[eoinmcdonnell]

Hey,

Does anyone have a recommended laptop for PCap? We were hoping to use netbooks but the processors don't quite cut it.

What we're hoping to find is a reasonably fast but very lightweight laptop. We've got the recommended spcs from Echo and are thinking about buying a few of these (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179792 ) to hand out to staff looking to try Echo out.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Eoin

[Wes Barnes]

Hi Eoin --

I took a look at the laptop that you are looking at and the specs for the laptop look good but they do not have a webcam built in. This would require you to purchase external webcams to support video capture. Details of specs and webcam support can be found here:

http://confluence.ec...ture+Deployment

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

Wes Barnes

[Brett Dalton]

Wes Barnes, on 14 July 2010 - 09:50 AM, said:

Hi Eoin --

I took a look at the laptop that you are looking at and the specs for the laptop look good but they do not have a webcam built in. This would require you to purchase external webcams to support video capture. Details of specs and webcam support can be found here:

http://confluence.ec...ture+Deployment

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

Wes Barnes

Eoin, I've used PCAP on 2008 Mac books (both OSX and bootcamped), Dell Studio 15', several different Dell Inspirons all without issue. Avoid the netbooks for several reasons including the processor power isn't enough, and their size is a disadvantage because the camera position is too low. Besides you can get a decent low end laptop for $100-$150Au more than a decent netbook (60 Pounds or so). I have used an Asus F81SE-VX79C ($800Au) which is quite reasonably priced and a dam good machine which may also be appropriate although I don't think that model is available in the UK but there's sure to be a similar one. It's quite light and a good size, all driver were available for Windows 7, it also has a spill resistant keybaord which is good for longevity in a Uni setting. Hope that helps a bit.


Wes, just read over the link you posted. The 4:3 screen issue is a bad one for laptops, basically you can't get a 4:3 laptop any more and most of the people using PCAP at LTU are using it on laptops because the can do recordings out of hours and upload it at work. Given PCAP does a local pre-compress when recording is it possible to add black bars to maintain the aspect ratio at that point. This would fix the problem for both ESS and Lectopia with no server end changes required.

Thanks
BRETT

[eoinmcdonnell]

Hi Wes,

Thanks for the link - very useful.

We'll probably go for an external cam as it's more flexible in positioning, framing, etc. Although if you've got one that you'd recommend with a cam (though I realise that might be seen as a product endorsement) that'd be useful.

Thanks,

Eoin

Wes Barnes, on 14 July 2010 - 09:50 AM, said:

Hi Eoin --

I took a look at the laptop that you are looking at and the specs for the laptop look good but they do not have a webcam built in. This would require you to purchase external webcams to support video capture. Details of specs and webcam support can be found here:

http://confluence.ec...ture+Deployment

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

Wes Barnes

[eoinmcdonnell]

Thanks Brett - we'll definitely give the Asus series a look. Our main concern is physical weight - which was our driver for looking at the netbooks. We'd like to be able to hand someone something very light and inobtrusive.

Eoin

Brett Dalton, on 14 July 2010 - 08:15 PM, said:

Eoin, I've used PCAP on 2008 Mac books (both OSX and bootcamped), Dell Studio 15', several different Dell Inspirons all without issue. Avoid the netbooks for several reasons including the processor power isn't enough, and their size is a disadvantage because the camera position is too low. Besides you can get a decent low end laptop for $100-$150Au more than a decent netbook (60 Pounds or so). I have used an Asus F81SE-VX79C ($800Au) which is quite reasonably priced and a dam good machine which may also be appropriate although I don't think that model is available in the UK but there's sure to be a similar one. It's quite light and a good size, all driver were available for Windows 7, it also has a spill resistant keybaord which is good for longevity in a Uni setting. Hope that helps a bit.


Wes, just read over the link you posted. The 4:3 screen issue is a bad one for laptops, basically you can't get a 4:3 laptop any more and most of the people using PCAP at LTU are using it on laptops because the can do recordings out of hours and upload it at work. Given PCAP does a local pre-compress when recording is it possible to add black bars to maintain the aspect ratio at that point. This would fix the problem for both ESS and Lectopia with no server end changes required.

Thanks
BRETT

[Brett Dalton]

eoinmcdonnell, on 26 July 2010 - 05:52 AM, said:

Thanks Brett - we'll definitely give the Asus series a look. Our main concern is physical weight - which was our driver for looking at the netbooks. We'd like to be able to hand someone something very light and inobtrusive.

Eoin

The Asus 15 inch models I mentioned are definelty quite easy to handle and not heavy at all. The equivelent Dells are a little heavier but also a bit more sturdily built. In either case despite the added weight I'd recommend getting a large battery because running the desktop capture is resonably processor intensive. I know that in most cases you'll want to run of a power pack but inevitably someone will forget.

Thanks

BRETT