The core embedded system on my new boat will be a Mac Mini... robust, small, low power, unix-based, reliable and pleasant OS layer, and easily interfaced. MacENC works great for chart work, though frankly I prefer the "appliance" chartplotters for general use, and the system with wireless access point is also a sealed backup and file server for the laptop (normally packed safely away).
Admittedly, it is frustrating that some otherwise generic software is not platform-agnostic; I was recently disappointed that the alluring
Navigator's Library is, deep in the fine print and email follow-up, revealed to depend on a windoze-only encryption program to prevent piracy, even though the same material is available
elsewhere (though how the products compare in usability, I have no idea).
There is also a somewhat unanswered question about whether the Sailmail software requires native Windows as opposed to the parallels/bootcamp emulations on the Mac - does anyone know? That and some of the more esoteric ham radio software (ALE and "sound card modes") are probably justification for also embedding a
mini-ITX (which, in its recent incarnations, is about the tiniest you can get with a fully-capable PC). It will certainly not have network access, though!
Cheers,
Steve