Laptop Advice

Hello Everyone. I was contemplating the purchase of a new laptop that I will use to run Allen-Bradley as well other software. I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions. Memory? Solid State? Brand? Where to purchase? ect.
Thanks John

House92 said:

Hello Everyone. I was contemplating the purchase of a new laptop that I will use to run Allen-Bradley as well other software. I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions. Memory? Solid State? Brand? Where to purchase? ect.
Thanks John

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I suggest to check the HP ProBook 6560b or 6570b. They both have serial port which is good for PLC programming.

The USB to serial adapters are good enough these days I do not worry much about having an onboard serial. I would rather have more USB for flexibility

As the rest that depends what else you are need it for, just programming I would assume 8G is more than enough memory, solid states are nice and fast but not necessary, brands I would compare different lines and read reviews. Also look into companies that your company normally buys through maybe they can get you some good deals or have more specifics.

Hopefully I am in your situation soon and need to start looking for a new programming computer but our old beater is still running.

I recently exchanged my HDD with a new SDD. I simply cloned my existing drive and the difference is massive. Booting used to take a couple of minutes, now it is done in about 20 seconds. Definitely worth the money, especially since its only a couple of 100 dollars difference.

Same goes for memory, price difference from 8 to 16 is very little. If you do any CAD design, it makes a difference.

I stick to Lenovo, but that is just taste I guess . Got a W530 at the moment.

dlweber said:

The USB to serial adapters are good enough these days I do not worry much about having an onboard serial. I would rather have more USB for flexibility.

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I have had many problems with USB-Serial ports working one day but not the next. I have tried 3 brands of them. And this is on 2 laptops that don't have serial ports (Win 7 & Win8.1).

Then I stripped from an old machine a Moxa N-Port Ethernet serial port, downloaded the driver from their website & it works flawlessly - the only difference is I have to carry an AC adapter for it & a crossover Ethernet cable or a switch - but the reliability it has given me makes it well worth it.

Our whole company is going to Lenovo. I would not buy a consumer level laptop. Dell Latitude Line is also very good.

As for USB Adopter, my recommendation (which I got from here) is the Keyspan USA-19HS. You can get it from Amazon. The adopter comes with software that allow change of COM port which can be important because I found one software that doesn't work unless it is set at COM1.

harryting said:

Our whole company is going to Lenovo. I would not buy a consumer level laptop. Dell Latitude Line is also very good.

As for USB Adopter, my recommendation (which I got from here) is the Keyspan USA-19HS. You can get it from Amazon. The adopter comes with software that allow change of COM port which can be important because I found one software that doesn't work unless it is set at COM1.

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We have always had luck with the Keyspan as well. Also, this one:
http://www.theautomationstore.com/industrial-usb-rs232-usb-serial-adapter-plc-programming/
has not failed me either.

harryting said:

The adopter comes with software that allow change of COM port which can be important because I found one software that doesn't work unless it is set at COM1.

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On any Windows(XP, Vista, 7 & 8) computer you can go to Device Manager, right click on the serial port under PORTS, click PROPERTIES, click on PORT SETTINGS tab, click on ADVANCED & in the lower left there's a drop down that will let you change any serial port from COM1 to COM256. No special software needed - for all brands of serial ports, even a built in port.

There are a few programs out there that either only look at COM1 or only allow small selections (to COM2 or COM8). You can even select a COM # if Device Manager says "Used" - it will show a warning but let you change it anyway.

I have two main requirements, high resolution screen (minimum 1080p, "Full"HD) and a keypad. Most everything else is a secondary concern for me, but I do want it to be fast, so I go high memory and a good processor. I haven't put a CD/DVD/BlueRay in a computer for any reason for several years now, so all I really need are some USB ports and maybe HDMI out.

I'd definitely spring for a decent size SSD (bare minimum 256GB, 512GB better) and 16GB of RAM. I've got that setup and can run two VM's and the host simultaneously, have autocad publishing a drawing set on one machine and RSLogix downloading to a PLC on another, and suffer no noticeable slowdown. As for brand, I wouldn't concern myself overly with what brand it is as long as it's not (as noted above) a "consumer level" laptop. I use a macbook pro, and can highly recommend it, but I know that not everybody shares my enthusiasm for apple

Ssd

Go for a laptop with an SSD Drive.

Is cost a determining factor? Buy the best you can for what youur willing to spend in my opinion. I would want an SSD and 8-16 G ram. SSD boots fast especially if you're running out to a machine to make a quick change. I use AutoCad too so i want as much horsepower as possible. Not concerned with a giant screen as i usually dock and use a monitor. Too big and its a bear to carry around. I'm fine with a USB to serial converter. Partial to Lenovo, Dell and HP.

You could go the over powered route, there is a post on the site I forget by who they are using a $3200 gaming laptop to program with, if no budget and you want performance you can look up that post.

my vote goes to SSD disk, and no need for a dedicated serial port unless you have a specific hardware that MUST use a serial port, and there does not exist hardware to interface via USB or Ethernet.
CD/DVD/BD drive, not so important as it used to be. Except maybe for watching movies when traveling

I have been using a very nice Mobile Workstation from Dell at the 'Job' for about a year now. It is very fast with AutoCAD and is a good all around machine, albeit very expensive. As of today It has white paint from a tank farm on it, a white line in the screen from ??, a small black crack in the screen on the other corner, black sand residue from an aluminum foundry in places that won't come out, dents on the side from were it vibrated off of a bucket being used as a table and 2 of the USB ports don't work. It also weighs something like a million pounds.

Moral of the story. Get a good desktop for working in the office and a cheap lightweight laptop to take with you for site work, that way when it gets destroyed you won't cry as hard.

For my startup business I ordered parts for a pretty sweet workstation grade computer I am going to build myself (following Autodesks recommended parts list where applicable), and I ordered a bottom of the line Lenovo business class laptop (Thinkpad)...still costs less than my Mobile Workstation.