Best laptop to use for chasing?

[Rocky Rascovich]

Okay.. I know this has undoubtably been brought up in the past.. but maybe not in the last few weeks though unless I overlooked a thread in that timeframe, so I apologize if this has once again been brought up.

I need some advice on what type of small laptop (a screen at 10-15" at most)
that has enough memory to handle a GPS and GRL3. I put on my Amazon wish list a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 10.1-Inch Obsidian Black Netbook with Integrated TV Tuner. This seems to fit the bill but had some mixed reviews. What do you think? What would be best for someone who is not too tech savvy, would be easy to use and can handle my needs? I'm not interested in streaming (although I'm not totally discounting doing that once I can master the basics)
Dependability and ease of use is a must.

Unless this thread has not resurfaced recently, just email me or PM me. My email is [email protected]. Much thanks!

 

[Jason Foster]

After all the threads about this topic I've read, it really comes down to not what brand you pick but more about the need to get top specs for what you expect to do and can afford. Dell, Sony, Toshiba, HP, etc. are all good picks. The only brand I think consistently that most say to stay away from is eMachines and Acer. I think for chasing needs 2g RAM is sufficient if and only if you are doing basic web stuff, nav., radar. If you doing more.....like streaming 4g is a minimum. Not so much you can't do with less now, but if you don't plan on buying anything withing the next 12 months, you'll need to anticipate programs needing more resources than what they currently use.

 

[chadvia]

Well, I know I may stir the pot with this, but I switched to an eMachines (model eM250) netbook this year. This isn't a power house by any means, but I only use it for storm chasing / weather spotting. I run GRLevel 3 software, Spotter network GPS, and also stream with Windows Media Encoder. The small netbook mounts easily on the center console of the Expedition and doesn't get in the way of the dashboard, airbags or my legroom. If you want more out of a laptop or plan to use it for several applications other than these, then I'd suggest a different brand or beefier model. If not, then it's not a bad option for $200. Use the link below to see the setup if you'd like.

 

[D. Hayes]

You get what you pay for. I've had good luck with higher end Acer and Dell laptops. Toshiba seems to make solid notebooks as well. Any budget laptop is going to crap out soon as the warranty ends. Least in my experience it's been that way.

I steer clear of Compaq/HP and Gateway. As always, get a warranty if it's offered and computer insurance.

 

[Dave Marshall]

I'll vote for the Toshiba. I've got a Satellite T135D-S1325 13.3" ultra-thin notebook. It's a nice middle ground between a full laptop and a netbook. It's got a butt kicker of a graphics GPU in it, good enough to render video in Premiere pretty quickly, a 6 hour battery life, and a nice big, bright screen thats great in the car. Super light too, only about 3.5lbs with the battery in it. After HP tried to scam me out of $500 last year, I ditched all my HP machines and moved to Toshiba. No complaints so far!

 

[Tim Vasquez]

You may want to have a look at the older IBM Thinkpad machines (and maybe also the Lenovo Thinkpad follow-ons) as those are built to be extra rugged and will last much longer than brittle laptops designed mainly for the board room. In my estimation they are especially suited to fixed mounts where the laptop feels the brunt of all the potholes, bumps, and of course the bone-breaking road surface of I-40 near downtown OKC. The firmware on the Thinkpads has G-force protection for the hard drives.

The downside here is the driver support (especially for video) is marginal under Vista and Windows 7, but having the latest & greatest is not really a necessity for basic Internet and GRLevel2 stuff.

I'm not sure if any specific lines of newer laptops are designed with a view toward ruggedness but that would be my main selection factor. Best of all with the Thinkpads, parts are extremely cheap... I use a Thinkpad T42 (2005 model) with Windows 7 and I paid $15 for a cigarette lighter adapter and $40 for battery a few months ago... and even in 2010 it runs like a champ, though I wouldn't try running Crysis on it.

Tim

 

[JeffGonzales]

I am currently using a Dell XPS m1210. Its about a 3 year old laptop and can find them for around $400-$500 on ebay. It has a intel core 2 duo, 4G ram, 320G hard drive and upgraded to windows 7. It also has 4 usb inputs which is great for chasing and has a input as well for firewire, so if u stream this is good to have. Its a small compact computer with a 12inch screen so easy to fit in the car. It is super fast and works well. While im chasing i am able to use GPSgate, GRlevel3, Skype, and an encorder to stream.

This computer comes with two options for video cards. One is a Nvidia and the other is a intel card. Be sure to get the Intel video card version because the Nvidia option is know to be faulty. The video card is also onboard to the mother board so it is not easy or cheap to replace, so to avoid that go with the inter video card.

Overall i have been very pleased with this laptop for chasing. These sold for over $1200 new but now im sure u can get a great deal on one. Let me know if u have ne questions.

 

[Mark Blue]

I personally own a 17" Toshiba that's coming up on 3 years old now. It was built as a gaming machine in the first part of 2007 when Vista first came out. I've upgraded it over the years so the memory is maxed out at 4 GB and I installed a 500 GB Hitachi hard drive in it to replace the OEM 200 GB (Fujitsu), and at that time performed a clean install using the restore disk. It does a fine job for chasing purposes, but is a hair big for most folks tastes. We use it in a Nissan Murano and have a Jotto Desk so there is enough room, but if I were you I'd look for something in the 13" - 14" range.

For Christmas I bought my wife an N81 Series Asus 14" gaming powerhouse. It has an Intel Core2Duo T9600 processor, 4 GB RAM, and an ATI 4670 graphics adapter with 1 GB of dedicated memory just for graphics. With rebate and all I was able to purchase it for right at $1,000.00 and it has been just awesome. Your money today will go a lot further than it would 2 or 3 years ago when it comes to buying a laptop. I kind of wish it was my chasing laptop, but live and learn I guess. I can't really say enough good things about Asus and their brand image. They used to mainly deal in high end hardware like mobos and graphics cards, but over the last few years have really blossomed as a company. In fact when you go into a Best Buy nowadays you'll see several Asus laptops lining the rows, so they are definitely making in roads into the brick and mortar stores. I've looked at the Sony's as well and they always command a price premium, but whatever choice you make just do your research beforehand and you'll be just fine.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Thanks so much to everyone for the quick responses! Definitely things to think about. I hopefully will secure a laptop by the end of Apr. so I'm not bugging certain folks for info all the time when I can chase. One other question, What about these "tough books" I've been hearing about? A govt. job I was considering a couple of years ago had these tough books and they supposedly held up great. I'm wondering if they have enough memory for the GRLevel 3 and GPS. Wasn't really thinking about storing video but is an option.
My MAC which I love.. will suffice in that especially when I add more memory so I can finally start on sifting through 10 years of footage so I can make a highlights tape.. (or about 4 of them..?). I will be looking into Toshiba's as they have a good track record according to Consumers Reports.

Keep the replies coming in or PM me. Thanks again..

 

[Mark Blue]

Hey Rocky,

I subscribe to Laptop magazine and it seems as though Panasonic Toughbooks would fit the bill as they are built for rugged environments, only problem is they cost a boatload of cash. I could swear they run well north of 2-3K in price in some of the adds I've seen in the magazine. If you have the money to spend that's fine, otherwise you might want to look elsewhere.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[D. Hayes]

Toughbooks are awesome if you get the tougher models. Yes they do have cheaper models built less rugged. We use several here in the military under all weather conditions. Beat the living crap out of them and they keep going. When they first released them a Panasonic rep came out to our squadron and held the laptop over his head and let it go. Smacked hard on the concrete and bounced around. Picked it up and it fired right up like nothing.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

I just purchased an Asus G51jx I wanted an i7 core and fast graphics. When making video clips for download this laptop screams. I love the lighted keyboard that is adjustable. The radars look fantastic on the screen. Good warranty. Most likely overkill but enjoyable overkill................a lot of USB ports.



Display

• 15.6" WUXGA FHD Color-Shine (Glare-type) (1920x1080)

Processor & Chipset

• Intel® Core™ Mobile i7 Quad Core Mobile Processors
• Chipset: Intel® HM55 Express Chipset

Storage & Drives

• 1 Detachable 2.5" 9.5mm (H) SATA Hard Disk Drives
• 1 12.7mm (H) Optical Drive Bay, ATA Interface,
  Interchangeable with DVD±R/RW Combo drive, Blu-ray/DVD±R/RW Combo Drive

Memory

• Supports Dual Channel DDRIII SDRAM
• Four 204Pin SODIMM sockets
• Expandable up to 16GB DDRIII 1333MHz

Video Controller

• nVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 360M 1024MB GDDR5 VRAM
• PCI-Express™ 16X
• Microsoft® DirectX® 10 Compatible
• Dual-View capable Supports two different applications open at one time; one on the External Monitor, and one on the Laptop Screen. Multi-tasking has never been more convenient.

Audio & Multimedia Features

• Support Dolby® Home Theater
• 3D Stereo Enhanced Sound System
• Built-in Azalia compliant audio chip, with 3D effect & full duplex
• S/PDIF output
• 1 Built-in Microphone
• Built-in Altec Lansing Speakers
• Sound Blaster compatible

Network / Communication

• Integrated V.92 MDC Fax/Modem, with AC-Link Version. 2.1 Compliant
• Built-in Gigabit Ethernet LAN
• Built-in Bluetooth™ V2.1+EDR
• Integrated 802.11 b/g/n with Optional Intel® Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module

Keyboard / Pointing Device

• 340mm Illuminated Chiclet Full Sized Keyboard with Numeric Key Pad
• Windows Hot keys
• Integrated Touchpad with Scrolling function

Operating System / Utilities

• Genuine Windows 7® Home Premium 64-Bit
• XP Available (loses some functionality)
• Asus Win flash for BIOS and Driver live Update
  ASUS CopyProtect
  ASUS SmartLogon
  Asus Power4Gear eXtreme
  Asus Live Update
  Power 4 Phone
  Asus NB Probe +
  Asus Data Security Management(ADSM)
  ASUS Direct Console
  ASUS Express Gate

Slots

• 1 Express Card 34 / 54 Slot
• 8 in 1 card reader, SD,MMC,MS,MS-Pro,xD,mini SD w/ adapter,MS-Duo,MS-Pro Duo via adapter

Hot Keys

• Function Keys:
  Fn+F1 Suspend switch
  Fn+F2 WLAN switch
  Fn+F2 Bluetooth switch
  Fn+F3 Access to the E-mail
  Fn+F4 Access to the Internet
  Fn+F5 Brightness down
  Fn+F6 Brightness up
  Fn+F7 LCD on/off
  Fn+F9 TouchPad Lock
  Fn+F10 Volume on/mute
  Fn+F11 Volume down
  Fn+F12 Volume up
  Fn+Num Lk: Scroll Lock on/off
  Fn+Space Power 4Gear eXtreme
  Fn+C Splendid
  Fn+T Power4Phone
  Fn+V Camera capture
  Fn+↑: Stop
  Fn+↓: Play/Pause
  Fn+ ←：Skip to Previous Track
  Fn+ →：Skip to Next Track

Input / Output Ports

• 1 x Microphone-in jack
• 1 x Headphone-out jack (S/PDIF)
• 1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
• 4 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x IEEE 1394 port
• 1 x RJ45 LAN
• 1 x HDMI
• 1 x E-SATA

Power System

• 6 cells: 4800 mAh,, smart Lithium-Ion battery pack
• Output: 19 V DC, 6.32 A, 120W
• Input: 100~240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal

Cooling

• Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound optional
• Copper CPU Heatsink

Size & Weight

• 7.26lbs with 6-cell battery
• 14.6" * 10.3" * 1.3"-1.6" (W x D x H)

Additional Features

• Kensington® Lock
• Built-in 2.0M Digital Video Camera
• Optical Mouse & Carrying Bag Included

Warranty

• ASUS 2-year limited global hardware warranty
• 24/7 ASUS Telephone Technical Support
• 1 Year Accidental Damage Protection. (Must be registered in 60 days of order. North American Only)
• Free two-way standard shipping when sending laptops in for repair/service
• 1-year battery pack warranty
• On-line problem resolution through web interface (BIOS, Driver update)
• Xotic PC 24/7 Technical Support provided on models customized with Operating System
• 1 Year Xotic PC Warranty provided on customized components
• Additional Warranty Options Available

 

[Stuart Robinson]

I am with Tim, I like the IBM / Lenovo laptops (Currently a T400) after I retired my T42. I have also run Dell letitudes D620

One option I would suggest (after having the hard disk fail on me mid chase last year) is to replace the hard disk with a solid state Disk (SSD). With no moving parts a zero seek time they really do provide a performnace boot and are virtually unbrakable.

Still after last years hard disk fail - I do carry a replacement disk with me which is just an axect clone of the orginal.

Any one else running a SSD in there laptop?

 

[brandongreen]

Toshiba a505 ftw.

 

[Jason Foster]

Yes, that is another fun feature...although not really necessary for chasing....i7 processors can be hacked/jailbreaked...whatever (can you tell I'm not a techie) and through a virtual operating system, you can also run it as a MAC. I thought that was cool. No more need to waste money on actually buying a MAC just to get into the Final Cut Pro world. I don't know the details...you'll have to check the net for that, but I've seen it in person, and that is certainly an option I'll be looking at during the next purchase.

Again, I know that's far from a 'basic' chase computer...but thought I'd mention it anyway....as some highend media storm chasers might like that option.