New Laptop Search

Hello All,

I am looking for a new laptop since my old Compaq Armada 500 is beginning to fail. This laptop is running Win2000 and the battery controller has failed. It will not charge the battery and will not even boot up with the battery inserted (I must remove the battery to boot up the computer). I mostly support older Industrial equipment so I do require a real serial port, a PCMCIA card bus and WinXP OS. The companies that I work with today are using Allen Bradley PLCs (Micrologix, SLC500, PLC5 & ControlLogix PLCs), Mitsubishi PLCs, GE series PLCs, Siemens S7 PLCs, Proface & Automation Direct PLCs. I also support various HMI applications for these same companies: RSView, PanelView, Wonderware, ProTool, WinCC & WinCC Flexible applications.

Probably too much information. As I said I am looking for a newer laptop with a real serial port, a PCMCIA card bus and WinXP OS. I do not want to go with Win7 OS because I have not kept up with the support agreements with the softwares that I use to support my clients. Being 60 years old and semi-retired (I only work about 60 hours a week) I have chosen not to continue updating all the softwares I require to support my clients when the existing softwares support what they have at this time. I keep thinking I will actually retire some day but I just enjoy the troubleshooting, programming, problem solving and working with so many of these people. The money is quite decent as well.

The searches I have done for new laptops only turn up laptops that do not meet the criteria I am asking for or are laptops of the same era as my old Compaq Armada. If anyone knows of a newer model laptop that meets the following criteria: a real serial port, a PCMCIA card bus and WinXP OS, could you direct me to whom I could make a purchase.

Thank you, Dan

As Mickey suggests, the topic has been covered extensively here on the Forum.

Time marches on; we're a couple years past the point where built-in RS-232 ports or good PCMCIA slots are available at any price, and the older hardware is getting more difficult to find.

My vote is still for the Dell Latitude D620 model. They were widely available as refurbished units and you can get one for under $300 at outlets like Tiger Direct or Overstock.com.

247waleedraza said:

But this is not the right please to ask this type of question.....! am i right guys...! i waiting for your replies...!

Thanks.!

Click to expand...

Why not. Who else would know what laptop to use for the things the OP listed then those at this site?

Mickey said:

Why not. Who else would know what laptop to use for the things the OP listed then those at this site?

Click to expand...

+1

This is the right place for this type of question, and I know for sure that the answere's will help a lot of people with the same problem.

I recognise this problem nearly every week as i'm using a Dell Precision M6500 with W7 64 bit. i've installed vmware player, and Windows virtual PC, and still need my old Dell lap-top to solve the problems with older machines.

Jack

Jack

Search may have ended...

Mickey thanx for all the links that was very helpful. Saturday morning when I posted I was having problems with my internet connection. I have a satillite dish internet connection and we were under heavy overcast. I had tried to do a search on the laptop subject but was not getting good results. By the time I recieved your reply the sky had cleared some and I was able to check each of the links you listed and start a series of searchs on the list of laptops with real serial ports and PCMCIA slots that these links described.

This is the type of reply to a post that I have always found so useful from this site and members like yourself.

I have made a couple of bids on ebay for for a replacement laptop. After I recieve it I will let you know what I ended up with.

Thanks Again, Danocane

This is what I ended up Purchasing

DELL PRECISION M4300 CORE 2 DUO 2.4GHZ, 4GB, 500GB, DVD/R-W, 15.4".

The M4300 meets all the requirements I was asking for. This laptop is working very well and has no problem running the industrial software and applications I have installed so far. I have another laptop I use when programming Siemens S7 plcs using a usb 5711 module, so I haven't experienced any Siemens / Allen Bradley communications issues.

Thanx Dan