Laptops

Looking to buy a desent and resonable programming laptop. Software used AB and Mitsi. L5K, RSView, Gx Developer. Since it going to be Win 7 the laptop should hanle Virtual Machines. Just advice please.

Dell XPS 17 for mine with the high res screen. That is what I have. Make sure you get Win 7 Pro though - not home.

Beware of Windows 8. I've Just replaced my rather ancient Dell D830 XP with a Samsung 350E which was my biggest mistake of the year so far! Expected to get Windows 7 got 8 and nothing would run despite upgrading to the professional pack. In the end I bought a new drive and started again with Windows 7 professional. But finding Win7 drivers for the thing was a real pain. It has taken over 3 months to get it just about stable and I still haven't found drivers for everything. The other fault with it is the 17" display, which is short and fat rather than long and thin, which is the wrong way round for PLC programming. Also its too big to fit neatly under an airplane seat which makes travelling hard work and too thin to risk putting in the overhead locker. All in All a disaster !

The Dell Inspiron 17R is good for an inexpensive laptop. If you want to go top shelf, get a Dell Precision M6700.
Stay with Win7 Pro. Win8 has too many bugs!

I agree.
I have a DELL PRECISION with WIN7-PRO and I don't have problem with my Automation softwares.
For the older softwares, I use WINDOWS VIRTUAL PC and XPMODE with no problems.
But never use Windows8!!

How does Windows 8 have too many bugs? It's an incremental improvement over Windows 7!? Granted developers are behind on it (nothing new). I've installed Rockwell Software on it without issue even though it isn't supported yet.

Personally I have a 17" Dell Precision m6600, it's got all the bells and whistles, not cheap but an outstanding computer for development. With that said, I'd prefer a 15" screen as the 17" does not travel well (but I manage, I know life is hard at times), however those can be hard to come by in a decent resolution (1920x1080).

In the past I've had the Dell Lattitude line and have always been happy with them. For spec's I'd recommend a 15" 1920x180 screen, 256 SSD hard drive (2nd hard drive bay in case you need more room later), 8+ GB of ram and Windows 7 Pro as others have mentioned.

I am using Dell Latitude E6520 15.6" with 1080p screen. Battery last 6 hours. Yes it has extended battery. 8GB RAM, 256SSD, i5 machine.
I have no problem of compatibility using any AB programs on Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thanks people. I will look at the options you have given me.