which laptop ?

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Spuddy

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I'm a computer consumer - buy a PC every 4/5 years but with no great techie knowledge or interest so I'd really appreciate some advice or suggestions.
New, more nomadic job could make use of a laptop of some sort. I also thought I might use it for a bit of navig and passage planning. Boat is battered and basic - will put in a second battery plus switch for next season but no urge to get more sophisticated. Engine is a 1GM with something like a 35A alt.
No.2 son says a toughbook off ebay.
What does the team think ?
 
I have bought a toughbook off ebay in 2004 and it is still going strong. Have taken it on different charter trips and on a delivery in very rough seas to the canaries and it has been fine so far....
 
Second that - I've got a semi-rugged Toughbook (CF-37) from ebay for less than 200 quid and it's great. Light, tough, touchscreen, runs from one of those cigarette lighter plug in 12v - 16v step up adaptors.

It's running Win2000 and Office and has also given good service in place of my work laptop when that one fried it's hard drive and was out of action for a week.
 
Thanks. Rather impertinent but what did you get it for? Just been away to do a google and new prices are tenfold what I want to lay out.
I'd probably go for disposable but cheap rather than rugged.
I'm interested in basic operation - MS Word plus the navi - and low power consumption.
 
Right now I'd go for a laptop with a serial port of which there are few. Our current model is the HP Compaq 6120 which we've been issuing for the past 2 years for nav use, can buy a new one for under £500. Sorry to say that we've just had our first failure (replacement motherboard under warranty - this very machine as it happens) out of about 30 we've supplied.

My colleague tells a hilarious story about the Toughbook. We bought 50 for a survey crew and he watched a demo of just how tough they were. They dropped one from 6 feet onto the floor of a warehouse and are still finding pieces!
 
Certainly wouldn't pay the prices for a new toughbook (approx £3000) you could buy a lot of laptops at PC World for that. I have one provided for me by my employer, I think they are a bit of an overkill unless you are in the military or such like. If you can get one for a good price on ebay go for it. Watch out though as most of them are ex-BT and probably knock off.
 
from Me thats what I do refurbished pc equipment !

whoops thats let the cat out of the bag !!

can do for £ 120 and 11 squids xtra if you need it shipped to you

we have regular supplies of these too
 
I use an old Toshba Tecra 800MHz laptop. It does the job, held tightly to its shelf with a fat bungy. It would survive a 360 if nothing else hit it. The only thing that worries me at all is the screen/lid of the thing. The hinges must suffer from the constant acceleration/deceleration as the boat pitches, with the machine sitting on the longitudinal axis of the boat. The hinges are damped, so the lid can sit at any convenient angle, but I can see the lid sway slightly forward and back in a swell, and although it is ok now, I am certain that is where it will eventually fail, I am sure. I post this irrelevant info to give food for thought when mounting whatever laptop you get.

PS. Not knowing anything about the Toughbooks, I would have expected their lids to be significantly heavier than my lightweight Tosh - have Toughbook users any comment on mounting?
 
I use a toughbook for our other hobby, ballooning and they are great, with velcro on the bottom attached to a board they do not move at all even with a hard landing. I have thought that with this set up velcro to a board with perhaps rubber suckers on the underside to the nav table you have a good alround solution for less than perfect conditions
 
I have IBM Thinkpad's as chuckables !! They survive my Inspectors and that's something !! Compaq's, HP's have all died on us when you needed most - the Thinkpads (600E model) have survived it all ... only thing being the batterys failed. So now used as direct of 12v nav jobs .... ignore the battery.

ebay has loads of them cheap enough ......
 
On my toughbook, the lid doesn't seem any heavier than a regular laptop - if anything it's lighter because the casing is a magnesium alloy. However, the hinges are meatier, and apparently that is one of the things specially designed to make them tough.

I currently rely on the rubber feet on the toughbook, and the nice central, low position of the chart table to resist any movement of the laptop, and that's worked in all rough conditions so far this season, but proper fixdown is on the list, probably velcro based.
 
IBM thinkpads, a follow on question !

Does anyone know of any way to switch on a Thinkpad with the top closed ( have removed the pip) as looking to mount the laptop beneth the chart table and use it remotely with flat screen etc. But need to be able to power up by remote switch for it all to be workable.

tia

Ian P.
 
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