New laptop

sirhiss2 · Apr 7, 2006

Hi guys i'm planning on ordering in a new laptop. A dell d810 with a docing station and a 2.2ghz processor. Just interested if you guys had any suggestions. I want to be able to program/communicate with:
Siemens s7-300 series PLC's (I'll probably use PCS7),A-B SLC 500's and Control logix PLC's (using control logix and/or RSlogix), and also Modicon 984's, Momemtiums using Concept software. I have a little of every thing! ha ha. Do you guys forsee any perticular issues? Laptop comes standard with XP.
Any suggestions "make sure I have" with the laptop. Ie. RS232 port Parallel port etc. ?
Have any of you guys tried this?

ArikBY · Apr 7, 2006

Dell have great computers.
I would looking for the D820,cheaper lighter and ready for the new MS OS.

Rick Densing · Apr 7, 2006

I have a D810. I love it.

It has a real serial port, which has saved a lot of headaches.

katratzi · Apr 7, 2006

The Fujitsu E8000 Lifebook comes with 4 usb, infrared,

serial and parallel ports. I think this is the one I am going to get. A friend bought the C2340 some time ago and it seems very well made.

BobB · Apr 7, 2006

I have had excellent performance from HP laptops with real serial ports. The latest one I bought is a beauty.

nswu1 · Apr 7, 2006

I just recently purchased 2 dell d610, have no problems at all using them with plc software. I also got dos based software for plc2 working on the xp sp2 platform.

elevmike · Apr 7, 2006

It seem that a while ago people were scratching the dirt looking for a new laptop with a real serial port. Recently I've been looking at new laptops and they ALL seem to have real serial ports. Are serial ports back in vogue??

ArikBY · Apr 8, 2006

The big players(Dell HP) in this market have few models with real port.

Most of the models do not have real port.
I think its matter of time. that the real port become history.

whuff · Apr 8, 2006

Just my 2 cents worth

Personally, I have nothing but headaches with Dell laptops (and desktops for that matter). We purchased 2 IBM R52's about 2 months age. You have to use a USB to serial converter. The only glitches I have had was my hotsynch for the palm wanted to use the same port as RSLink. Once I manually adjusted the ports (have a desktop adapter station also) there was no problems. I and our maintenance dept have been able to communicate with all of the A-B stuff, drives, etc. The one draw back with the R52’s is only one PCMCIA slot. The last place I worked we had the IBM Tt42’s. Again no serial ports but they do have 2 PCMCIA slots. The shock protection on the harddrive was big selling point. The T42 survived a tumble down three steps with power on. And yes, you do pay more for the name but again no really problems with any of them.

elevmike · Apr 8, 2006

Real Serial Ports:

Here's a link from Dell that shows which model has what ports:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/products/needhelp/en/compare_notebooks?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=mn&~tab=5

Gerry M · Apr 10, 2006

Here is another suggestion for you to ponder:

http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=7250

sirhiss2 · Apr 10, 2006

Thanks for the suggestions.

I will have a look at those sites.
Anyone have any problems with PCS7 or step7 with an XP environment?

nswu1 · Apr 10, 2006

I've never had a problem yet with any software, even the old dos based software with dell latitude d610 with xp sp2.

glenncovington · Apr 10, 2006

nswu1,

What settings do you have to make the PLC2 software work w/PCMK card under XP. I did not have much luck with this in the past.

Thanks,
Glenn

testsubject · Apr 10, 2006

I really like my Acer C-300 Tablet. It also doubles as a standard laptop. No 9 pin serial, just 2 USB and one PCMCIA. It has not been a problem except when a tried to copy a file to an older laptop. I have no 3.5" and it did not have a USB.

New laptop

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