Laptop configuration

Hi all, I’ve configured a laptop which I’m planing to use mostly for astrophotography processing with pixinsight. Pixinsight developers do recommend very high end processors and lots of RAM so I’m hoping my configuration will be adequate.

I’m currently using an old 3227u processor with only 6gb ram which usually takes all night to do a single process/algorithm in pixinsight so I’m hoping with the much better 8750h and 32gb ram I will cut a lot of time off my processing. I’m also going to get the evo970 m.2 ssd which will be helpful again. What do you think? I don’t want to spend any more if I’m honest but if I’m missing something please let me know.

Thanks for any help! Ken

Cosmos
(1920x1080)
Intel® CoreTM i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 - 4.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
NOT REQUIRED
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2500MB/W)
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
1 x 120W AC Adaptor
Cosmos VII Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlasterTM Cinema
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
SINGLE COLOUR BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required) BullGuardTM Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Get Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
1 £1,114.17 £222.83

Is this laptop likely to cool itself adequately to use turbo ?

It should do, though it's worth bearing in mind that most laptops with 8th Gen -H series CPUs won't give the full turbo boost all the time due to how they manage thermals / TDP limits.

The spec seems sound. Worth bearing in mind that the WD Black SSD in pretty well as good as the Evo but £40 cheaper.

Is that the 17.3" Cosmos you were looking at?

Thanks for your comments oussebon it is the 17” cosmos I’m interested in. The 17” screen is perfect (144hrz gives me no advantagefor processing). I think I’ll get this one once my bonus comes through.

Some things worth noting that could save you money. Once your 30-day trials are up you can go to a free anti-virus and free Office package (Libre or Open Office are both good).

The Pixinsight website suggests 16GB RAM, although more if your images need it. PCS allow us to open and work on our machines without voiding the warranty, so you could go with 16GB now and add more if needed.

Pixinsight also runs and has been tested on a few Linux distros, so unless you have software that is Windows only there is money to be save by buying without an Operating System. If you are wanting to work on your images GIMP is a bit of a learning curve but will do almost everything Photoshop does and is free and cross platform.

Thanks Stephen M, the pixinsight benchmark does recommend between 16-256gb ram I guess this is overkill. I tested my current laptop with the benchmark test i3 2770u processor with 6gb ram and my results were awful !!! I think the m2 ssd will make a difference which is why I’ve chosen the large 1tb ssd instead of having both a small ssd and hdd.(I need to work with all the data I’ve collected, sometimes 300gb)

I wouldn’t mind having the i9 processor but it’s quite a jump in price changing the cosmos with the octane, unless someone knows a better option ?

Not sure how much difference the m2 compared to a standard SSD will make but one option, which is about 40 more would be the 500GB Samsung EVO m2 and the 1TB Samsung SATA SSD. That would give plenty of SSD storage and still a good amount of m2 space.

I have an Octane and they are excellent but mine is the i7 and I am not sure about an i9 in a laptop chassis, even one that cools as well as the Octane as those CPUs have had heat issues.

Stephen M said:

Not sure how much difference the m2 compared to a standard SSD will make but one option, which is about 40 more would be the 500GB Samsung EVO m2 and the 1TB Samsung SATA SSD. That would give plenty of SSD storage and still a good amount of m2 space.

I have an Octane and they are excellent but mine is the i7 and I am not sure about an i9 in a laptop chassis, even one that cools as well as the Octane as those CPUs have had heat issues.

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I would highly avoid an i9 in any laptop. It WILL throttle, it’s not a great chip when it comes to cooling and really needs water cooling to keep from throttling.

The fact that it's being made to throttle to control temps also means the lifespan will likely be reduced on the CPU and / or motherboard. I really won't be surprised at all if we started seeing mass failures of i9 laptops next year.

Remember that i7, i9 are basically marketing terms that don't mean anything.

The i7 in the Cosmos is the i7 8750H which is a 45W TDP laptop part. The i7 in the Octane is the i7 9700k, which is a 95W TDP desktop part, and could offer much better performance than a laptop i7. So the Octane with an i7 might still be a lot better than the Cosmos with an i7, even if you stop short of putting the i9 in a laptop chassis.

Point taken I won’t consider the i9 then ! What about cooking wise, is the octane better for cooling than the cosmos ? Would the cosmos be adequate to keep my configuration well cooled ?

The m2 does appear to be much faster than the standard ssd Stephen M looking at the specs ???

kencri said:

Point taken I won’t consider the i9 then ! What about cooking wise, is the octane better for cooling than the cosmos ? Would the cosmos be adequate to keep my configuration well cooled ?

The m2 does appear to be much faster than the standard ssd Stephen M looking at the specs ???

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The Octane is a real beast in most areas. It's huge and weighs a tonne, not really designed for carrying about.

It has desktop CPU's. And yes, it's got the most effective cooling of the bunch. Absolute beast.

M2 drives (if they're NVME) are about 4 - 5 times the speed of a standard SATA SSD, and well worth it. They're the go to for an OS drive these days. I'd personally consider the Samsung or the WD black

I have never had any trouble with heat issues in my Octanes but always use a cooling tray. This review is of an old model, not PCS but same chassis and it does show the heat sinks in the pics, I think they are a work of art: https://www.notebookcheck.net/One-K73-5N-Clevo-P771ZM-Notebook-Review.135088.0.html

My work that would cause heat has mainly been video transcoding and apart from the new highly compressed and HD Matroska files have never got near danger temperatures, it did get to 95C at one point but the fans soon had it back down. I do not know how much stress Pixinsight will put on the system but think the i7 should cope well.

The one thing to note with the Octane is that it is 4 kg and has a power unit the size of a large brick, so it is portable but only just, it is actually a desk top replacement but if you are happy with that and willing to pay the extra it is well worth it, an Octane will leave the Cosmos standing.

Looking at the different models I think I’ll go for one of the more expensive ones than the cosmos. It does look like the “recoil” and “defiance” have more cooling fans ?? Is this correct ? I would hope the cpu would be able to turbo easier ??

More expensive doesn't automatically equal better cooling. The higher end models also have higher end components like beefier GPUs, and might have shared heatpipes or just a different cooling design, so might not cool better. Some people have complained about the Defiance's cooling and relatively high temps, though in general it's okay. It's not a model I'd personally consider a guaranteed safe bet for maximum thermal management though....

If you don't need the features of the more expensive laptops, the Cosmos is fine.