Which Laptop?

[martinr]

A much neglected and overlooked part of running PicoScope, I think.

It never occurred to me that running PS7 on my 15-year-old Sony Vaio might be a poor idea, but now it’s faulty and needs replacing.. Running PicoScope is my primary consideration.

First thoughts:

1. A screen bright enough to be viewed in sunlight.

2. Large enough screen (16” min) for up to 8 channels to be viewed (although I wouldn’t rule out an external monitor for clear post-test-drive capture analysis).

3. Touch screen? Not convinced, and I don’t want a screen showing greasy fingermarks in sunlight.


Randy Dillman, Pico USA, recently featured in an excellent webinar on PicoScope basics (which, despite my long-term use of PicoScope, was very informative). He covered the importance of the correct choice of laptop and, later, very kindly sent me the following advice:

“ The laptop plays a huge part …….

Here is what I suggest via the support ticket when asked:

Intel core i5 (latest generation) Avoid the AMD Ryzen 7 at this point
8 Gb Ram (16 would be great)
128 GB SSD Hard drive (min)
AVOID Intel iRIS Xe display adapter - causes an issue running PS7A

Look at the Inspiron 15 series. This will run it fine for a few years
and is cheap enough to replace then. Other pc manufacturers like
HP, Toshiba, etc. have similar types of computers.

https://deals.dell.com/en-us/category/laptops

Now, if you want to step up a bit to a touchscreen computer that works best with PS7A. Look at the Inspiron 16 5000 with the touchscreen $100 a little further down
the page.

Just some suggestions. Make sure it has two SS USB ports.

I would avoid Mac OS and Linux to be honest. I have nothing against them but
the downloads are so low compared to Windows that of course our focus is on
Windows. If you are not buying a new PC then an 8th gen Intel i5 is the oldest I
would go (which is about a 2019 MY pc) which will be a native Win10 machine
and 64-bit (PS7 Scope sw is 64 bit, PD is still 32-bit but not for much longer). “
With grateful acknowledgement to Randy Dillman, Pico Technology, Texas USA)

I think, in the webinar, Randy ruled out Apple laptops - for his preferences - because they lack a touchscreen, and also because Windows is his preferred OS. (And running Windows on an Apple laptop, if, indeed, that is still possible, would be a poor idea for several reasons.)

So what thoughts, considerations and advice do you have, please? Do you make use of touchscreen on PS7?

[martinr]

For anyone interested in seeing the recording of Randy’s webinar, it can be found here:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/record ... 7318879488
(you’re asked to register a name and email).

Randy’s thoughts on age and power of the computer is at around the 36 minute mark, but the whole video is well worth watching.

[martinr]

I still have not yet made my mind up over a replacement laptop. But I was told (by Randy Dillman) “ I would avoid Snapdragon CPUs as there is no support for ARM processors.”

Having spoken to the Pico Tech Support team, this is definitely one to be very conscious of, especially if you need the laptop for your PicoScope.: it could prove to be a very expensive error.

If ARM processors in laptops become as popular as people are suggesting, not least because of the leaps in performance and battery life, I wonder how Pico will ensure they don’t lose market share because of the incompatibilities. However, knowing Pico, they’ll already be onto it.

[Technician]

Back in about 2016/17 I built a mobile station with a touchgreen running Pico 6. Everything worked okay but after a while strange things started to occur with the scope traces and settings onscreen. I found that the touchscreen was too sensative and if working outside, strong wind, dust etc contacting the screen would cause havoc. I spoke with a local pc shop about it and they also advised that dust could get inside the touchcreen and also play havoc. They advised to disable the touchscreen, which they said they would do for me, but I decided to move onto a 22" TV screen used as a monitor, and I still use that today.

[martinr]

Thank you; I was totally unaware of that. As luck would have it, I really didn’t want a touchscreen laptop, not just to prevent greasy fingermarks on the screen, but also, because having grown up with mice, touchpads and keyboards, I’m perfectly happy not using a touchscreen, on a laptop, anyway. Having said that, and being very used to using an iPad most of the time, I now find myself trying to zoom in, with forefinger and thumb, on the surface of the newspaper.

[Technician]

I think after my recent and past experiences with Pico 6/7 operating concerns that it would be a very good idea if the Pico company gave us a minimum recommendation in a sticky on the forum when they update their software. Things such as storage space, operating memory and whatever else a good computer needs to run the software.

[martinr]

Technician, thank you so much: you are 100% correct,

One of the Pico technicians said as much a while ago when he said he feels Pico isn’t giving this topic the attention it deserves.

Had it not been for my attending the excellent webinar Randy Dillman gave, I wouldn’t have given a second thought to the laptop - as I previously said, I had been connecting it to a 15-year-old laptop and presuming that Early Release was to blame for crashes and slowness.

Probably, I would have bought the latest ARM processor laptop and then wondered why it wouldn't recognise my PicoScope.

I’ve had a PicoScope for over a decade at the very least, and it’s only very recently dawned on me that the laptop and the PicoScope are a pair, a marriage, as it were.

So, thank you for your excellent suggestion. And not just a minimum specification, but the things I’ve learned via email and over the ‘phone: not Apple or Linux, and not ARM processors, or AMD Ryzen 7 or the IRIS Xe display adapter.