Chasing Technology... Scott's Blog

[Scott Bennett]

I have wanted to do some "Chasing Technology" blogs for some time and finally made the commitment to get it done. I wrote the first 3 blog entries and will be posting them each week.

If your interested on what I think makes a good chase laptop I invite you to check it out.

Next week will be how to use GpsGate with SN and the following week Using HAM radio while chasing.

If anyone has ideas on topics they would like to see covered I will do them each week until storm season or our ideas run out.

Choosing A Chase Laptop At EndlessWeather

THANKS!

 

[Jason Foster]

I have wanted to do some "Chasing Technology" blogs for some time and finally made the commitment to get it done. I wrote the first 3 blog entries and will be posting them each week.

If your interested on what I think makes a good chase laptop I invite you to check it out.

Next week will be how to use GpsGate with SN and the following week Using HAM radio while chasing.

If anyone has ideas on topics they would like to see covered I will do them each week until storm season or our ideas run out.

Choosing A Chase Laptop At EndlessWeather

THANKS!

LOL...I am also working on the same, although a tad different (like down playing the ham radio part). It must be 'that time of year'.

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

Great post Scott! I'll admit, I'm not as "savvy" on the inner-workings of computers as I am with radios and the other gadgets that get attached to the laptop, so I really appreciated your information.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Twas' a good read indeed Mr. Bennett. Having read through your cogent thoughts, I don't feel so 'naked' running my nearly 4-year-old Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop, which, judging by both your current analysis and my needs, really isn't all that bad of a device for said purposes.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I agree with the whole "admin" problem in WinVista and Win7. It's extremely annoying, even when you're not mobile. To top it off, the permissions aren't as easily changed as they are on a *nix or Mac. They have a mind of their own.

 

[RogerPemberton]

Scott,

That was an excellent blog post. I completely agree that you don't need a high end laptop for chasing. I've been involved in the IT field for 12 years so I am "that guy" that all of my friends turn to when computer shopping. It still amazes me that some people think they need an Alienware laptop to do email and browse. People tend to think overkill is better. Not in the case of chasing. The most important thing in your blog to me was the line: "disposable laptop that if it gets filled with water you wont loose sleep over."

Lets face it, this isn't a matter of "if" your chasing laptop dies, it is certainly "when". Most laptops, outside of the Toughbook variety, just aren't made to withstand the sort of elements that chase laptops are exposed to. You are much better off buying three $500 laptops than one $1,500 laptop. In the area of chasing the $500 laptop (if properly spec'd) will give you more than enough performance and it won't make you cry too hard when you leave a window down and a hailstone turns your screen into abstract art.

 

[Ryan Schwartz]

Twas' a good read indeed Mr. Bennett. Having read through your cogent thoughts, I don't feel so 'naked' running my nearly 4-year-old Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop, which, judging by both your current analysis and my needs, really isn't all that bad of a device for said purposes.

I use a similar laptop...a Dell Inspiron E1705 with 2 GB of RAM, 80 GB HD, and NVIDIA GeForce 7 series mobile graphics card and it's more than enough for chasing.

Buying a laptop with all the latest bells and whistles is completely unnecessary if all you're using it for is chasing. If you're HD video editing, then you'll want a decent processor...probably an Intel i5 or i7...and at least 4 GB of RAM.

 

[James Hammett]

Beware of the sub-notebooks (not even netbooks)...I have a Dell D430 and its tiny 1.8" hard drive is way too slow for the heavy multitasking required when chasing.

I've been so plagued with reliability issues over the years I'm moving away from a laptop entirely and building a CarPC under-seat with server-grade ECC memory and mirrored disk. Overkill? Not for me! (everything fails at the worst possible time)

 

[Adam Lucio]

Excellent tips there Scott.

For the past 2 seasons Ive been using a refurbished IBM thinkpad I purchased for 300 bucks. Everything worked on it the first time I tried. Its not big, bulky or heavy and fits in the laptop stand perfectly. As an added bonus it has 2 sets of clicker buttons so when one was damaged I had another as backup. I only use it to chase so the 40gb hard drive is more than enough. I have maxed out the memory like you said and all my chasing apps run fine. It even has that keyboard light [although I always forget how to activate it]

The only downfall is slower editing of HD video.

if/when it dies I will definitely be looking to purchase another one like it.

 

[Scott Bennett]

Thanks everyone for the input!.... and yes Jason my blog will be the "Practical" uses of a HAM radio in todays world.

I had an interesting one sided discussion with someone at Barrons about Mobile ThreatNet so that will be a topic real soon.