Laptops at sea?

[bill good]

Have you looked at a desk top with the power supply changed for a 12v power suppy to repace the mais existing power supply. They are the same size & if anything goes wrong then it can be repaired or up dated as needed.

regards Bill goodward

[seafox]

They still would use more power than the laptops though.

[Turnone]

I don't know much about sailing (yet) but I do know PC's and laptops.
Major improvements have been made in efficiency lately, so if power is a concern, you should probably consider the upgrade.

I'm taking measurements now on my current work laptop (Dell XPS1210).
It has all the performance upgrades for this model (Hence shorter battery life and higher power consumption). Separate Video Card, Faster Hard Drive (7200 RPM), 2GB RAM, Core2Duo 2.0 GHZ Processor with 4MB Cache. Screen at full bright.

Power consumption with battery removed (to make sure it is not using any extra):
118v, 27watts
These #'s are while working on wireless home network.

Using Verizon Broadband Wireless the #'s go up to 30 watts @ 118v.
The above were just doing normal web browsing, or to be more accurate, they were measured while typing this post.

If I stress test using program called Everest the power goes up to:
46watts @ 118volts.

If I am charging the battery the #'s go up to 67 watts @ 118volts.

So my point is that the laptop matters a great deal.
If power consumption is important get a laptop with Intel Core2Duo processor and small screen.

I have a Quad Core Desktop cranked up to 3.6GHZ that uses 330watts when operating at 100%. Not something that would be practical for sailing.

I’d estimate 150-200watts usage for most modern desktops with 17” LCD’s. Most modern laptops are going to be well under 100 watts of 120vac.

Chris

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Turnone

I don't know much about sailing (yet) but I do know PC's and laptops.
Major improvements have been made in efficiency lately, so if power is a concern, you should probably consider the upgrade.

I'm taking measurements now on my current work laptop (Dell XPS1210).
It has all the performance upgrades for this model (Hence shorter battery life and higher power consumption). Separate Video Card, Faster Hard Drive (7200 RPM), 2GB RAM, Core2Duo 2.0 GHZ Processor with 4MB Cache. Screen at full bright.

Power consumption with battery removed (to make sure it is not using any extra):
118v, 27watts
These #'s are while working on wireless home network.

Using Verizon Broadband Wireless the #'s go up to 30 watts @ 118v.
The above were just doing normal web browsing, or to be more accurate, they were measured while typing this post.

If I stress test using program called Everest the power goes up to:
46watts @ 118volts.

If I am charging the battery the #'s go up to 67 watts @ 118volts.

Chris

Thanks for the "real time" info.
What does the laptop say it uses?
For the "real time" comparison check you know.

[Turnone]

Originally Posted by Therapy

Thanks for the "real time" info.
What does the laptop say it uses?
For the "real time" comparison check you know.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but let me add more:
The power supply that comes with unit has output values of 19.5vdc 3.34a.

The sticker on bottom of laptop states exactly the same 19.5vdc, 3.34a.

EDIT: Power Supply is 65W unit that is light weight for traveling. I recommend a 'road warrior' tested laptop.
Chris

[hellosailor]

Pericles-
There are no absolute or generic commands to invert a laptop display. You will have to go into the display/screen settings for your laptop and see what options it offers. If it runs Windows, there is usually a "Windows High Contrast" set as a default, to provide black on white or white on black, using a high contract limited color set that is easier to read in sunlight.

If you are looking to conserver power--the screen backlight (except on a rare rare few new LED screens) is always a white cold cathode fluorescent blun that is always turned on, and your pixels "turn on" to create the black to block it. Allowing a white background with black text should, in theory, use marginally less power. DIMMING the screen provides a huge power saving.

Power conservation options will vary with your computer but Windows 2000, Windows XP, other NT versions will provide far more power conservation settings for the whole computer than Win9x machines have.

Computers with a P4 (desktop) CPU will be power hungry. P4m (Mobile) chipsets will take less power. Chipsets with a Core Duo set will be able to save about 30-40% of their power, and provide 30-40% more processing power at the same time, partly due to new motherboard support circuits that have the ability to save more power.

Anyone concerned with power saving should be on an XP or Vista box with a Core Duo chipset these days. The savings are significant.

If you look at the power brick supplied with your laptop, they tend to split along two classes, those that take 75W or less, and those that requir 140W or more. Right there is the answer to how hungry your computer will be, the TRUE mobile chipsets need less power, and it is not just the CPU but all the cr\ircuitry that needs less power.

The exception is DVD usage. Watching a DVd requires full motor power to the DVD drive and full processing power to the CPU--and that's a lot of power, the CPU and curcuitry won't matter.

[hellosailor]

Chris-
"The power supply that comes with unit has output values of 19.5vdc 3.34a.

The sticker on bottom of laptop states exactly the same 19.5vdc, 3.34a."

Laptop power supplies are normally designed, and the laptops rated, with the consideration that you will be running the laptop AT FULL POWER CONSUMPTION (i.e. watching a Led Zep DVD with the volume cranked up load, while recomputing a huge Excel sheet in the background, running your firewall and email and wireless all at the same time) so the power supply brick has to provide TWICE the actual power that the laptop is needing.

Twice, meaning, enough power to support all functions at full power, while simultaneouly recharging the battery from dead to full at full speed.

A 140W power supply may mean "This laptop draws 75W of power during maximum usage, and we're giving another 65W to the dead battery so it can recharge before you have to board your next flight."

When in doubt? Contact the manufacturer, and when they say "Huh?" remember to buy a different brand the next time around.[g]

[Turnone]

If you want to spend a little time and effort, you can reduce you laptop power draw even further. I use a program called 'Notebook Hardware Control' or 'NHC'.
There are some easy settings that keep the CPU running at the lower clock settings.
If you want to fool with actual voltage to the CPU, this will save a little more power as well. Most Core2Duo's can be undervolted without any stability issues. I run mine at .95v for all multipliers except the highest one.
The web is a great resource for learning, so much more detail on NHC can be found.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Turnone

If you want to spend a little time and effort, you can reduce you laptop power draw even further. I use a program called 'Notebook Hardware Control' or 'NHC'.
There are some easy settings that keep the CPU running at the lower clock settings.
If you want to fool with actual voltage to the CPU, this will save a little more power as well. Most Core2Duo's can be undervolted without any stability issues. I run mine at .95v for all multipliers except the highest one.
The web is a great resource for learning, so much more detail on NHC can be found.

Thanks for that.

[svanr]

I loved using my laptop for navigation. Big screen, familiar control etc. Then one day a teaspoon of coffee for God's sake took it out. Safe on the chart table I thought. oops.

Boy, did that suck.

Now I use a waterproof chartplotter in the cockpit and only use the laptop when I have wifi and keep the liquids far, far away.

[Nauticatarcher]

Stopped using laptops when I bought one of these, liked them so much i went back to manufacturer and got a few mods made namely 4 comports so i could ditch all my USB/serial convertors, 12VDC, Fanless, less than 2.5amps , and quieet, We use wireless keyboard / trackball combo and LCD TV/Monitor with it, have alook at website
ARCHER - MARINE

[Evan]

Yes, my next boat computer will be a small form factor Pentium M desktop. Last boat laptop ate 3 keyboards and 1 power supply. Trying getting a particular laptop keyboard in Mexico... Back here in Canada now, and the desktop DVD writer dies. I buy one at the local computer store for $40. Imagine doing that with a laptop DVD drive.

[waterworldly]

I have to agree with Evan completely. With a small footprint desktop, you can replace parts at will anywhere in the world very cheaply. Laptops have all proprietory parts, expensive, hard to find, and in most cases, unavailable after a few years. But if you must, get a Panasonic Toughbook, made to military standards. Expensive, but can be dropped and rained with little issue. DON'T GET A VISTA MACHINE!

[Whimsical]

I am playing with a mini Itx it has a Via C7 processor and an automotive power suppy, 10-15V. During boot it draws 30W,normal processing 18W and in standby 11W. The 12"X12"x2" case has a 120 gig drive and a Pioneer dvd burner. Combined with a 10" 800x600 monitor that draws less than 8W it will become the boat box.
I am intending to put it in a sealed cabinet but must wait till summer to determine if this is feasable. Given the low power I think it will be, the current inside house temp is 22 celcius and the processor temp is 26. The box or cpu has no fan. The inbuilt video card is capable of dual head opperation so a more waterproof monitor will mount at the helm station running SOB nav software.
Aren't toys wonderful.

Mike

[Turnone]

There is a growing market for 'carputers' and numerous information that could be used for the 'boat' market. Low power consumption, small space, and DC input is the norm for those that cobble together a car PC.