Ted -

Someone may be able to recommend a laptop, but I'd like to recommend
another possible solution. You might want to look at the "Shuttle"
systems. For example, look at
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/partners/partner.asp?mfrid=1106

This will allow you to use hard drives and expansions cards designed for
desktops, but it is a very compact system.

Good luck.


Tony Mayer

Ted Otis wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I work for the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game and I have a rather unique
>application in mind for a laptop computer, but I've been unable to find
>a make/model that suits my needs.  I'm hoping someone here can help me.
>
>I want to use a laptop computer to record digital images of salmon
>passing by a remote video camera placed alongside a clear water stream.
>I've been doing this successfully for years with an analog time/lapse
>VCR, and in recent years digitally with desktop computers.  However, I'd
>like to switch to laptops due to their power efficiency, convenience,
>portability, compact size, etc.  The problem is, I cannot find a laptop
>that allows me to go into the bios to configure it to automatically boot
>up whenever it is receiving adequate power.  I'm using desktop computers
>now because they do allow this function, which is absolutely critical to
>our application (our video sites are very remote, they run 24 hrs/day,
>and there's no one there to reboot the system in the event of a power
>loss.  It’s imperative that the computer boot itself back up when power
>is restored by our solar and wind generators charging our 12V battery
>bank).
>
>So my first, and most important question is:
>
>1) Is there any laptop available that can be configured to boot up
>automatically when it receives power? (We're willing to experiment with
>"customized" bios if need be).
>If such a laptop is available/configurable, then please also answer the
>following:
>
>2) Can we easily rig a laptop to receive 12V power directly from an
>external battery bank?  I believe the answer to that is yes, but I would
>like some details on how to do it.
>
>3) Do high-quality, laptop-sized, video capture cards exist that can
>capture images from an external analog camera via a BNC or RCA plug-in?
>
>4) Is there an easy way to turn the monitor completely off while the
>laptop continues to run so we can reduce power consumption during remote
>operations.
>
>5) Is there a laptop that has the features listed above that also has
>easily swappable internal hard drives?  I realize there are high
>capacity external hard-drives available, but I believe they all require
>their own separate AC power source and we'd like to stick entirely to DC
>while reducing our power consumption as much as possible.
>
>Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
>

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