New laptop

Hello

I know this has been covered many times. Did a search but not finding it for some reason. Could I have a few suggestions on new laptops people are buying and which work the best. What not to get, which version of windows, ect. Thanks in advance

Bill

I would look for this:

- Screen size >= 14”
- 8 GB (or more) of memory (to be able to launch virtual machines if needed).
- 64 bits.
- Good retro-illuminated keyboard layout with at least one Windows key.
- Touch pad and joystick (the latter helps a lot on hot days when you are out of the office).
- Good battery.
- Integrated card reader (compact flash, SD…).
- Automatic lock of the hard disk (unless it is SSD).
- Screen with physical lock (it stresses less the mechanics of the screen during travels).
- Non-brilliant screen.
- Docking station (if possible).
- SSD hard disk.

Good luck!

Oh, and at least "Windows 7 Professional" or "Windows 8.1 Update 1" also in a professional flavour.

All laptops work well if you are lucky, I've got plenty of them and the best I've got was a T41p IBM which was wonderfully balanced and robust, but, that is my experience and what I got at the moment of buying it, now I have an Elitebook from HP (when IBM stopped making computers we switched to HP) and I'm not as happy with it, as the battery died faster, the fingerprint reader stopped working too and the screen back chassis broke... I'm looking at new lappies now, probably I'll go for LENOVO or DELL, but at the end I'm more interested on the specs depicted before than in the brand itself.

I am using one similar to this with an RS-232 expresscard: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precis...49166084?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item4ad1e72404
The only drawback to these is that the I7 processor draws a lot of power so the battery life is less than an hour.

Hi there, am currently working with a
Toshiba Notebook Part number PSCG7E-02E042EN
TOSHIBA C50-A-1E4, COREI5-3230M, 4GB RAM 500GB HDD, W7P WITH W8P UPGRADE
which has all my Rockwell Software loaded onto in (Logix5, 500, 500, RSLinx, RSNetworx, FT View Studio etc) and usng it daily for programming etc.
No serial port, but USB to serial works well

We use HP elitebooks. Quite satisfied with them. They have a more solid build than other typical laptops.
I think that an SSD is a must these days. More important with SSD than i7.
Before deciding which OS, then you should carefully check if the software you are going to use is compatible with the OS.

Thanks to all for the responses, I have not heard good things about Windows 8, does it play well with most PLC\HMI software?

wdd0422 said:

I have not heard good things about Windows 8, does it play well with most PLC\HMI software?

Click to expand...

No it does not... its not as bad as Vista but Windows did not do very good with 8 either, Windows 9 will be out later this year and it sounds like it will be a much better OS, I have been very happy with 7 so for my personal PC's I will wait in until 9 comes out... I do have several versions of 8 as I have to support them but I only use them for support

geniusintraining said:

No it does not... its not as bad as Vista but Windows did not do very good with 8 either, Windows 9 will be out later this year and it sounds like it will be a much better OS, I have been very happy with 7 so for my personal PC's I will wait in until 9 comes out... I do have several versions of 8 as I have to support them but I only use them for support

Click to expand...

Its rather strange how the odd numbered versions of Windows always seem to be reasonably good and the even numbered versions seem to be a disaster.

use dell laptops at work.

mine has windows 7 pro 64 bit, 8 gb ram

i am also using vm's with xp pro for programming.

my laptop at home is toshiba, windows 8 - major pain in my opinion. using windows classic shell to make it more like windos 7. also running vm's with xp pro.

regards,
james

Thanks everybody for your reply's, I have consolidated all the suggestions and passed them along to purchasing. This website and all the folks on it have been such a great resource over the years. I recently hired a apprentice to work with me and one of my first suggestions to him has been to get in the habit checking in and reading the posts at PLCS.net. Thanks again.

Bill