Ready for a new Laptop

Do search here on "laptop". You will see a few discussions.

How large a screen. I did not have much luck with a 17" screen, but Dell has 15.4" widescreens with serial ports. The D810.

I recommend the Dell Latitude D810 also. Has a real serial port.

Try also HP NC6120 they have 15'screen SXGA+
and real serial port.
not cheap 2GHz 1G ram 60G HD is about $1750.
You can get Dell Inspiron m600 or latitude 510 with real port for about $1150.they the cheapest I know.
If you chose PC without serial port you will have to spend more for converter,and if you AB user $200 for UIC.(PIC is not working on virtual port)

I inherited a used Dell Latitude D500 (2 years old) and the small differences between it and the 3 or 4 Dell Inspirons I've had before make it a pleasure to use.

Dell Latitude series seems to continue to have models that have a native serial port.

Dan

I have been considering to get a rugged laptop. Sometimes being in different industrial areas or on mobile aplications it would be neat to have a computer that survives being dropped and some water.


I had a a look at Panasonics toughbook but they are quite expensive. http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughbook/products.asp

Last week I saw that you could get a rugged Hummer Laptop to go along with your Hummer http://www.hummerlaptops.com/products.htm
I do not dare to have a look at the price for this.

After dallying with some cheaper models, Dell Latitude is all my Company uses. I have a C640 and it's still going strong, though most of the other guys have D600 models.

As for the Toughbook, you have to ask yourself: "Have I crushed two or more laptop PC's in the past five years".

If the answer is yes.....

Hp

I have a HP Compaq nc8000, which i am fairly satisfied with....
The OS and programs are running nicely so i am very satisfied with that.
The only problem is that it is not rugged enough for my use. The first one i got was dropped to the floor (from a very low altitude!!!) and after that it was impossible to open it up!!! So it had to be returned.
The one i am currently typing on is giving trouble with the keyboard. The other day (while programming a Mitsubishi PLC) the F7 and Del key kept activating themselves, so it was impossible to continue the work. At some keys the symbols are also fading, which should not happen on a 1yr professional computer!

So what i want to say is that if you are going to carry the laptop with you out in the "field", buy something designed for that. If the PC is not working there, you can might as well carry a brick!!!

Read between the lines here and see that you should buy an IBM :nodi:
Thats what i am getting next time (no matter what my boss wants!!!)

Laptop never designed to be thrown.
The survive of the laptop is a luck how badly is the fallind down.
I have some HP laptops and they survived pretty good over the years.
My son 8 years old have HP laptop.
I canot describe how he abuse it. 5 year in the field are equal to one year in his hands and the laptop still working as a part.
The keyboard not function.He use external keyboard.
I had to build new fram to the screen because he broke it.I canot tell how many pixels die on the screen.
He do not want to give up this PC because he the only one in his class with laptop.
But the laptop function as a new.
I am the last one who can tell HP are not good.

I have an HP -Compaq NC6000, 6 months old, with serial port.
Our electricians have one as well, plus one NEC model also with a serial port.
The NEC has a better, more clear screen.
A careful search would show that all major manufacturers still have laptops available with serial ports, however you must be careful to order the correct one.
I would suggest to get a quote with the specs printed out before you place the order, and check this against a checklist of features you need. It is too easy to accedently order a laptop without a serial port or some other missing component.
I actually ordered mine without a floppy drive, a mistake that was easier to correct than getting one without a serial port.

It may not be a necessity to have a serial port. The PLC vendors are aware of the situation. Many have USB versions of their cables, and/or advice on tested USB adapters. IOW, keep your options open.

Several years ago, I was at a meeting with IT professionals. The moderator asked what brand of laptops they owned. 11 of 12 answered Toshiba (the other was IBM).
My boss recently purchased a new model of a major brand, to replace the previous one (same brand) that was very troublesome. I told him my story above. He then asked several of his buddies, and now owns a high end Toshiba.
From my perspective, this is a group of people that depend on their laptops for office work on the road, and don't mind dropping 2 grand or more on a machine.

I've repaired several different brands of laptops in the past, but I'm not in the laptop repair business. I don't have the experience to say what machine is good or bad.

Here's some things to consider when choosing a computer.
Price competition is stiff, with low margins. If they have heavy TV advertising, and extensive free phone support for the common masses, then how do they pay for this and still sell a machine at a competitive price? Low cost parts are used in many cases. One brand is known for hard drives that fail in less than a year. Another has shutdown problems caused by cheap capacitors in a high-heat area. The point is that a low cost model from a major brand is probably not the best choice.

You get what you pay for. Stay away if the price is too low. If the brand you're considering is popular with kids and the average user, that's not the one you want. Price pressure is high, and high overhead answering trouble calls from users with limited computer knowledge. There's not much money left over to for hardware.
I'm not hinting at one particular company here. This situation is true for many major brands in the under $1000 category.

My vote is Toshiba. I have 2 Pentium 1 models that still work perfectly.

Keith

I have had great success over the years with HP laptops. Have avoided Compaq like th eplague. However, the latest laptop purchase was a Compaq branded HP (HP took them over). The thing has a real serial port but is pretty light. The old HP XE3 was built like the proverbial brick sh** house. The Compaq is fine and I have not had a problem with it.

The old XE3 only had USB ports. Finished up buying a fairly expensive Omron USB/232 converter as I had tried FIVE different converters with problems. Buy a laptop with a real serial port.

Funny thing is I have bought Dells beforew and had problems. NEC too slow. Toshiba too expensive for performance. Toughbook - OUCH!!!!!

Thanks everyone for the advice it has helped quite a bit.
I spent some additional time yesterday looking at Laptops and to tell the truth I am a bit disappointed that the desire to have a serial port is so restricting.
I had thought (and of course I could be wrong. It's happen before once or twice.) That the usual problem with using a USB to Serial converter cable was that some devices require the serial level voltage to power a device and the USB to Serial converter cables do not provide enough voltage for these devices.

I was looking at a couple PCMIA to Serial devices and was wondering if anyone is using this type of device for serial comms and how they are working for you.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50021558&pfp=SEARCH

OR

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=550638

If these devices work well it would really open up my choices and maybe I can get that 17 inch screen too go with my failing eye sight

Thanks

Michael

I've always gone for Dell for my main laptop and then a Toshiba that I got from ebay for under £300 as a backup.

The Dell website is good (even if you don't intend to buy a Dell) as you can 'build your own' laptop. It at least gives you an idea of what is available for a laptop and then you can decide on a checklist of what you need and don't need in your ideal laptop.

Buying a computer is like buying a car in that there's soooo much choice out there its difficult to approach the market with a completely open mind. You'll stop your head spinning if you can at least boil down your "necessities", "wants" and "don't wants". It'll help you whittle the options down to a final few choices.

Good luck!

mrdegold said:

I was looking at a couple PCMIA to Serial devices and was wondering if anyone is using this type of device for serial comms and how they are working for you.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50021558&pfp=SEARCH

OR

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=550638

If these devices work well it would really open up my choices and maybe I can get that 17 inch screen too go with my failing eye sight

Click to expand...

I have just purchased this

and after trying many usb-serial adapters and many hours of frustration, at last this works fine

hope this helps