Topic: Laptop specs for Reefmaster

[newkid4si]

If you were going to buy a new laptop,where is the line at for bang for the buck and wasting money.
Dedicated use is for Reefmaster and Humviewer mostly.  Windows 7.

  4th Gen (haswell)  i3, i5, i7 ?     (better battery life)
  screen size ?                             (thinking 15")
  RAM ?
  HD size or SSD ?

               Mike

[Kokanee]

I am using an HP 17' laptop G72-260US from 2010. It has an i3, 4gb ram and has worked flawlessly for ReefMaster, Humminbird PC, and several SI converters. Recently bumped ram to 8 gb (max) to run a little faster with SI mosaic overlays. Got it on a Walmart clearance for $548, sells now for $850! 

[newkid4si]

Kokanee

         Thanks. Increasing RAM would probably be a good choice. I just didn't know how much it might take.
 
              Mike

[Kokanee]

I have been using it with 4 gb with no problem. Went to 8 for $89 and changed it in 5 min. through a panel cover on the bottom - no opening the unit!

I think the important thing is an i3, i5, i7 (7 if you are a gamer), because they are true quad-core chips. I have had ReefMaster opened along with Windows, Humminbird PC and Google Earth at the same time with 4gb and went to my email, too. So, 8 is not required, but I wanted 8 for me!

If you haven't used ReefMaster, you are in for a good time. The first time someone sees one of your maps and gives out the long "Ooooooooo", they want to do it too!

Have fun.

Lou

[matt@reefmaster]

Hi Newkid,
Lou's got it covered, really. Most current laptops are going to be fine, but the more RAM the better, especially for bigger maps, or running more than one map at once. At the moment RM is 32 bit, so it can't take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM, but more RAM will always help, especially if you are running other programs at the same time.
We will shortly be releasing a 64 bit version, which will increase the maximum map size significantly. We have beta testers creating maps of over 200km square with a 1m grid size - that takes a lot of memory during the map generation process!

matt

[newkid4si]

matt

     Thanks for the reply. Pulled the trigger on one yesterday.
     i7 (haswell)....17".....8GB RAM.... will replace 5400rpm HHD with SSD when prices come down out of the stratosphere.

           Mike

[matt@reefmaster]

Good stuff Mike - sounds like a decent rig. And - once you get an SSD, you'll never look back!

[Bob B]

matt

     Thanks for the reply. Pulled the trigger on one yesterday.
     i7 (haswell)....17".....8GB RAM.... will replace 5400rpm HHD with SSD when prices come down out of the stratosphere.

           Mike

You won't be sorry about updating to the SSD drive.  I got a new notebook with an I7 processor.....swapped out the hard drive for an SSD drive.....It is amazing how much faster the computer is.
I think most of the processors now days are I/O bound, so the more memory the better and the faster drive....WAY better.

This think will start up Win8 to the login screen in 4-5 seconds.  It took about 25 seconds before putting in the SSD drive.

The hard part was getting Win8 to work like I wanted.....almost getting that nailed down.