laptop

good day,
Im just getting into plc's and programming, i was wondering if anyone could tell me what i should look for in a laptop? just dont want to buy one and then in a few months when i know a little more wishing i had bought one with maybe more options suited for this industry.

Thanks
plcpunk

Here is some reading material for you while you are waiting for others to comment.

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/wherei...cof=FORID:10;NB:1&ie=UTF-8&q=laptop&sa=Search

http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=15598

And welcome to the forum.

I had a same issue before entering to this PLC. And checked several websites and reviews. And found that Dell Latitude class are best. Main issue is serial port RS232C. My suggestion is to get Dell D830 or D630 2.5Ghz and nvidia video card. It works enough for PLC. And you can get it under 300$. Look in Kijiji local.

If they are still available get XP Pro. I still read about problems with Windows 7. The main problem is supporting older equipment. PLCs, being essentially computers, are designed to function for decades (yes decades), as opposed to current consumer stuff which is turned around every couple of years. Older programming software required DIRECT access to the serial ports. The emulated - software method now just doesn't cut it. If you will only be dealing with modern - less than a few years old - equipment then you can hazard Windows 7. The actual programming of the PLC and displays does not take incredibly powerful computers.

Some here use virtual machines (like VMWare) for their programming packages and swear it help s lot. I haven't tried it. If you go that route get max memory possible.

We use either toughbooks or think pads. Brain box makes a good serial port adapter but the think pads come with docking stations that have built in serial ports. I am using Vista and we are beta testing Windows 7. Close to releasing the 7 think pads for general use to everyone.
http://www.brainboxes.com/serial-expresscard