Laptop advice/experiences

[ricardito]

Our club laptops are getting old (properly old, like 13+ years) and we’re starting to think about a replacement programme.

Obviously we want something capable standing up to the treatment we’ll be giving it, including outdoor/semi-outdoor use, and as near as possible rock-solid reliable (who wants a laptop failure in the middle of an event? ). A bright screen would be a significant advantage. Blazing fast performance is less of a consideration.

Does anyone have any experience/knowledge that would help guide our choice? There’s an awful lot out there, so some starting points would be useful.

Thanks!

[roadrunner]

I bought a Lenovo V155 laptop at the start of lockdown, initially for Zoom and the like (the cheapest I could get!) and also used it to control a telescope for astronomy - which has meant it getting covered in dew by morning, as well as operating in temperatures below freezing. It's given no trouble at all with this sort of abuse, so would probably be fine for what you need (if it's still made). The only drawback is short battery life.

[kedge]

The general computing requirements for orienteering are generally pretty light: there's no point in buying a brand new top spec laptop which is going to be sitting in a cupboard between events gathering dust. And bear in mind, the very laptops are often short on ports: you will need USB sockets for Download box, splits printer, possibly a mouse.

So your best bet is to go for ex-corporate machines, built with high end components which companies dispose at about three years old as they get to the end of a contract, rather than cheaper machines aimed at the consumer market. Companies like Tier1 or ITZOO will sell you these machines, prices graduated depending on their condition.

We started with Dell machines but have slowly graduated to Lenovo Thinkpads, which have great keyboards and are generally built to pass American Military Specs, so they are pretty robust and often have splash resistant keyboards. If you drop a Thinkpad on your foot, your foot will come off worse.

So a newer machine to act as the server for big events or to use on its own for smaller events. Repurpose your existing machines to network as slave machines, which are largely used for Download and queries, replacing them when they show signs of failing. Even if they were to fail at an event, you aren't going to lose the event, just a workstation.

Alternatively, five or six years old Thinkpad x series machines can often be found for around £100 and work well as slave machines or for running small events.

[Atomic]

Just to chuck a couple of extra thoughts out:

1. Make sure it has the ports you need (and lots of them). We see a lot of laptops cutting back on USB ports for physical space reasons. Then you end up with hubs and headaches about which devices play nice in a hub etc.
2. Not all laptops come with Network ports now - if your events are big enough to be networked. Adapters are available but will take up a USB port.
3. Its probably hard to buy a laptop without an SSD hard disk theses days - but they are much more robust than spinning magnetic disks
4. Physical robustness. Beware some of the really tough ones are a lot heavier. if you have to lug this stuff 1km from a car park you'll wish someone just wrapped a normal one in bubble wrap (and people will be more gentle with it too). Less of an issue if your download is always in the car park - but then possibly less need for protection too.

[Scott]

Not all laptops come with Network ports now - if your events are big enough to be networked. Adapters are available but will take up a USB port.

Are there reasons for not just networking over wifi these days? I can't see that syncing a results database between a few laptops would need a wired connection, as long as you're not also attempting to serve the local wifi results to competitors over the same network (I'm looking at you, JK2019).

Wifi is obviously more demanding on battery life, but if your event is big enough to be networked, it's probably also big enough to want some sort of power supply.

[Atomic]

Not all laptops come with Network ports now - if your events are big enough to be networked. Adapters are available but will take up a USB port.

Are there reasons for not just networking over wifi these days? I can't see that syncing a results database between a few laptops would need a wired connection, as long as you're not also attempting to serve the local wifi results to competitors over the same network (I'm looking at you, JK2019).

Wifi is obviously more demanding on battery life, but if your event is big enough to be networked, it's probably also big enough to want some sort of power supply.

I don't know - but I know we still do it by ethernet cable.