Best and Cheapest Laptop/Notebook recomend for HMI/PLC software

[danpantea]

Get one that has a Static Hardrive and Serial Port

Most PLC software will run your HD a lot more than Windows. Siemens is notorious for that. I would try a static drive for a change. DELL has that as an option. That being said I have a Systemax from Tiger Direct (you can try Microcenter.com also) with CA (computer associates) installed operating system (without all that bundle Software that others put in). It is not perfect but does most jobs that don't require heavy serial port use (times out every 5 minutes on the replicated port).

 

[BobB]

I can tell you that the Dell Vostro 1710 I bought with Duo Core T9300 processor and 4 gig RAM absolutely flies with Vista with Aero enabled. Vista has a 'Vista Expeience' index and it is 5.1 out of 6 for the Vostro. My destop has Duo Core E6600, 4 gig RAM, Sata II mirror raid hard drives, X48 chipset etc and rates at 5.7 - not a lot of difference. The slowest opart of both systems, surprisingly enough, is the processor!!!

Most laptops I see around rate at 4.1 or less with Vista. The machines have no 'grunt'.