Laptop Talk

Hello,

I am thinking of purchasing a new Laptop dedicated just for Weather software such as Weather Display , WXSIM and some Weather Radar and may also like to eventually have a personal Weather Website added.

My Question is, due to the fact that it will be running 24/7 will this be a problem for the Laptop ?
I have heard that overheating would be an issue.

I already have two Desktops , one of which is ready to expire with XP on it and one with Windows 7 Pro which I didn’t want to use as it is the family Computer.

I’ve noticed that a lot of folks from the Forum have, or are using a Laptop as a dedicated Weather source.
I am wondering if there are any issues by using a Laptop as opposed to using a Desktop, and if so, any workarounds .

Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Regards,
Dave

In the past I’ve tried using a laptop…yes heat was a problem. I felt like running a laptop 24/7 was asking for trouble, they just aren’t made to sustain that much abuse #-o

A thought, you need a lap cooler that plugs into the usb to keep the battery cooler. I would assume that if you are doing 24/7 you are connected to power , definitely you want to keep your unit cool. A desktop is better as it has at least 2 cooling fans and is intended on being on 24/7.

If it were me in the same situation as you are, I would go with a laptop lap cooler to help the fans keep it going. Then with the display, tune the brightness down if not off to help with the cooling.

Something like this: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/enhance-gaming-laptop-cooling-pad-stand-with-led-cooler-fans-red/5845312.p?skuId=5845312&ref=212&loc=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5s3cBRCAARIsAB8ZjU3uFEmM6JLC1rMdOwAqYiqf_fxdfpPMnCBWDFQCUGtfyIq9Y2G4aXMaAk5hEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I use a netpc
i.e low spec netbook

but lately with the latest windows 10 updates, sometimes (one a week?) it goes to sleep/hybernate…its powered off, but I have hold the power button, it comes back up sraight away (windows) with everyone still running (but hybernating) and yet I have turned off all those settings in windows 10 8O

I actually prefer using a PC for weather station work. The desktop is the unit of choice and it seems of late the cost of them is going down. Since it is a dedicated unit you can turn the monitor off and have it running 24/7. If you are having to go with a laptop, because of financial reasons, then I would go with the lap cooler as I wrote.
As batteries discharge they get hot. The PC desk would solve that because they are made to be on 24/7

Hi,

My input.

I just purchased a Dell Optiplex 7010 SSF with Intel Core i5, 3.4 GHZ, 8 GB RAM, 500GB with Win 7 Pro on eBay a couple of weeks ago for my aging desktop that has been on for about 24/7 for the past 10 years or so.

The 7010 has a serial port as well as many USB ports. The serial port was needed as my Davis console has a serial connector. I almost have it set up to run what I need. Just one more issue I need to resolve is my web cam is not being recognized on the network for some reason. I may have to get another camera as my other computer is not able to connect to this camera also. For some reason my current weather computer still can recognize the camera. Camera is another issue though that I need to solve.

Hope that this 7010 computer will work as it does have smaller foot print on my desk. A good plus.

Regards,

–Stan Y.
Maui, Hawaii

We’ve run Lenovo (and formerly IBM) Thinkpads all day, every day, in a relatively warm environment for years without issues so I don’t think it’s fair to globally state that all laptops have poor thermal design.

My personal choice for running WD and scripts etc. is a low power desktop. I have three Intel Atom (fanless) mini-ITX PC’s running 24x7 for various purposes. But if I was buying a new one today it would be a mini box like the Intel NUC or less expensive brand.

I ran Windows 10 with WD on a Sony Vaio laptop for about a year, ive recently swapped it to a Acer with an i5 purely for the faster top of the minute updates, the laptop sits on a table in the conservatory/lean too, the doors are open all day long, its not aircon’ed and its not insulated and its sat on decking, in the summer it gets very hot in there if the doors are closed (when i go out) and very cold during the winter, think we hit -10C this winter just gone so it wouldnt have been much above freezing in there. the Laptop is running 24/7 and other then connectivity issues , theres never been any other issue (other than the latest update to w10) Laptops are quite hardy bits of kit but you need to be mindful of dust because the fans are not as big. when big advantage over a PC is the saving on power consumption, i went from around 400w down to 65w, thats a big saving for me.

Was 400 watts the max rating of the PC power supply or the actual measured power consumption? Unless used for high end gaming most PC’s normally run at a fraction of the max rating.

That was the actual wattage used on average from what my smart meter was telling me, the actual max/peak wattage was 700w for the psu, didn’t help having a reasonable graphics card, quad i5 with 16gb ram, 4x1tb drives and a additional pci sound blaster, it all adds up, then there’s the constant mirror backup for wd and wxsim, it was used as my personal pc too, now its upgraded to a 4gb graphics and a i7 and used for editing 4k,the weather is solely on the laptop, with that and changing the TV to a 55" led from a 37" lcd saving about 200w there as well, changing all my lights to led, I am now saving at least

[quote author=BWX link=topic=67038.msg538656#msg538656 date=1536502976]
That was the actual wattage used on average from what my smart meter was telling me, the actual max/peak wattage was 700w for the psu, didn’t help having a reasonable graphics card, quad i5 with 16gb ram, 4x1tb drives and a additional pci sound blaster, it all adds up, then there’s the constant mirror backup for wd and wxsim, it was used as my personal pc too, now its upgraded to a 4gb graphics and a i7 and used for editing 4k,the weather is solely on the laptop, with that and changing the TV to a 55" led from a 37" lcd saving about 200w there as well, changing all my lights to led, I am now saving at least

I had an AZW Z83-V (Intel Atom) that worked well 24/7 until the next Windows 10 “Feature Upgrade” came along. So I got a Gigabyte BRIX (also fanless), which has worked beautifully. I view WD in client mode on my desktop, and use TeamViewer to view/control the BRIX “server” WD.