Minimum requirements for driver station laptop

[jinggeorge]

My team already has a laptop for programming. We don't like to use it during competition since it isn't cheap, and it could break if someone gets too excited. (It has happened before.) For matches in the past, we have used an E14 classmate, but it seems to have some issues that we likely cannot overcome. We want to find a small, cheap laptop to replace it, that will not be used for programming. This laptop would only be used during matches. What are the recommended minimum properties of a laptop for running the robot during competition?

[dirtbikerxz]

Originally Posted by jinggeorge

My team already has a laptop for programming. We don't like to use it during competition since it isn't cheap, and it could break if someone gets too excited. (It has happened before.) For matches in the past, we have used an E14 classmate, but it seems to have some issues that we likely cannot overcome. We want to find a small, cheap laptop to replace it, that will not be used for programming. This laptop would only be used during matches. What are the recommended minimum properties of a laptop for running the robot during competition?

A laptop that can run the driver station.

[niklas674]

Originally Posted by dirtbikerxz

A laptop that can run the driver station.

This is very helpful.

[frcguy]

Originally Posted by dirtbikerxz

A laptop that can run the driver station.

Wow! Very helpful!

Anyway, I'll give you some actual advice and not just a snarky reply.

I'd recommend the following:

Processor: i5 or i7 from Intel. The i5 should be sufficient if you just want to use it for the driver station. If you'll be running GRIP or some other sort of vision processing software go for the i7.

RAM: 8gb or 16gb. Also dependent on the use case. 8gb should be fine, but go for more if you want to run vision stuff.

Storage: SSD. A solid state drive will make it way faster for the laptop to load and it's a huge performance boost.

Other stuff: Good battery helps when working in-between matches.

Hope that helps!

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by bkahl

A few recommendations for ALL Drive station laptops after spending a few seasons in High School behind the glass.

1) SSD. Reasons stated above.

2) Put Drivers Station and any dashboard you need in Startup. A reboot with an SSD and these files booting right away will allow connection and reconnection to a robot MUCH faster.

3) Touchscreen. While this may be a stretch for some- it can be really simple for enabling and disabling for ANYONE (not everyone knows hotkeys) and also makes log viewing really quick and easy.

4) NOTHING unnecessary on the laptop. There's no reason to have browsers or anything if you never connect it to the internet. (Never connect a DS to the internet......)

5) Webcam- while it's likely to never come back... You don't want to be the only one unable to do a 'Cheesy Vision'-esque program for auton if it does and your USBs may be getting full.

6) at least 3/4 USB ports. Allows up to 3 joysticks/controllers to be connected directly to the laptop while maintaining quick tethering via USB.

7) Ethernet Port- obvious

8) use it ONLY as a drivers station- kind of ties in with 4, but keeping the drivers station pristine will allow for peak performance.

9)Good Trackpad- a good trackpad will make quick troubleshooting easier and will make every FTA or CSA that has to help you much happier.

All of these are nice but the most neccessary ones to me are 1,2,4,6,7


At the end of the day, I don't think RAM or Processing power is as important as some of these and these can all(besides maybe touchscreen) definitely be found in a low budget, refurbed laptop.

Also- don't be afraid to buy a laptop for upgrade. I'm sure there's a student on most teams who can upgrade RAM a bit or throw an SSD in a laptop.

Inb4 someone red dots me for quoting myself

[EmileH]

Is the i7 really necessary for vision processing? At a certain point isnt the latency the limiting factor in process speed?

[Chris_Ely]

In addition to the above advice, I recommend doing a fresh install of Windows. You don't want any OEM crapware interfering with the driver's station.

Use this tool to create a bootable USB drive of Windows 10.

Also, the difference an SSD makes cannot be understated. Most cheap laptops won't come with one, but you can get 250GB ones for around $80 now. Just make sure the laptop has an upgradable hard drive. An SSD also won't break if it gets knocked of the driver's station shelf.

[SamCarlberg]

Originally Posted by frcguy

Wow! Very helpful!

Anyway, I'll give you some actual advice and not just a snarky reply.

I'd recommend the following:

Processor: i5 or i7 from Intel. The i5 should be sufficient if you just want to use it for the driver station. If you'll be running GRIP or some other sort of vision processing software go for the i7.

RAM: 8gb or 16gb. Also dependent on the use case. 8gb should be fine, but go for more if you want to run vision stuff.

Vision processing is heavily single-threaded. Use a high-clocked i5 like the 7440HQ or 7440EQ.

8GB of RAM is plenty. GRIP only uses ~240MB.

But for absolute minimum specs, pretty much any i3 + 4GB RAM + SSD will be fine.

[Philip Arola]

A 1080p screen is severely underrated for driver stations. When you start making advanced dashboards it will be indispensable.

In this day and age, you have no excuse to at least get a 128 GB SSD. They're fairly cheap, and hard drives have been the first point of failure for our driver stations in the past.

Abundant USB ports and an Ethernet port and an absolute must.

The processor and RAM really depend on your vision code. The other posters seem to have nailed those specs.

Really what you want is a Thinkpad. They're solid, and generally have the features that a drive station needs. Mainly solid.
/shill

[electroken]

While we risk being thrown out of the club, we use a lowly Acer Aspire One netbook for the driver station. Our vision processing is done on the robot.