Question

What laptops are recommended for use with the uScopeMXII?

Answer

Laptops are convenient and portable. However, there are several functions that a computer running the uScopeMXII must perform exceptionally well:

• USB Data Transfer Performance.
• High-performance Image Processing.
• High-resolution Display.

USB Data Transfers

While it is possible to use many laptops with the uScopeMXII, it can sometimes be difficult to locate one that operates with the uScope at maximum USB performance. The problem has to do with the way laptops are designed to maximize battery life as a priority. Reducing processor and peripheral (like USB) performance is one of the ways newer laptops extend battery life.

With fewer laptops including a discrete USB 2.0 port, and with more clever ways to reduce power consumption, it can be difficult to locate a laptop with acceptable performance.

Image Processing

After slides are scanned, images must be processed and stitched together into large image sets. This processing requires high-performance, multi-core processors. While it is possible to find laptops with high-end processors, the lack of high-performance can double or triple processing time required for large slide scans.

High-Resolution Display

The uScope Navigator software requires a screen resolution of 1920x1080. Many laptops do not support this screen resolution.

In Conclusion

For these reasons and since it is fairly easy to address them with a high-end desktop computer, we do not recommend using a laptop with the uScopeMXII.

That being said, there are a number of laptops that perform quite well with the uScopeMXII. But, given the range of contemporary laptops that are currently available, it seems this is the exception rather than the norm.