Windows Laptop Specs

[rfm55555]

I am considering purchasing a Windows laptop to more easily run BYE and PHD2.

Current lying trying to run in a Parallels installation of Windows 8 on a MacBook Pro ... Kind of clugy.

Most of the newer laptops come with Windows 10, 64 bit.

Will these two programs run on such a device?

What laptop configuration would work best for these programs?

[astroman133]

I have owned several PC's going back to the 1980's I have never upgraded their operating system. As a result, both my desktop and laptop are running Windows 7. That said, I have friends who are running both BYE and PHD2 on Windows 10, along with the ASCOM Platform and drivers and other processing software like Nebulosity and Photoshop. They are having no issues.

 

The worst that I have heard of is that for some of the systems that have been upgraded to Win10, there appear to be some security issues that require the user to run some apps "As Administrator" for them to work completely. This is not a fault of those apps, rather it is likely a result of mangled security settings on parts of the Windows Registry.

[astroman133]

Please don't double-post.

 

The BYE User Guide has a Pre-requisites section which has the minimum prerequisites for a system to run BYE/BYN.

 

I copied it here:

 

Prerequisites

 

BackyardEOS is built using the Microsoft .Net Framework and runs only on Windows operating systems.

 

 

The Mandatories:

·Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 or higher

·Microsoft .Net 4.0 (the installer will detect if it is not installed on your computer)

 

The Minimum:

·All items in 'The mandatories'

·Screen resolution of 1024 x 600

·Single CPU

·1GB memory

 

The Recommended:

·All items in 'The mandatories'

·Screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher

·Dual CPU or more

·2GB memory or more

 

 

 

Exceptions...

 

BackyardEOS will run on both Windows 32 bits and 64 bits alike... but there are a few exceptions...

 

If you have an older camera such as the Canon 5D, 20D, 20Da, 30D, or 350D, it will only work on Windows 32 bits.  This is because Canon does not have any 64 bits drivers for there older models.

 

All that said. I would make sure of the following:

 

1) That your camera is supported by 64-bit Windows

2) That the built-in display has a higher screen resolution than the minimum stated above

3) That it has several USB 2.0 ports. You are already talking about connecting 2 cameras. In addition, connecting the mount and a focuser, along with an external keyboard and mouse, are not unusual.

4) That you have minimum 8 GB RAM memory

5) That you have plenty of available hard drive space for image storage. At least 250 GB.

 

If you are going to do image processing on the same laptop, then more, faster cores are recommended as well as a fast video card with plenty of video RAM and even more free hard drive space. This could drive you to a higher end gaming machine.

 

I hope this helps.

[admin]

All of my development environments are Windows 10.  It gets tested upfront

 

Regards,

[admin]

I have merged your 2 posts as they are the same

[s3igell]

Almost any Windows PC with an i3 or i5 with 4GB RAM and 250GB HDD will run BackyardEOS just fine.

 

However, you will want to embellish this "Minimum":

1) You will want a FullHD screen - or at least 1366x768 -  since you will need screen space to run BYE as well as PHD2 and whatever other Mount Control / Focuser Control / Planetarium Apps that you favor.

2) You will want 8GB RAM - since these other Apps will also want their share of RAM.

3) You will want at least 3x USB Ports - hopefully at least one USB2 although most USB3 Ports are now proving to be truly backward-compatible.

4) You will want to be concerned about Battery Duration - unless you have A/C Power at your Observing Site - so don't go Overboard on RAM or HDDs or Backlit Keyboards but rather on Larger Battery if that is an Option

 

Beyond this, you'll need to decide whether you want your Image Capture Laptop to also be your Image Processing Laptop.

If so, you'll need:

1) More RAM - 16GB or even more is never really Enough...

2) You'll want a 512GB or 1TB SSD (standard SATAIII or better yet M.2 if your Laptop will support it) - forget/remove/replace the Laptop HDD as it will be the Slowest part of the Image Processing no matter how much RAM you add.

3) You'll want to ensure that you have the FullHD Screen - or a 2nd LCD Monitor attached by HDMI or DisplayPort.

 

Of course, nothing says that you need to use a Windows PC/Laptop for your Image Processing just because you are using a Windows Laptop for your Image Capture...

[rfm55555]

Thanks for all of the very thorough and helpful responses.