What is the key to reliable, laptop performance, regardless of the season of use? I've been through several PC's in recent years, all giving me those occasional, performance issues, such as imaging sessions, that just freeze up, forcing a system reboot.
However, last night it was a power issue that got me, while my laptop was plugged into line current, via 100 foot extension cord. My two year old, Huawei laptop, did not seem to charge its battery, as I swapped power cords, tried external battery, brought back into house for a short cord run, etc. Eventually, inexplicably, after an hour of troubleshooting, it started charging again. I'm left thinking this may be an indication that the internal battery is going down, soon(???)...I really don't know.
So, this leads me to ask if you have recommendations on robust laptops, that just keep on working? Do I need to consider something like a Panasonic Tough Book, or, a Dell Lattitude 5420? These were named by someone with military computer experience but I have no first hand experience with these brands. Specifically, I like smaller laptops, 14 inch screen, for portability. The PC is used for image and scope controls (Sequence Gen. Pro), as well as image processing (PixInsight, Deep Sky Stacker, Registax). I'm guessing that the image processing is the most performance, demanding application, that I ever use.
I see, in other threads, that there is a general consensus that computer specs are not a big deal for the tasks I've listed. But I think this is an assessment on performance, more so, than ruggedness. Maybe, I should alternatively invest in a cheap backup, redundant system? Just don't like the risk of things going awry, when, so often my imaging window is narrow, or I've travelled to a darker sight, away from home. I should have noted that 90% of my astrophotography, since Aug. 2019, is conveniently, from backyard observatory. This week, however, it was a remote location.