What laptop do I need?

Windows or Mac?

-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the Universe's finest custom rolling pins.

Some quite acceptable netbook-style laptops
are now on the market, running Windows 10,
for about $200. They are stripped-down machines
typically without large hard drives because these
days you can get flash memory in USB sticks
or SD cards really cheap. In any case, a machine
with 32gb of internal memory should be adequate
to run one or two programs to operate your
laser. I’ve spent a little time using one of these
machines from Acer, but I imagine at the price
point they are all pretty similar.

For $400 or so you would get a bigger, better screen,
much more internal memory, a faster processor, etc.
If you wanted to use the laptop for anything but running
the laser and browsing the internet you might
want to get one of those.

Loren offered good advice. Here’s a link to a starting point-
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:17|lp:200:hp:499.99|&Sort=4

-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the Universe's finest custom rolling pins.

Thanks, Loren and Lew.
The machine will be dedicated to the laser thingie only. Not even browsing. No WIFI in the shop and I imagine that’ll be the only place I’d use it.

-- Gene 'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Thanks, Loren and Lew.
The machine will be dedicated to the laser thingie only. Not even browsing. No WIFI in the shop and I imagine that ll be the only place I d use it.

- Gene Howe

Would you be using this computer for creating your patterns or templates? I would think you would want wifi on it so you could take it to the house to find images or templates that you could download and use for the machine.

Either way, I think the basic netbook would do the job and have wifi anyways.

I just use old computers that are free or cheap. My laser is run by a Compaq desktop that’s probably 15 years old. It came to me free from a relative that bought it off a local company that was selling their obsolete systems cheap. Flatscreen monitors are available for a couple dollars at thrift stores so I ditched the CRT and saved some space.

The software package for your machine should tell you the operating system requirements and that determines what computer you need.

-- See my work at http://remmertstudios.com and http://altaredesign.com

My gearbest runs on an old XP box just fine. Lasing isn’t CPU intensive.

I use PaintNET as a image editor and AutoCAD 2k for line art.

Tip: set your DPI to 254 as the laser step is 0.1 mm.

benboxlaser.us is the users group. Zax is the factory man.

I have it online so I can search for free clip art.

My review

M

Hey Mark, it was your review that pushed me over the edge. You made it look like so much fun.
Thanks for posting the added info.

-- Gene 'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

If those are your only requirements, check to see if there is a computer repair place near by. You may be able to pick up something really inexpensive.

A buddy of mine gets most of his computer stuff from his local Goodwill. You might also check with the local school district IT department.

-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the Universe's finest custom rolling pins.

Good work Gene,

I will wait patiently to see the results of you new arrival.
You may be able to PU a Chinese Tianhe-2 reasonably cheap, I am not sure as I am not an IT Geek ask LBD I think he is.

School chuck outs are a good source of equipment.

Sound all very interesting so I am off to check out Madmark2’s contributions to see what Gearbest Laser engraving is all about.

-- Regards Rob

You know that Madmark2 should change his name to “shifty” he hasnt got a laser engraver its actually Madmark

OMG there are some dodgy woodworkers on there thses days.

-- Regards Rob

I’d pick up a used thinkpad off ebay. I just got a T430s for about 160 shipped, it’s still a great machine.

-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)

Hi Gene. We have a place in town called Compreneu and they refurbish laptops and pc’s and put what ever system you want on them. i bought my last laptop from the with windows 7 for $185.

How may watts is your laser?. We are looking for one for our high school.
Is it one of these:
https://www.gearbest.com/laser-engraver-_gear/

cheers, Jim

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!! Variety is the Spice of Life!!

Just throwing this out there: A laptop in a dusty shop environment will clog full of dust really quickly. A desktop PC will still get dusty, but it’s usually very easy to just open the side panel and give it a couple little bursts of compressed air from a foot or so away to knock all the dust off. Laptops are much harder to get into.

-- Woodworking from an engineer's perspective

Just throwing this out there: A laptop in a dusty shop environment will clog full of dust really quickly. A desktop PC will still get dusty, but it s usually very easy to just open the side panel and give it a couple little bursts of compressed air from a foot or so away to knock all the dust off. Laptops are much harder to get into.

- William Shelley

That’s a good point. A small desktop might be just the thing.

-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)