Mac vs PC in marine environment

[Flobble]

Originally Posted by SailingPNW

It's hard to beat the Mac M1/M2 models and the base units are probably good enough for most people. Mine m1 mini sips power compared to my previous intel laptop.

That's useful to know. Can you be more specific about power consumption figures, and the configuration of your M1 mini?

Also, is anyone running Windows inside VMWare/Parallels/Virtualbox for Windows-only applications such as Sat2Chart and SAS.Planet. I would love to know what the observed power consumption impact of doing this is.

[SailingPNW]

Originally Posted by Flobble

That's useful to know. Can you be more specific about power consumption figures, and the configuration of your M1 mini?

Also, is anyone running Windows inside VMWare/Parallels/Virtualbox for Windows-only applications such as Sat2Chart and SAS.Planet. I would love to know what the observed power consumption impact of doing this is.

Sorry I don't recall off hand, I might be able to run a few tests in a week or so, but I don't run any windows only applications either, so couldn't help there, though I expect performance wouldn't be great under emulation and the apps would probably make the CPU run harder.

[Flobble]

I was intrigued by this, so I measured mine. M1 Mac Mini consumes ~3W when idle, and peaks a little above 20W on startup. That’s including the Apple power supply. It’s substantially less than the quoted idle consumption of the inverter. Next, I’ll run some tests with VMWare Fusion and a monitor then post the results here.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by SailingPNW

It's hard to beat the Mac M1/M2 models and the base units are probably good enough for most people. Mine m1 mini sips power compared to my previous intel laptop.

Your decision though probably should also look at what software your used to using as you might not want to buy/learn a new product. Weigh this against power consumption.

3d rendering could impact both power usage and
as well as your minimum performance needs.

I love my M1 as well, but to compare apples with apples, so to speak, you might want to add the power consumption of the screen needed for the M1 where a laptop has it built-in.

[Flobble]

Originally Posted by hzcruiser

I love my M1 as well, but to compare apples with apples, so to speak, you might want to add the power consumption of the screen needed for the M1 where a laptop has it built-in.

That's on my list too.

Latest experiment: I'm currently running SAS.Planet in a Win11 VM on Ventura on an M2 Pro. Idle power consumption: 2.9W.

Power consumption jumps when I do things of course; but this configuration is just so I can run Sat2Chart & Sas.Planet to build satellite charts. That's a rare thing, so peak consumption doesn't matter much, but for reference I just saw 6W when running Sat2Chart.

[Flobble]

A few more datapoints:

M1 MacBook air this time, running SAS.Planet & Sat2Chart on Win 11 inside VMWare Fusion. Powered using Apple's 30W USB-C power adapter @ 240V.

Idle power consumption, including the power adapter, and with the internal battery fully charged.

Display at full brightness: 7.5W
Display off/brightness 0: 2.5-3W

Very little to no difference whether I have VMWare Fusion running. Maybe 0.3-0.5W more at the most.


The interesting thing here is that it's powered over USB-C, so I wouldn't have to have a 240V inverter running, and could use a DC-DC converter instead. That option isn't available with a Mac Mini.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by Flobble

A few more datapoints:

M1 MacBook air this time, running SAS.Planet & Sat2Chart on Win 11 inside VMWare Fusion. Powered using Apple's 30W USB-C power adapter @ 240V.

Idle power consumption, including the power adapter, and with the internal battery fully charged.

Display at full brightness: 7.5W
Display off/brightness 0: 2.5-3W

Very little to no difference whether I have VMWare Fusion running. Maybe 0.3-0.5W more at the most.


The interesting thing here is that it's powered over USB-C, so I wouldn't have to have a 240V inverter running, and could use a DC-DC converter instead. That option isn't available with a Mac Mini.

Running a MacAir via USB-C is definitely the better approach than using an inverter. Too bad there is no mini with external power supply.

The power consumption would go up if you ran some CPU intensive tasks or a CPU benchmark test, of course.

Either way, these are fantastic numbers that allow running a decently powered computer 24/7 as it would consume less than 20Ah per day.

[markxengineerin]

Running a MacAir via USB-C is definitely the better approach than using an inverter.

I've gone through a bunch of them, this one has lasted when powering my M1, iphone, ipad, everything else I need to charge:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[s/v Jedi]

I have performed extensive testing for this and found most chargers to have problems. Often they are not rated for 24V input or even if they are, they fail to fast charge when doing so. Some even completely stop charging, while they work okay on 12V.

This model actually conforms to their claims: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RHSD9WM

And to test all this, use one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JYVPLLJ

[Kettlewell]

Old thread revival. I was searching for information on what computers people are using onboard. Another option is to go all mobile with a phone and possibly a tablet. My Samsung phone running Android can connect to my NexDock, creating a small laptop that includes a real keyboard. Yes, some of the Android apps are limited compared to desktop versions, but keep in mind that many people already do all their computing on a phone. The beauty of the phone is that you can easily carry multiple backups, and they are very rugged compared to any laptop or PC. I run OpenCPN on my phone, and I have every USA raster chart onboard. If I need extra storage I can plug a portable drive into the laptop or even directly into the phone, but for the most part I rely on Google in the cloud to back everything up. The GPS on the phone has been very accurate within the USA. The phone is waterproof too!

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Old thread revival. I was searching for information on what computers people are using onboard. Another option is to go all mobile with a phone and possibly a tablet. My Samsung phone running Android can connect to my NexDock, creating a small laptop that includes a real keyboard. Yes, some of the Android apps are limited compared to desktop versions, but keep in mind that many people already do all their computing on a phone. The beauty of the phone is that you can easily carry multiple backups, and they are very rugged compared to any laptop or PC. I run OpenCPN on my phone, and I have every USA raster chart onboard. If I need extra storage I can plug a portable drive into the laptop or even directly into the phone, but for the most part I rely on Google in the cloud to back everything up. The GPS on the phone has been very accurate within the USA. The phone is waterproof too!

I think for use aboard almost any CPU is good enough but we need good sized screens for charts, movies etc. and also low power consumption is important.

I recently bought a new 15” Macbook Air M2 and as long as 15” is big enough it is a perfect choice. It’s faster than my previous Macbook Pro that cost 3x as much and super low power consumption. I paid $1,299.- which is very good value but if you need more memory etc. it gets expensive quickly, but I think for sailors it’s fine in the standard setup

For bigger screens, definitely a MacMini with M2. The M3 cpu’s are faster of course but they also need active cooling and use much more power.

[Dockhead]

I'm on my second Chinese minicomputer mounted behind my electrical panel and connected to a 23" 4k monitor.


I find that OpenCPN, especially when used with raster charts, runs a lot better with a certain amount of power. This latest computer with a Goldmont Plus Pentium Silver is a very good compromise between ultra low power consumption and fairly strong computing power. This 4-core processor is a descendant of the Atom family of ultra low power chips. The computer has 8 gigs of RAM and a 256 gig SSD. This is a few years old by now so current ones should be even much better.


This computer is powered over USB so the power supply was a cinch to organize.

[Kettlewell]

but we need good sized screens for charts, movies etc. and also low power consumption is important.

Samsung DeX allows you to attach a larger monitor to your phone, or connect to a PC, or a laptop dock like my NexDock, and they also make NexMonitor that gives you a 27-inch (diagonal) display. You get the benefits of a small, waterproof computer (your phone), with built-in GPS, that also covers phone, email, weather apps, etc. When you update your phone you update your main computer.
https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/dex/
https://nexdock.com/meet-nexmonitor/

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Samsung DeX allows you to attach a larger monitor to your phone, or connect to a PC, or a laptop dock like my NexDock, and they also make NexMonitor that gives you a 27-inch (diagonal) display. You get the benefits of a small, waterproof computer (your phone), with built-in GPS, that also covers phone, email, weather apps, etc. When you update your phone you update your main computer.
https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/dex/
https://nexdock.com/meet-nexmonitor/

Yeah that’s a knockoff of Apple Airplay. Almost any display or TV supports Apple Airplay, while I never saw one compatible with Dex.

Any Mac, iPhone or iPad can do Airplay.

[Kettlewell]

Yeah that’s a knockoff of Apple Airplay. Almost any display or TV supports Apple Airplay, while I never saw one compatible with Dex.

Does Airplay allow you to use a keyboard, mouse, and touchscreen on a laptop for interfacing with the apps? Dex basically gives you an Android computer that does everything your phone can do, with the advantages of having a real keyboard, trackpad or mouse, and extra ports.

Here's one comparison: https://www.androidauthority.com/ipa...g-dex-3174818/