OT need new laptop, looking for advice

Skidood

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Join Date
Oct 2016
Location
Ontario
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Hi, currently have a 5 year old laptop running Windows 8.1 and RS Logix 500 Starter Edition V 9 and RSLinx Classic Lite V 3.81....I cannot upgrade to newer versions since I don't want to shell out the money, (current software meets my needs just fine) and that is the highest version I can download from Rockwell ...I purchased RS Logix 500 back in 2013

I wanted to get a new laptop (this one is starting to act up) and install Windows 10 Pro by myself, or possibly Windows 8.1

All laptops I can find online have W10 pre-installed. Can I source a laptop somewhere for less $$ that doesn't have a pre-installed OS?
Any tips or advice in general?
 
I have been happy with Dell Latitude laptops. My latest one is not too terribly fancy, but I do use it heavily for CAD, multiple monitors and usually have five or six things going at once. I was late to the game with solid state drives, and the one I have now has that. It is incredibly fast in general and especially when restarting. That fact alone probably already paid for the small price difference.

1920 x 1080 resolution was a requirement for a particular software some of our customers use so that feature drove up the price and I got 8gb ram. I don't use VMs yet, but at some point soon, I probably will do that. Virtualization should make supporting your older versions a certainty even with the latest OS and hardware. I think I spent a little over $1000.
 
We buy Dell Latitude although I have an Mac Book Pro. I would not buy a Mac Book Pro again because the new Mac Book Pros require dongles. I hate dongles. The laptop should have an Ethernet port, HDMI port and a couple USB ports. What I like about my Mac Book Pro is that the battery lasts a long time because it is a 13 inch with I5. and the case is aluminum. I also like the track pad. I do not like the Dell track pads with two buttons by the pad and a little stick between the keys.
 
Peter Nachtwey said:
I do not like the Dell track pads with two buttons by the pad and a little stick between the keys.
Click to expand...

The suicide pad. (<- I think I should credit Ron Beaufort for that). Useless if not downright dangerous when programming online. I always turn off tap-to-click. Always. If you ask me to touch your laptop, the first thing I will do is turn off tap to click. Next thing I will do is plug in a mouse. Preferably a wireless mouse, but any mouse is better than the suicide pad. I might use the suicide pad to drag the pointer to the log in field and log in so I can look for a mouse while the 'puter gets warmed up.
 
I know my Inspiron 15 has been pretty great. Four years in, and though I want a new laptop, I can't bring myself to buy one has this thing is still super-fast.


Just make sure you get at least 16GB ram, 1TB ssd, quad core i7 and a discrete graphics card.
 
I have a used ebay Dell Latitude 7404 Extreme and highly recommend for field work. Drives swap out in a flash, so I have a stack of cloned drives with any system I want.
 
I kept my old Latitude E6000 running for nearly ten years, and more stable than anything our IT department maintained (after not so paitiently explaining that the extra stuff they stick on there creates more problems than it solves). But, ol' Bessie finally gave up the ghost.

I switched to a Dell G7 15 Laptop, 16GB RAM / 256MB SSD / 1TB Secondary Drive. Upgraded the dedicated video to an 8GB flavor for CAD work. And, I can upgrade the RAM to 32GB, when the need arises. Probably next week. ;)

As of this writing, it's the third configuration, plus upgrading the video.
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/g-series-15-7590-laptop
 
I have a Lenovo thinkpad that I tweaked on when I bought it in 2014. Replaced the drives to All ssd a year or so ago and the thing still runs like a champ. It’s fallen out of an enclosure twice and off a toolbox once. It’s nothing fancy to look at but it’s not made to look pretty. For the cost of ssd storage now just go all solid state, the time saving is unbelievable.

I’m pretty much in the same boat. I’m holding on the win 7 for as long as I can. Reality is that is not going to last forever.
 
Look on amazon for Dell m4800.

They are awesome machines, built really well, you can upgrade the hard drives, etc all very easily. They are made as desktop replacements. You can get a docking station, etc, and they will handle whatever you can throw at them; cad, etc.

The refurb ones are around $500. I've had mine for four years and it is still fast and working great.

Save your old windows 7 keys and use them with virtual box on the new one.
 
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