Choosing a second PC system
For longer periods on the boat I wanted a computer with more internal storage, and decided that a 240GB solid-state drive would be adequate. There are several mini-PC systems on the market including the Intel NUC and the Gigabyte Brix ranges which take an SSD. I initially chose a Gigabyte Brix GB-BACE-3150 which has a Celeron processor and comes with its own mounting bracket. I added a 240GB SSD and 8GB of RAM.
On test at home this was good, but had two disadvantages. Firstly, neither of my existing USB GPS dongles worked with it, probably due to a conflict with the chipset in the latest-generation Intel processor, though I later found that a new U-blox 7 corded dongle does work. The other issue is that it runs from a 19V supply. I then obtained a secondhand Gigabyte Brix GB-BXBT-2807 complete with Windows 10 and 4GB of RAM. It runs on 12V and has the same input socket size as the Sumvision PC. This has proved a good choice and has no conflicts with my older GPS dongles. I see no reason to buy a PC with anything more exotic and expensive than a Celeron processor for boat use. It will do everything that is needed unless you want a machine for gaming. If buying a Brix, the GB-BXBT-1900 also has a 12V supply, but most of the newer models are 19V. On the boat you would need a 12V-to-19V laptop adapter to run one. The Brix models I chose have both VGA and HDMI ports for monitor connection; later models are HDMI only. My monitors are VGA only, so I tested a cheap HDMI-to-VGA adapter and found that it worked perfectly.