[OpenDroneMap-users] laptop recommendation

[Alex Mandel]

On 04/12/2015 10:27 AM, Frederic Muller wrote:
> On 04/13/2015 12:12 AM, Alex Mandel wrote:
>> On 04/12/2015 05:48 AM, Frederic Muller wrote:
>>> Hi!
>>>
>>> I was thinking to add a laptop to my hexacopter which purpose is to do
>>> orthophoto. Do you have any recommendation regarding the CPU/RAM/HDD and
>>> Video for such a dedicated machine?
>>>
>>> What do you guys run ODM on?
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot.
>>>
>>> Fred
>>
>> My recommendation is to not use a laptop. I'm also confused about your
>> wording, you want to fly the laptop or just use the laptop to
>> post-process the images. Is the reason for a laptop so you can see
>> results in the field? That's unrealistic unless you subsample to a very
>> small set of photos.
>>
>> A desktop, server, or virtualized server will in almost all cases
>> provide faster results. In the case of virtualized you can also only pay
>> a few cents an hour when you use it.
>>
>> CPU seems to matter the most right now so Intel i7 or 2600v3 cpu, solid
>> state disks never hurt. At this time ODM does not appear to need huge
>> amounts of RAM. It also does not yet leverage any GPU offloading, though
>> there has been discussion of it.
>>
>> -Alex
>>
> 
> Sorry for the confusion. The "system" (read hexacopter + computer) will
> be used in a remote area with no internet access. The plan is to use
> Mission Planner for the mission planning and ODM for the image
> post-processing. A desktop does not seem the best solution in our case
> as infrastructure is very bad too (unreliable electricity sources, etc).
> We are thinking to have a casing with everything inside for easy of
> transportation and protection.
> 
> Thanks for the other details as those will help.
> 
> Fred
> 

Unreliable power will be your biggest issue. You can get a beefed up 4
core i7 but it will require a lot of power, at least 65W TDP (most
laptops these days are 15W TDP). This will process ODM photos for you
but it will still take hours depending on the number of photos. So
unless you plan to have a generator or large external battery all of
this is extremely tricky. Laptops with that much compute power will only
last 1-2 hours on battery, maybe enough for 25-50 photos.

Will you be transporting by backpack or by vehicle (does weight matter)?
Mission planning in the field is much more realistic. Do you have to do
the post processing in the field?

Note with a desktop type computer you can use an external UPS to ensure
a stable power and bridge 30 minute outages. A Well engineered desktop
rig has much better cooling and can generally run the CPU at a higher
clock speed, which in this case equals faster processing. Also note with
a desktop you can get an 8 core i7, those don't exist for laptops afaik
because of power consumption issues. Keep in mind you can use a micro
atx case so it doesn't have to be huge.

I currently run a 4 core i5 (3rd gen I think)  3.4Ghz turbo (turbo is
max speed when only using 1 core) desktop . That's where I get the 2+
hours estimate for a 25-50 photo set.

Browsing CPUs, there's no performance 5th Gen mobile i7 yet, they are
all designed to extend battery life over processing speed.

4th gen theres the MX, MQ and HQ lines
http://ark.intel.com/products/75131/Intel-Core-i7-4900MQ-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_80-GHz

http://ark.intel.com/products/78940/Intel-Core-i7-4940MX-Processor-Extreme-Edition-8M-Cache-up-to-4_00-GHz

Browse more cpus
http://ark.intel.com/
http://cpuboss.com/

Here's an example monster laptop
http://amzn.com/B00OBQ5QS0
I would expect the battery to last 1-1.5 hours while processing photos
(it has 3 hour battery if only web surfing).

-Alex