laptop requirements

Yeah ok Nudie, you want the minimum for good performance
It was damn slow on my dx66
very good with a 450 mhz pentium with 512 ram
goes like a rocket on my 1.4 celeron laptop with 512 ram

Get the best performance you can for your buck up front. That is the most RAM, the fastest Hard Drive speed, etc as you may well need it. As an example to run NATMAP Raster needs at least 128 Meg of RAM. You'll find with computers that yoiu really need to get more performance than you "think" you need.

It has nothing to do with the "top of the range laptop" but what are its basic features. There are a lot of reasonably priced laptops with the same faetures (speed, memory, hard drive, etc) as the expensive ones.

If you think you won't need Windows XP think again, the other versions of windows with be redundant very soon.

The less memory the computer has the longer it takes to get file that needs a lot of memory, usually with graphics, like maps, to open up. You will also face problems with graphics quality.

Pay peanuts..well you know the rest

Nudie, if you want the maximum, can't you go and buy the laptop with the biggest hard drive and biggest amount of RAM and the biggest processor.
I have a Toshiba 6100 with 20gig hard drive and 126meg ram and that runs oziexplorer connected to the lappy through the GPS just fine and dandy. Maybe if I was in a jet plane or something, more ram might be a need but the truck doesn't do 600k+ /hr down the road.

I'd buy a cheapie, say 4 yrs old, replace the dard drive with a decent size one, say 40 GB, and load the ram to at least 256 MB (194 MB at a pinch). Even a 700 MHz performs navigation effortlessly. This setup will run XP pro or W2000. Avoid Win ME

Agree with bob here,
Ya dont need the best for what you want to do mate.
A pentium 111 is excellent and cheap too. 20 gig is plenty. 256 meg ram is enough too but 512 would be perfect. I have XP pro installed on all my puters, to be honest, it runs much more reliable on my old p 111.

A top of the range laptop will cost you around $5,000. You can buy a laptop from somewhere such as Officeworks for $999 with Windoze XP, 256mb RAM, & a 40 gb Harddrive. These would do everything you want, with the protection of a warranty. Would seem much easier than buying second hand and modifying same.
Tanka.

Okay so any thing with 1 gig ram, 40+ gig hdd and with a cpu above 1.7 would be sufficient?

This sounds like middle of the road stuff!

Thanks guys

I agree with those above. Clear screens for maps requires graphics grunt. (Video memory on the graphics card.

If you have a large hard drive, you can dump all your maps on the drive for quick access.

The real question might be that once you have one you will use it for other things. Store photos, Store video, use it as a DVD player, Use it as a TV. For these of course you will need huge storage for video (maybe external harddrive), good graphics and fast processor to get great DVD playing and you will probably need external speakers. To use for TV you will need to have turner card.

These are optional extras which don't cost a lot but make it a single piece of equipment to do all things.

Ensure it has plenty of USB ports and most GPS need a RS232 port or else you will need an adaptor to connect via a USB port.

To use it in your vehicle you will need power supply. If you go inverter make sure it is a pure sine wave one and not just an inverter. You can also get a 12v gadget to provide power to the laptop straight from the vehicle. This gadget has a transformer which will change your 12v to match the laptop (15v or 18v depends on make and model)

Have fun with it!

Alan

Nudie
The question you need to be asking is what is the most stable system.

I agree with those who say you need quite modest performance, but you also might want to watch dvds or play games.

See if you can get some agreement as to the most reliable, robust lappie make and model ((not the most recent whizz bang) and make sure its components are known to be stable too.

How do I know these things? Well simply because I have older teens running whizz bang games computers in a network. However, there is only ONE computer in our network that is ALWAYS reliable and that is my old clunker built of boring tried and proven parts. Its graphics aren't great but it IS always stable.

EV700

Get a Tablet PC. The touch screen is great in the car for doing maps.

Mine's an NEC, but Toshiba make a very nice tablet with grunt. Won't give you much change out of $4k.

Nudie, I have a couple of old notebooks I run Ozi on, PIII 750MHz 384 megs memory, runs it fine, except the screens are old and dull, compared with Lucy's gun notebook mine was very hard to read in the sunlight, so go new or newer, and make sure the screens good

Hi nudie

I agree with $999 from office works. Maybe even Acer from big W around $1200

For what you need:

Celeron processor (reasonably fast)
256 -512 meg ram
40 gig hard drive

Most come with dvd player or burner. The Acer from Big W has a burner.

Great for watching dvd's. Tv tuners for laptops still arnt to flash.

Cheers Peter

goodday nudie
do you work for yourself
if so surely you need 1 for your job and you can lease it 100% tax deduction

steve

Nudie,
Dell are offering an Inspiron 2200 for $898, delivered . 256meg, Celeron, 14" screen. Not much to upgrade to 512mb (might be free at the moment). At this price, you get a new unit, new battery, warranty, etc and this makes second-had ones pale a bit in price.
Most lappies these days don't have a serial Com port, so you will probably have to invest in a usb-serial converter module.
When searching for whatever you buy, check the overall dimensions, as some of the wide-screen versions are starting to get a bit cumbersome in your lap (depends how big your lap is, I guess - lol).
I prefer a lappy which can run off a 12v converter, rather than use a 240v inverter. More efficient overall. If going for a 12v converter, check what the specs are on the label of the lappie's 240v power supply - some thirsty lappies need DC up to about 7-8A, and it may be hard to source a 12v converter to deliver this much. If the power supply states somewhere between 15v and 20v at 4A on the label, then you have a reasonable unit and will have no problems sourcing a 12v converter. (hope that all makes sense)
On the really cheap side, Oatley electronics are selling Pentium 266 IBM Thinkpads for about $119 Oatley specials
Good hunting, Gerry

Gentlemen (and Ladies)
Regarding the original question I have seen a 150,hz machine with 64 Meg of Ram run the programs that you want to run efficiently. Its a bit like choosing to drive to Perth in a VW beetle over a Porsche 911 it will do the job but it will be slower.
I work on Laptops daily and would strongly suggest that EVERYONE avoids cheap Laptops structurally and electonically they dont cut it, They are nearly always trouble and if they havent been thus far then the day is probably near.
I would stick to buying corporate grade machines that have come off of corporate release. I have used 7 IBM Thinkpad T (T stands for Titanium) series Laptops without the hint of failure and if you buy them from IBM they will most likely still have factory warranty. These machines (other brands in the same category should be fine) have performed completely reliably and have proved to be very durable. I have repaired the cheap jobs and have seen firsthand the chaos that cutting costs during manufacture cause.
For the applications that you are discussing you dont need to go too wild in fact just focusing on the specifications with new cheap laptops will cause you issues, cheap poorly designed machines can overheat and have a limited life span. Dont forget that running a cheap laptop in a 4x4 while mobile with its poorly designed hinges will inevitably lead to structural issues.
I guess its a bit like buying a New Terracan compared to an Old Land Cruiser it may not be quite as flash but it probably wont let you down.
I wish you well

Something I found out a few months back is that Toshiba is starting to re-introduce serial ports on some of their laptop computers. Even a low spec Toshiba now has a serial and printer port as standard. No need to use a USB to Serial adapter to get NMEA GPS info into Oziexplorer, with the associated problems of changing COM ports when you plug into a different USB socket...
It was starting to get harder and harder to find a serial port on a laptop, hopefully times are changing for the better??

My 2 cents.

Don't under estimate Acer. Well made, they make an aweful lot of the machines other brands re-badge and sell as their own. They are also amongst the cheaper ones.
I agree that the 7200rpm drives (upto 60gb only so far) make a huge difference to performance. Running XP go for 512mb of RAM.

A Mobility processor will run much much cooler than just about any other in a laptop. For that reason stay away from a P4 unless its an M class as in the car they will overheat quickly.

Its the build quality and warranty that will count the most for you when its in the car.

I'm happy to store the laptop away and use my PDA whilst moving. Then I only need to use the laptop to setup new maps, and for entertainment purposes.
The PDA uses much less power, is easier to mount and use, and is easy to stick in my pocket when I leave the car (with a Bluetooth GPS unit it also becomes a useful portable unit). Also means the laptop will last longer as its the shocks it takes while out of its bag and running that do the most damage.