sheldon.haynie wrote:

If buying for a 40' boat, where navigation primarily will be done by "wife"
with H5000, Hercules & Zeus and associated 10-baseT and wifi networks, what is recommendation for hardware to support Expedition ?

Thinking Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and iPads to echo displays.

Specific cases and models are recommended

Popular opinion seems to have settled on two or three different approaches.

One approach is to use a Toughbook, for the obvious reasons. The cost is higher, but there is a great deal more reliability. This would get echoed with a ruggedized tablet on deck. IF you go to the Expedition home page, there is a lengthy section on tablet options.

The other approach (which I prefer) is to use a commodity level laptop. There is less reliability in a marine environment, but that is offset by the much less expensive replacement cost. Personally, I have used a Lenovo Ideapad U400, and now use a Lenovo Yoga Pro 2. With this approach you could use an iPad in a Lifeproof case to achieve the deck tablet goals, but there is a real concern around on deck visibility. For that matter, there are a number of much less expensive Android tablets which could mirror the display at least as effectively as an iPad.

Third option for the boat computer is to install a mini-pc that is designed for 12v installations. It becomes a pseudo desktop, rather than a laptop based system. I don't have a lot of details on these, but there are a number of people who swear by this approach.

Separate from the laptop and mirrored tablet model would be to push the data over wifi to a tablet running Ventus. It simplifies the information, as you may only need the data, rather than full control over Expedition from the deck. For more details on that, I will let the Ventus folks here speak to its advantages.
 

I'm a bit of an exp newbie, but I might be able to offer a useful view here and put a bit back to this very useful forum. I've gone for the cheapish laptop, and iPad route, having considered all the options above and have decommissioned an old fixed XP machine with a Panasonic CF07 remote screen. 

The devil is in the detail though: I think you'd be ill-advised to install any class of nav station computer that used a mechanical disk these days. SSD's a cheap and much more tolerant of both vibration and potentially damp salt air. I like screen real-estate too, so have elected to use a laptop with a small USB docking station. The network and USB connections to instruments are on the dock, as is a VGA connector to a bulkhead mounted screen, and are buried in the depths of the nav station. The laptop mounts to the nav table with 3M command strips (a tip picked up here) and then has one usb lead & a power lead to hook it in. I could even use a remote keyboard with the bulkhead monitor and stow the laptop in a locker if there was a risk of water near the nav station (a bad day for the varnish on my old Swan!).

On the iPad front I cannot recommend the Lifeproof nuud case strongly enough. I've used an early Lifedge case, and with the film over the screen daylight visibility wasn't great - I'd be hunched up trying to cast a shadow to read the display. The Lifeproof case uses a rubber seal against the screen and exposes the iPad screen to the outside world without any film - it's brilliantly effective and much more viewable (you can also read your yachting magazines online in the bath with confidence!). I've used it for a year now including a full season afloat without any evidence of damage to the iPad and it really is quite easy to view. I'm tempted by an iPad Pro (as I said above I do like screen real estate) but lifeproof don't do a nuud case yet, and I wouldn't consider a 'film over screen' case now.

Ended up with the MacBook Retina, running Win 10 on Bootcamp,  as it has no moving parts other than keys and cover hinge, and with no fan will not blow salty air over the guts. As soon as "Lioness" gets re-launched and the H5000 stuff is setup and calibrated,  will be installing Expd. 

Last edited by sheldon.haynie (4/12/2016 9:09 am)

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 or 4 with i5.

The advantage is a very light unit with a high resolution screen.
It is natively powered @12v so you get a cheap cable on amazon (with overcharge protection).

Bluetooth keyboard and mouse...
Usb hub..
And a good mount.