Laptop/notebook for scientific camera

[einatlev]

Hello,
I am a scientist and I am looking for a netbook/small laptop to connect to my lab/field camera. The camera records at a resolution of 320 by 240 at a rate of 60 Hz. The camera is connected to the computer through Gigabit Ethernet cable.
Do I need a specially fast hard drive, or would any normal drive would do? the recordings would normally not be larger than 5 minutes long, so about 3 Gbyte per file.
Oh, and it needs to run Windows because the recording software that comes with the camera only runs on Windows.
Thanks!!!!

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Ask the camera manufacturer...

Also ask them WHICH version of Windows their software will run on ..XP,VISTA,WINDOWS 7 etc etc...

Also 3 gb per file is not exactly small...if you take the average new laptop as having a 500 gb hard drive with say 50gb used for windows/programs etc you are only going to get 150 recordings before you run out of hard drive space...and dont even think about a 500gb SSD lol...that would be heart attack time....unless you have a LOT of budget for this...

All the best Brett

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Oops forgot to add ....

Dont even think about a netbook, not powerful enough for what you want and basically they are just toys...

All the best Brett

 

[einatlev]

Thanks Brett!
Manufacturer says any new Windows (vista/7/xp) would work.
So you think disk speed is not going to be an issue? it seems hard to find a laptop with both gigabit ethernet and a 7200 rpm disk under the budget I have (preferably under 400 dollars)...
Thanks again

 

[Brett928S2]

Thanks Brett!
Manufacturer says any new Windows (vista/7/xp) would work.
So you think disk speed is not going to be an issue? it seems hard to find a laptop with both gigabit ethernet and a 7200 rpm disk under the budget I have (preferably under 400 dollars)...
Thanks again

Hi )

Ok..you want Windows 7...a LOT better than Vista lol...

Disk speed may be an issue but for that price you are not going to get much choice...and no SSD`s lol

To be honest a its for business/scientific use, you REALLY need a serious budget....$400 is toy time...

$2000 IS SERIOUS TIME...ssd`S ETC...and a fast cpu etc etc...

Oh by the way check with them again whether their software will work with BOTH 32 and 64 bit Windows... as a lot of cheap laptops dont give you a choice...

All the best Brett

 

[einatlev]

Thanks again
:To be honest a its for business/scientific use, you REALLY need a serious budget....$400 is toy time..." -- tell that to the National Science Foundation
I found something that will work just fine, the HP dv4 model. I have the dv6 for my HD camera and it works just fine. The new camera has lower resolution so even less data is needed.
Thanks!

 

[lafontma]

Pure math... 3GB per 5 min = 10 MB/s...

Any hard disk should be able to maintain that if no other process (besides the OS) are running. As for CPU/etc... all depends on what the software is doing/requires. If it's only "receiving" the file on writing on disk, that should not be very intensive.