I'll throw in my 2 cents!
I gave up on laptops for onboard use about 7 years ago. They are too susceptible to damage and make upgrading, without
purchasing a new laptop, nearly impossible.
I purchased a small case that can hold a couple hard drives and it also has a DVD but I truly can't even remember the last time I used it.
I looked around at Mini-ITX motherboards that could support multiple hard drives, onboard video, 2 monitors, plenty of USB ports, at least one legacy
serial port and a processor capable of functioning as a home theater system.
I found the perfect board for what I was looking for, a Jet NC9R-1037. It has:
An Intel Celeron 1037 1.8GH dual
core processor 17w
Onboard Intel HD Graphics
Up to 16gb of memory
2 PCI expansion slots (Great for adding extra USB ports, but no need for me)
3 SATA 3Gb ports 1 SATA 6gb port(hard drives & DVD)
Realtec 5.1 Channel Audio
4 USB 2.0 ports on backplane, 2 more 2.0 ports internal and 2 3.0 USB internal ports(These can be connected to the ports on the case)
2 Legacy Serial ports (One for GPS, one for AIS)
HDMI, DVI-D and VGA monitor ports
RJ-45 Lan port, Audio ports, PS-2 port and more!!
As configured for my use, I have:
A 19" 12 volt monitor at the nav station
Another 22" widescreen monitor mounted on the wall for movies
A 160GB Intel Solid State Hard Drive for C Drive.
A 3TB Seagate Green Energy Drive for movies, photos and other
storage
A full sized keyboard and mouse at the nav station
The system is surprisingly fast. I can be running all navigation
software while the Admiral watches a
movie at the same time. The Solid State drive is lightening fast and uses very little power. The green drive spins down and saves power if not being used. The 2 serial ports are perfect for the GPS and AIS, are more reliable and free up USB ports for Pactor
modem and other uses.
I added a backplane spine that contains another USB port and an E-SATA port for doing offline backups to other 3TB hard drives.
Now, for the best part!! I bet you're wondering how much power this thing uses? It's powered by an 250 watt(overkill for my setup) M4-ATX 12 volt power supply connected directly to the ships
battery supply as is the 12V monitor at the Nav station. No
inverter necessary! Total power consumption at idle with monitor turned off, 2 amps at 12volts. Add an additional 1.5 amp for the monitor. Even while watching a
movie, I notice no discernible increase in power consumption.
The best part of going this way is that it's very easy to upgrade. I can upgrade the motherboard and still keep everything else. If a monitor fails, I buy a new one and
plug it in. Hard Drive fail, buy a new one. Need more memory, buy it and plug it in. Space bar on the keyboard fails, buy a new keyboard for $10 and plug it in.
The mother board I have is now about 8 years old and was actually designed for retail point of sales systems. Hence the serial ports and multi-monitor. If you decide you need extra USB ports, you can buy a PCI expansion board and get 4 more with no problem!
You'll spend more initially putting a system like this together, but you'll save tons of money in the future in upgrading and replace failed
parts. You can also store the computer away in a safe dry location rather than having your whole computer sitting in front of you vulnerable to that inadvertent spilled glass of wine that causes the space bar on your laptop to quit working!
I currently use Windows & and purchased my copy so that I can reload it for a new
installation if needed and I won't be forced to go to Windows 10 because Microsoft thinks I should. Which reminds me that the original install of Windows 7 was the last time I used my DVD drive. I'll continue with windows 7 until Microsoft no longer supports it and then I'm leaving Microsoft for something else. Anything else!!
Putting together your own system is pretty easy if you use one of the motherboards that has the processor, video and audio on the board. You just need to make sure you get the right type of memory for the board. After that, it's just plugging in the hard drives, monitors, power supply and installing the operating system.
Hope this is helpful!!
Gene