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geoleo · 26-02-2014, 05:03

I recently bought a Brewer 12.8 heavy duty cruising sloop. Its 1983 . The PO (previous owner) wanted to keep his exist computer with all his old Navionics charts for sentimental reasons. SO I agreed and found a Dell780 SFF Dual Core 2.6hz w/windows 7 pro WIFI desktop to replace the one he took. Boat has a AIS with its own antenna and a older existing monitor which he used to display the Navionics charts and the AIS . I bought my wife a Ipad air wifi for xmass and discovered it is ideal for chartplotting using Garmin Bluecharts($30 and Garmin new Bluetooth Antenna. $99). Question: I need a new Chartplotter/Desktop Monitor that's not expensive. that will work both with the AIS and all the thinks that a desktop will provide . It does not have to bring in TV but that could be a plus ( I don't plan to get cable run to the boat ever.) Suggestions please. Thanks from George in Clearwater Florida. Go slow as electronisc is my weak spot. LOL

Suijin · 26-02-2014, 05:43

The first thing that comes to mind is that a desktop machine has no business on a cruising boat unless you have gobs of power generation. Laptops are engineered to be (relatively) energy efficient where as desktops are decidedly not. While the Optiplex is energy efficient for a desktop, it's not near a laptop I don't think. YMMV.

As for monitors, I would go over to NewEgg.com and look for one that meets your needs in terms of size, thickness, mounting options, etc. Monitors are commodity items these days, and provided it's in a relatively protected environment you don't need anything special. FYI, with a laptop, you could double your screen real estate which could be very handy for certain tasks.

geoleo · 26-02-2014, 05:55

Thanks Suijin, Boat actually has gobs of power- 800 amps Batts, 4kw generator-600 watts solar + a windmill. You didn't mention the applications or connections..