New Laptops with built in Serial Port

[Johnster]

Yeah - the whole USB-serial thing has been discussed here more than a couple times...you'd think that it wouldnt be tough to go from 1980's serial to 2000's USB but it is =)

I had good success with a cheapo PCMCIA serial card from Fry's.

I also never had a problem with a T-series thinkpad and the Dock (port replicator?) that was made for it. the Dock always had a real serial port that worked well with the OS.

It was slightly annoying hauling around the dock everywhere, but since it always worked, it was worth it.

-John

 

[gas]

I have quite a few customers that have brontosaurus systems so I still keep old machines around. I regularly check craigslist for old stuff and that way I can use a dedicated machine for every different software. I have the last laugh here because that business is more profitable than working on newer equipment.

 

[Jeff P.]

If it's not an issue, a Docking station will provide a serial port. If they insist you buy a laptop without a serial port...I would make them supply a docking station with it..

 

[Longhorn]

Dell Precision M4400 is a gd laptop!

 

[dkostas]

To Longhorn: do not confuse people, Dell Precision M4400 does not have a serial port

The list of laptops I have found with hardware serial port and which can be bought with Core 2 Duo or better Intel CPUs:

Dell Latitude D520
Dell Latitude D530
Dell Latitude D620
Dell Latitude D630
Dell Latitude D820
Dell Latitude D830

Dell E5500
Dell E5510

Dell Precision M2300
Dell Precision M4300

Toshiba Tecra M9
Toshiba Tecra M10
Toshiba Tecra A10
Toshiba Tecra A11
Toshiba Tecra S11

HP Compaq nc6320
HP Compaq nc8430

Fujitsu Lifebook E series
Fujitsu LifeBook E780

and of course there are more ...

Those who need HARDWARE serial port on a new powerful computer there are a few alternatives:

1. Get a USB to serial converter and expect that it will work. If it will work, then it is the easiest solution and it is not worth to buy a laptop with hardware serial port. However, USB to serial adapter creates virtual serial port in Windows and it is not accessible in DOS and some old software will not work with it (even in Windows).

2. Get a PCMCII or ExpressCard (e.g. look for those with Oxford OXPCIe952 chipset) card with hardware serial port. Note: look for adapters which work through PCI interface, not USB (in USB case it will be the same as USB to serial adapter and will not make a hardware serial port)

In this case it is still not 100% guarantied that it will work, because most often you can not change hardware resources such as IRQ and port physical address, but probability is higher, because this is already hardware serial port.

3. Use software such as Adontec COMM-Extender (http://www.adontec.com/commex_e.htm). It is expensive software, but you can try it for 15 days and see if it works for you. In this case you can use USB to serial adapter or any other kind of serial port and make it look to the software as it is hardware serial port with specific resources your software requires you to provide.

The difference between virtual and hardware serial ports as seen from software is mostly in resources. For example, some old software finds ports through interrupt (IRQ) and physical port address (e.g. "COM1" is typically found by IRQ4 and port address 3F8), which is not available for virtual ports, which are found by their name ("COM1", "COM2", ...)

 

[geniusintraining]

+1 for Dell Latitude 5500. It has been great for me..

+2

I love mine... W7 with XP Mode

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

We bought a refurbished D630 last month.

I would the D630's bigger brother is the D830. I bet you can get one of those refurbished.

 

[Paul B]

Good luck finding a refurb D830 on Dell's website. We bought two a year ago and recently started looking for more. We have looked and looked and can't find any. We have six D830's in my company and would rather buy a refurb D830 with a real serial port than a new laptop without one. Also the PCMCIA slot is an issue with new laptops, they don't come with those anymore. The D830 has a real PCMCIA slot that works with an AB PCMK card.

So don't forget the PCMCIA slot along with the serial port.

 

[bjh]

Good luck finding a refurb D830 on Dell's website. We bought two a year ago and recently started looking for more. We have looked and looked and can't find any. We have six D830's in my company and would rather buy a refurb D830 with a real serial port than a new laptop without one. Also the PCMCIA slot is an issue with new laptops, they don't come with those anymore. The D830 has a real PCMCIA slot that works with an AB PCMK card.

So don't forget the PCMCIA slot along with the serial port.

Paul,

The site I mentioned before, www.dfsdirectsales.com has 28 D830s on sale at the moment, from $342 to $550. This site is where Dell sells their off-lease computers and are refurbished. We have used this site as a source before and are very happy with it.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks for the prodding, looks great!!!

Much obliged...

 

[Jobbe]

Dell Precision M4400 is a gd laptop!

I also use the M4400 and it is a great laptop. It does not have a serial port on it, but it does have a "port replicator" with a serial port. This is a little device that you can click on the docking station port. I use this serial port a lot with old Siemens stuff and it never let me down. Not even if I run MSDOS from windows 95 under VMWARE.
And it still has a real PCMCIA slot.

 

[Ken Golden]

Dell E5500 works great,More expensive USB converter works excellent for our applications. We are in I/A.

 

[rguimond]

Anybody recommend a laptop manufacturer whose newer laptops come with built-in serial ports? Those USB adapters are the devil.

We just bought a "Rugged Notebook" D15RP-WL semi-ruggedized notebook. It has a real serial port. We ordered it with Windows XP installed, because Vista was standard. Works fine, but processing speed could be better. Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1 GHz.

 

[rstech]

I've bought the D800 series of Dell laptops over the past few years but earlier this year I switched to the Dell Precision series. It has a PCMCIA slot but no serial port. I use a Keyspan USB to serial that works well. That being said, I don't use any DOS-based software.

 

[PeterW]

My Panasonic Toughbook came with one.