M_Weining

I plan to give data/video analysis a try in 2015. I also need a new computer.

Any recommendations for computer for use at both track and home?

Data system will be AIM (MXL Pista, SmartyCamHD, with following sensors: brake, throttle, steering, oil pressure).

Stick with Windows? any critical specs?

What are you using and what would you recommend?

Thanks,
Mark

Matt Romanowski

I use a Samsung 880 because I travel a lot with it and it has a solid case, good processing speed, nice screen that is good in daylight, etc.

Any current laptop will do a good job. With the video, you'll want a good amount of RAM and the largest hard drive you can get.

ProCoach

Any current laptop with an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor and more than 500 GB HDD should work well. I would make sure the computer has an SD card slot and at least two USB 3.0 connections, along with an easy way to connect an HDMI cable to connect to a larger monitor you might want to mount in your trailer.

For me, being at the track 40+ weekends a year for the last seven years, durability, screen brightness and battery life have been my number one concerns.

I need to see the display in the sun, the battery has to last a full day and it has to withstand an occasional drop onto the concrete at Sebring or asphalt in the paddock at VIR or Road Atlanta. It needs a good wifi card in it to connect to my phone to get back to the server in my office from the track.

So, without being a fanboy about it, I have just bought my fifth MacBook Air (refurbished from Apple, WAY cheaper), maxed out. Core i7, Intel HD5000 graphics (never used to believe in integrated graphics, but this thing crunches 4K GoPro like my simulator desktops!), 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD. It's awesome! I partition the hard drive to allow for 384 GB Windows volume, buy a copy of Win7 Pro and install it, using the rest for OS X to take care of my website, and tell it to boot into Windows every time I fire it up. It's the best, highest performing PC laptop I've ever used, and no less capable for this purpose than a MBPro. Battery lasts ten hours if I'm careful, plays side by side HD VVB and I offload the HD video to a portable HDD (one for each track that I keep, up to twelve terabytes now) at the end of each weekend. When I next go to that track, I drag the BEST, reference run from the last time onto the laptop for easy comparison.

I bought a Surface Pro 3, Core i5, 256 GB SSD in June and am slowly getting up to speed on it. I like Microsoft OneNote, where I can scribble on top of a Google Earth view of a corner to help illustrate what I'm trying to do, as well as begin to work with applications similar to Dartfish, which is an EXCELLENT coaching tool.

I know a lot of guys that just but a cheap HP, but get the best, brightest screen you can with good battery life, whatever you do... Good luck!

Geneman

Peter so nice to hear that you are using a Mac for your aIM data analysis. I am setting up same. Are you using one of the MAC-PC virtual machine apps: Parallels or Base Camp to run Win? thanks Frank

ProCoach

Frank, while I have a few clients who use Parallels (and fewer that use VMWare), I have used Boot Camp since 2006.

The reason I swear by Boot Camp is because Windows operates natively. Basically, there is no "loss" in function or capability as there is when Parallels or VMWare is emulating another operating system (Windows).

The graphics rendering, IMO, is better in Boot Camp, although Parallels and VMWare have both improved a LOT in the last few years and plenty of people use them because it's easy. I like Parallels "Coherence" feature, where you can go back and forth.

rs4_saloon

MacBook Air (maxed out config) with VMware fusion and a 1TB external HD.

Matt Romanowski

I would add that external hard drives are not a back up solution. Hard drives die at a fairly high rate, especially when used in a highly mobile manner. Make sure you back up with something like Carbonite or have a raid setup. I run a raid array in a file server that I can access from anywhere that is backed up offsite.

You wouldn't believe the number of racers/track day drivers that have lost all their video / data because of a drive or laptop problem. If you are serious, you should treat your data the same as any other resource (i.e. same as cash, tools, tires, etc).

fleadh

If it's going to be a laptop that you bring to the track, I'm a firm believer in getting something cheap. It's going to get jacked up quickly w/ travel, banging around, dropped, hit, dirty hands, etc. I normally try to get something cheap off Amazon in the $400-500 range and plan to replace it every other season... any current Windows based laptop will be fine for what you want to do.

Having said that I've been toying around with a nicer "convertible" laptop that doubles as a tablet... it's kinda cool looking at data on the tablet but it's a little more cumbersome to interact with (touchscreen VS mouse/keyboard).

At home just use an external HD to store all your videos. No sense keeping terabytes of video on your track notebook every weekend.

-mike

Spyerx

Exactly what I use. windows 7 installed in fusion. Works fine and well. I tend to watch the video on the "mac" side though, the editing tools are just easier for me.

I think any modern machine with an i5 or i7 processor, 4gb of ram and good amount of storage will be fine. Worth spending a few extra $ to get a quality build too since these are used at track and will get beat up a bit along with wanting good battery life.

ProCoach

Mike H, I recommend the Lenovo Yoga line of convertibles.

Hah! Wish I could do that annual schedule, but I'm replacing laptops every six months! Most of it is because of the sheer number of days at the track, finite connection cycle life of USB connectors, spotty connections over time with frequent use of the SD cards, etc.

Problems most folks wouldn't have.

While I have a similar remote access, RAID array server setup as Matt, a number of teams I work with use the remote file storage service Dropbox, for data files only.

I do that too, and with selective file sync, it works great!

LuigiVampa

I just ordered this HP from the microsoft store to be my dedicated track computer. For $179 and free shipping it seemed like a no brainer.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...ctID.309174400

M_Weining

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. Great to hear from mixture (pro's to those getting started)

Nice to know that macbook with right setup is a solid option.

Key features:
screen that good in daylight
ram and HD storage to handle the large video files
medium processing power core i5 adequate
good battery life
rugged to hold up to "environment" and / or "disposable" (you either have crashed or you will, it's just a matter of time)
most modern machines will be adequate

And once up an running be sure to implement a real back-up process, all that data and analysis take time and $s, don't lose it

Would like to hear more about success/issues with convertibles (Surface Pro, Lenovo Yoga, etc)

ProCoach

The SP 3 seems pretty small to me. Easy to add a 24" or 27" screen inside the trailer, but it's pretty small. I use the pen and the arc soft mouse rather than the touchscreen, less mistakes.

I don't know why it feels less spacious than the 13.1 MBA, perhaps the higher resolution? Will get used to it. Been a little buggy with RS3 lately, but they'll work it out.

I think the Yoga looks slick.

Just save your best video. Few people ever review less than their best!

cetom

hi. can you please explain how you use dropbox for data storage. do you upload to dropbox after each event .
so lets say that you do store the data in dropbox. if you want to review some race data do you then down load the data from dropbox to your computer and then import it to racestudio . am i making this more complicated than it needs to be
thanks

ProCoach

Installing the Dropbox client (software) on your laptop and other computers installs a folder on those computers called "Dropbox"

I make a new folder in the folder on the laptop called "DATA"

When I download data onto my laptop at the track, I choose to Save the files to the folder C:\Users\Peter Krause\Dropbox/DATA

Those files go instantly and permanently to that folder on my laptop.

When I have an internet connection (through cell hotspot or at home or office), without doing anything, the files I have downloaded are uploaded to pretty secure "copy" of a folder called "DATA" in my Dropbox account, automatically.

Then, when I fire my computer up at home or in the trailer (I have a big iMac that I used with clients, but can't tote it carside to pull the data), and there is an internet connection, it takes a few moments for the same folder on that computer to download and "sync" the files that I put on my laptop.

Now, this works great for .drk and .xrk (AiM Sportline) files only

For other data files that don't have metadata to make them searchable, like MoTeC .ld and .ldx, Traqmate .tqm, VBOX .vbo and other data files, you will need to create folders in your Dropbox folder on your computer (automatically duplicated in the cloud) for Track>Date>Car or Track>Event>Session, so you can find them easily.

While the folder has plenty of room for video files (I buy 1 TB space online), I do NOT recommend saving video files in Dropbox because the wireless transfer can take quite a long time.

I think you do have to import data files from the Dropbox/DATA location when you open Race Studio Analysis, but you only have to do it once.

Before I go to the track with any computer I have not used recently, I fire it up, connect to wifi and let it sync to the latest information that is in Dropbox in the cloud. Just in case there's nothing at the track.

It's a really slick little deal and I have all the information on seven different computers, ready and at hand.