 needs 18volts and required an inverter to get the whole thing running.
Whole thing is connected to Garmin Etrex.

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[salamicollie]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

Just to reinforce the point on notebook voltages - my Thinkpad has a 10.8V battery but a 16V mains unit. The higher voltage is purely for charging the Li-Ion battery - it will draw up to 4A while charging but floats at less than 1A - 12V will power the notebook but it won't charge.

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[cameocrew]

I have been running Maptec software onToshiba satellite pro P500 128RAM 12GIG HDD on Cameo for 4years in the Med. Despite misuse (dropping/ spilling drinks etc) the Toshiba laptop is still doing the biz. It is connected to a Garmin 128 with 'Dongle' GPS as backup. I carry a spare HDD with duplicate software loaded,
spare keyboard and Ram chip (never had to use any of ) I carry spare laptop battery (never used in anger) The laptop runs on ships 12v via stepup tranny
( from R.S.) and is on all the time . Once I have planned the route and uploaded
to the Garmin (and handheld ) the laptop goes into' hybernate' state ('on' but no
screen display until any key is activated) I then only use to check chart or course
and position (2-3 min/hr) I run engine for 30min/day at sea but wind genney seems to keep pace with electrical consumption. (I have never measured laptop
power consumption but figure it must be very low in hybernate state )
The Big PROBLEM is trying to stop the 'Crew' using laptop as the ships duke box/
games machine at sea. Hope this helps.



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[fireball]

Laptop power

Most new laptops (2003/4 models) run on 18v supply - this does include extra voltage to re-charge the battery, however they don't all run on a 12-14v ship battery - mine certainly doesn't (Packard Bell Easynote - ok ok .. it _was_ a good buy ok!)...

The old Tosh we've got on the boat (with a 15v power supply) does happily run on 12v ship supply... Not as fast on the chart re-drawing though ..

My conclusion ... depends what you want the laptop for ... if you new to using laptop and chart software then its worth getting an older laptop to play with, once you've decided it is the way to go then a more expensive unit that is quicker and has more non-nav options might be a good idea ... DVD player is handy ... as is Internet access for weather updates & email.....

Now .. off to maplin to look at DC Step up convertors ...

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[steverow]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

Ditto....agree with all.
You dont need anything too powerful.
I run C-map on a Sony 233 as well as the admiralty plotter...and JV Comm and loads of other marine software as well.
It completely integrates into the NMEA and Seatalk system, via a Serial to USB coverter, C-map runs the autopilot on COM1 serial port and I have absolutely no problems.
It even runs a separate monitor, concurrently, on the flybridge via the VGA output and operated via a wireless mouse.
Uses windows 98SE which is about the most stable platform you can get.
One of my great disappointments is that in buying a new Toshiba Satellite laptop recently, (2.8Ghz), Windows XP doesnt properly emulate the 256 colour palette in it's compatibility settings and therefore doesnt correctly run C-map. Apart from doing digital photo's I'm wondering why I wasted 700 quid on it.

Steve.

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[Guest]

CMap + 256 colours

My mates boat has full Desktop sytsem fitted and I was suprised when I clicked on CMap .... it auto changed the display to 256 colours, ran CMap and then when CMap was closed - it reverted to default 24bit True Colour ...... It was running Win 2000 .... and I am told that XP can do same ...... magic !!!


<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel ..... <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/>http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/</A>

 

[Talbot]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

surprised that you have problems running c-map on 256 colour with XP. I have tried it with both XP and XP Pro without any problems, but am running it now on ME (the best system for this laptop) .
Best way to set it up for XP is to go to the directory with the "exe" file for the programme, right click on it, and set it up dor 256 colours. It then automatically shifts to the correct display standard when starting up.
Wish ME did that, best I can manage with ME is to have an icon on the toolbar which enables direct access to the display settings.

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[Talbot]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

My laptop runs on 22v, but I supply that from a dc/dc converter from maplin. However, some of the most modern laptops will not run on the standard maplin device because there is not enough power (amps) from this device. There are new dc/dc converters that offer higher power - up to 90w available from <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/laptop-car-adapters.htm>here</A>

Another problem may be the actual adapter to fit to the laptop. I had to buy a big set of additional different ones to get the correct one for my laptop.

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[steverow]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

It does "run"...but some of the graphic features, cardinals etc do not display properly, ending up as square disjointed blobs rather than pointy cardinals, making it impossible to tell which flavour they are.
I suppose it could be a function of the graphics chip in the toshiba, but how does one set about sorting that out in a laptop?

I have yet another (works) laptop 1.5GHZ Windows 2000 Pro, on which C-Map also runs perfectly.
Any ideas...???

Steve.



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[Gordonmc]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

My Compaq Evo runs Cmap on XP with no problem and auto-changes to 256 colour.
I'm not aware I did anything to it other than install the software.
GPS is a flash card and external mouse aerial.

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[Talbot]

Re: Mr. aluijten ......

Very strange. Sounds like they are emulating rather than providing full functionality. I would go back to the shop and complain. Possibly they have an updated graphics driver? if the shop cant help, ask the manufacturer or swap it for a laptop that does work.

My Mitac 2.4 works perfectly, and is very robust (available from Novatech). This is the third Mitac I have bought and have always been pleased with them

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[Trevethan]

I just picked up a small form factor computer less thatn a foot high and around 8 inches wide. It will fit neatly in a locker.

I use a tft monitor that I will fit on a bracket so its visible from chart table in aft cabin and in pilot house. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse.

The PC is a P4 2.4 gigahertx machine, 256k ram, cd/dvd combo rewriter, etc etc

It has a 1100/240 to 12 volt transformer and I plan to wire it to the boats DC supply via some kind of regulator.

It has the abilkity to adjust the speed of teh processor with a dial on the front. The lower the speed, the less power it consumes.

Max power consumsumption is 200 watts.

It has memory card reader on the front, plus lots of ports for connecting to other stuff -- works very well with Hauppauge freeview adaptor, plus we are hooked up via wifi to net and bluetooth to phones and so on.

Greta for watching DVDs too.

The price of the PC was £240 from a chap that custom builds them.
On top of that you should pay around £200 for an LCD monitor. (mine has an external power supply and will hook that to the 12 volt system too)

Very happy with the product. Its much better than my wife's 400 p3 laptop and can be more easily and cheaply be upgraded.



Regards,

Nick



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[fireball]

Who is this chap that builds them?! Sounds like it might be a good option ....

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[aran01]

Get something like this,
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.12/it.A/id.332/.f>http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.12/it.A/id.332/.f</A>
Combined with a flash drive it will also be very robust !
Runs of 12V

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