Which laptop? (I know its been asked before)

[Shad 0]

Hey all found this forum and wanted to do a quick check of what you all consider must haves for a Lap top to be a good choice for programming a variety of PLCs. I just took a new job at the local college teaching part time so I could go back to school myself and the first few classes Ill be taking are all PLC programming, probably throw in some CAD classes as well when I get time. I think its time to finally break down and buy a lap top for all those reasons as well as eventually programming. My personal choices in PCs usually require heavy doses of ram and HD space and at least moderate speed (thats 1.5 gig or higher in my book). Now all the new lap tops seem to have forgotten to put in a serial port and a floppy drive and from my experience those are pretty well must haves for interfacing with most PLCs and saving the small proggies. I know there are USB to Serial converters but the last I knew most of the techs that I spoke to really werent singing the praises of the converters. I have no problem with an external Floppy drive so long as it is rugged and effective, I just dont see a point in burning a CD to save a small program when a floppy will do. Bottom line is I want to be able to load up software to program various PLCs, possibly load up CAD, be able to have room for class work (both teaching them and taking them) and have a lap top that is rugged enough to take daily abuse of the job. Any idea whats working out there now, whats absolutely needed for interfacing these days, what kind of processor speed and ram. I dont want to make an uninformed decision and regret it later and possibly waste hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the process so any help would be most appreciated.

[BobB 58]

Reportedly Dell, Sony and Compaq still have laptops with real serial ports. If no real serial port, buy a PCMCIA card serial port. BB Electronics have a good one. Floppy drives are not that important these days but you can usually buy an external one for your laptop. Why not use USB memory drives? They are much faster, more convenient and plug and play with XP, and far more reliable. I HATE FLOPPIES!!!! Too often get to the job and the disk has died. Usually many miles, or thousands of miles, from home. Bloody embarrasing.

[Andy_P 7]

Definitely agree with using a USB memory stick. Or even using a flash card reader. I have lost count of the times I have found the latest floppy is dead, or reads on one PC but not another, and then having to waste time finding another one. Andy.

[Shad 0]

Hadnt really thaught about the newer types of memory to be honest guys but it makes lots of sense now that you bring it up. Guess with an 80 Gig HD I just dont have to think about saving stuff to make room on my home PC so I havent explored options for it. Definately gonna check them out now, since I have had the same problems with floppies suddenly being OUT OF ORDER when I try to use them to retrieve data. As far as the PCMCIA card serial ports I have heard mixed results on those from the people in the field that I know. Last check all the guys I "used" to talk to were horrified at the thaught of a USB to serial adaptor and would use the PCMCIA route as a last resort. Has technology finally muted some of the concerns of either of these or is it just something that programmers are gonna have to accept with the new machines? Thanks for the advice so far, Ill check back later to see if anyone else has an opinion. Edited 13 Aug 2004 by Shad

[KinK 0]

I think that it has a lot to do with the peeps who make the usb to rs232 cable. I have had one for a couple of years with no problems .... other than my frikken pic controller (which I am not sure if its me or my program or my pic ) yes I am very frustrated with it. but other than the pic I have had no problems connecting to any omron/Allenbradly/or Direct plc. or my palm pilot. and a number of Routers and switch console ports. one thing you do have to remember is that the comm port # can change every time you plug it in so you have to check it in device manager to make sure that its still on the same commport, this happens because usb is hot swappable so it makes a diff when the computer sees it and when its plugged in.(this can be frustrating). and hopfully eventualy the plc's will be usb (one can dream) Edited 13 Aug 2004 by KinK

[Shad 0]

Yeah its easy to dream that the PLCs will eventually go to USB but the reality is that even """"IF""" they do there will still be plenty of older units in use that will confound and frustrate. With the small niche use for the dated serial port on PCs and Laptops Im certian that this is going to be an ongoing problem due the the cost and work involved in upgrading PLCs. Lets face it industry has a track record of "If its not broke, dont fix it", basically if that old SLC 500 is still doing its job then its gonna be there until it doesnt do its job. My main concern is that with the new technology in PC/Lap tops (read lack of serial port in this case) if I did decide to pick up an older laptop just to have an onboard serial port that eventually the manufacturers will just stop supporting it. Not to mention an older model would probably not stand up to all of the uses that I have in mind for my system. Ah well I ended up ordering a Dell Inspirion 1150 today (no serial port but Im gonna try to make due). I upgraded from the basic model and still stayed within a decent price range. Specs: 2.6 gig CPU, 15" monitor, XP Home, 512 MB ram, 32 MB graphics, CDRW/DVD, 40 gig HD, Wireless network and a 4 yr warranty/in home service plan. All for just under 1500.00 USD

[Guest ARIELDUNWRIGHT]

My notebook: ACER Aspire 1710, serial port, 802.11g wireless, 2.8GHz P4, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, 17" screen! $1699. add a USB floppy for $50.

[Shad 0]

Wow very nice Ariel. That system has just about everything I was looking for to be honest. I havent heard a lot about ACER systems though and until you just jogged my memory I wouldnt have even named them as a manufacturer. So long as the warranty is good and the company is gonna be around 5+ years from now I cant see as it would make a big difference what the name on it was from my point of view though. Oh and just an FYI after talking to the folks at Dell they didnt list a single laptop with a serial port in the current line, nor was it an option. Guess thats the way of things though. Im gonna try the converter route I guess and see how that all works out. Hopefully Ill be able to successfully interface with the SLC 500 I have stored in the barn so I can experiment on my own. Edited 13 Aug 2004 by Shad

[Gerry 13]

Just a plug for the one I recently purchased: ASUS L5800G 3.2 GHz P4 80 GB HD 512 MB RAM CD/DVD writer (+ & -) built-in floppy drive real serial port 802.11g wireless modem gigabit ethernet 2 PCMCIA slots ATI Radeon graphics controller 15" high-res display that elicits envious remarks from all A big step up from my HP Omnibook P3 800 MHz

[Ken Roach 194]

Dell may only offer real RS-232 serial ports on their corporate-grade Latitude notebook PCs, not on the consumer-grade Inspirons. We use Dell exclusively at my office, and I am happy with the one-model-older C610 I have now. The screen isn't huge, but it is durable moderately compact. I use both PCMCIA RS-232 ports and Keyspan USB/RS232 for many applications. For interfacing to A-B's DH485 network, I have gotten a 1747-UIC and have never looked back. When I see that a customer has Gateway or Fujitsu or Acer notebooks, I look for a way to not use their PCs on my work, especially Gateway. Blech. Try to get a corporate grade if you're going to get an IBM or a Dell. Stay away from the flashy consumer stuff (onboard sound, firewire, that kind of thing) and look for durable hinges instead.

[Chris Elston 79]

To go along with Ken, The new D series Latitudes have "real serial ports" on them. You shouldn't have any issues with them.

[Shad 0]

Ok I stand corrected on the Dell and no serial ports issue, they in fact do offer a serial port on the Latitude D series as mentioned. However at a substantial increase in price compared to the Inspirion with similar specs. Now when I called Dell to order mine maybe I just got someone who didnt quite understand my needs as I specifically asked if they had a system available with a serial port and I was told that they did not. Perhaps because I had mentioned that I was looking at the Inspirion line when I noticed the lack of that port. At any rate Ive made my decision and Ill see how the PCMCIA cards work out and since I have more than one function to fill as well as limited resources for purchasing the system Im hoping Ive made a reasonable comprimise that will fill my needs for this system. Thanks for all the responses guys and you can bet I will return to this forum with the results and any further questions I have.

[Chris Elston 79]

Dell has attempted to be price competive with the Inspirion series and use that model for the main stream home users. I wouldn't recommend those laptops for programming. Of course the Latitude series is geared for business and are generally "Stripped" down hence why I don't understand why the heck they still cost more.... At any rate, we have pretty good luck with the Dell Latitudes...that 3-year ONSITE service is hard to beat.

[Shad 0]

Yeah that was kinda my impression as well (stripped down to be competitive) but the one I got and was about the same price as the Dell Latitude D800 I priced. The D800 being very comparable size as the Inspirion I purchased only close to $1000 more on the price tag. Im not a penny pincer but come on the systems being virtually the same I wouldnt expect that much of a difference in price for stronger hinges. Just to be clear my intention is not to specifically use the Inspirion for programming, Im taking 4 PLC courses this year at college while I teach some other courses in the maintenance program. Im gonna need a portable system to keep up with what I have going on and if I can also use that for programming its a huge bonus. I will also likely try to get CAD in there as well so I could potentially have a lot of programs on this machine, I expect that being MULTI-FUNCTIONAL is gonna be the key concern for me. I expect any programming I do will be strictly in a lab type atmosphere so some of the concerns just arent going to apply to me as much as a bona fide field technician. Oh and by the way I did opt for a 4 year warranty with the Inspirion as well with the Onsite service package. I gotta agree that is a very attractive option. Edited 19 Aug 2004 by Shad

[Rebuke 0]

I currently use a Dell Latitude D800 Centrino, but usually I have used the Panasonic Toughbook series. Expensive and not a lot of extras but very durable. Screen quality is excellent. (Of course)