Rolf wrote:
Sorry this topic has been discussed in many forms before.
I need a computer for the boat which I am going to buy ( 45 to 50 ft
cruising sailboat). I initially considered a desktop but was scared
off by the power consumption.
Now I am considering a Laptop. I want to use it to run navigation and
other boat soft ware, but I also want to use it for e-mails and for
web surfing when I have access and also to watch DVD's and CD's, so I
feel I need a Pentium 4 with Windows XP.

There is a bewildering choice of brands. One way to narrow the choice
is again power consumption from the house batteries since the computer
will be on a lot.
I can get an inverter and then plug in the power supply to that. But
that route looses about 20% of the power.
The better option is to have a DC to DC converter like one that is
used to connect a Laptop to the cigarette lighter in a car. But how
much power does that consume?
Third choice, is there a brand of Laptop eg Toshiba or others which
accepts power stratight from the House battery, ie a voltage anywhere
between 10 and 15 volts?

With a 45-50ft sailboat, it's easier and cheaper to boost battery capacity
than to decrease power usage on laptops and ancillary equipment. You have
the space, and the wiring is dead easy!
Remove "nospam" from return address.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.798 / Virus Database: 542 - Release Date: 18/11/2004