marine laptops
 

I am looking to buy a laptop for my sailboat. Any advice out there on
brands, spec's, etc? Is BigBay a good unit? Pro's and cons on anything
are most welcomed.

Thanks

BC10 wrote:
I am looking to buy a laptop for my sailboat. Any advice out there on
brands, spec's, etc? Is BigBay a good unit? Pro's and cons on anything
are most welcomed.

Thanks


On a sailboat, amps used is paramount, e.g. get a small screen and as
little builtin stuff that uses power as possible. For example, try to
get something where the CD player can be removed (or ain't there in the
first place).

Get something with a Pentium M, this can be underclocked (either with
software from the manufacturer, or otherwise some freeware) with very
positive results on the amount of current it uses. The actual spec of
the processor is unimportant, if you underclock them to let's say 600
MHz/ 0.7v they all use the same current, and it's still _way_
overpowered for your marine navigation software.

Unfortunately, the best ones with a ULV Pentium will be quite expensive.

-- Kees

BC10 wrote:
I am looking to buy a laptop for my sailboat. Any advice out there on
brands, spec's, etc? Is BigBay a good unit? Pro's and cons on anything
are most welcomed.

A google search for marine laptops will turn a lot of hits with
discussion of the pros and cons of using laptops on boats. Things like
water/weather proofing, risk of hard drive jolting/damage, where and how
it will be used, and much more will all come up.

A major consideration is how viewable the display will be in daylight,
shaded, and with direct sunlight on the display. Here is a page that
explains screen brightness (NITS) and contrast ratios (CR). If you can
find that listed as a spec for laptops you are considering it will give
you a feel for how useful it will be in bright light.

http://www.stealthcomputer.com/faq_lcd_technology.htm

It says that a "..true sunlight readable display is normally considered
to be an LCD with at least 1000 nits of screen brightness and a contrast
ratio greater than 5 to 1. In outdoor environments under the shade, such
a display can provide an excellent image quality."

The newer marine color chart plotters and radars typically have LCD
displays of 1000 NITS or more. A typical laptop computer has a 200 NIT
display. Some of the newer laptops on the market are getting up around
500 NITS. But it is hard to find NITS/CR specs for laptops.

I guess the makers expect you'll buy it to find out if you like it?

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)