Recommend a laptop/notebook

[toyotahachiroku]

I'm looking to get a new laptop in the next couple of weeks. I've been having a hard time finding new laptops that still have serial ports. Guys at my local computer stores all give me a blank, confused look when I ask them. I'll be using it mostly for diagnostic software for a few different makes of cars. Which new laptop/notebook do you guys recommend and where would be best to buy them from?

[BLooD30]

I have an IBM T42 £150 of ebay.

[newtoe46]

I'm using a d630 with 2 gigs of ram.

[firehawk618]

I know you said new, and can't help you on that one.

If you go used I recommend a Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 or CF-30 will do the job. I have both and love them.

Yeah, not good for gaming etc, but for durability, diagnostics, battery life etc you can't beat them.

Starts raining while you're working on the car, no big deal.

Drop it down the stairs while it's running? Oh well it'll be fine.

You get my point....

[David Mc]

I use a Dell Precision M65. Pretty bulletproof and has a true serial port.

[IcemanBHE]

Your not going to find a NEW laptop with a serial port.

Ive migrated to the Dell D610 as of this weekend. Im going to buy a few in bulk and set them up.

I learned something this weekend....Some DELL laptops dont report the serial input correctly, thus not showing battery and ignition signals correctly in INPA, no matter the interface.

The DELL Inspiration D610 does....

My old one was a DELL 600M.

[bmwguync]

I use a Dell d520 and it works fine! I purchased a cable from cable shack out of the UK and it uses the USB port. No problems DIS, Inpa, NCS all connect and communicate everytime! Tried to get help from a couple guys on here but I guess it must have been a big bother to assist me with it. I really looked up to the knowledge of one of the guys and always read his post and picked him for help thinking thats what the forum is all about. I was not looking handouts, freebees or the like just some shared knowledge mainly with NCSEXPERT. Now I don't even read his post at all, If I see his name or his comment I skip it (too full of himself). But I would like to extend a great big THANK YOU to Randomy and cyberkaa for their help! YOU GUYS DEFINATELY ROCK!

[toyotahachiroku]

thanks guys for the recommendations. i've been looking into dell for a cheap setup. apparently, according to the dell website the still available E5510 has a serial port. not bad for $500 new. I've also been looking at the older D series as well. As Ice mentioned some dell with serial ports don't work properly. Any idea which one I should avoid? I found a few used D620 and D630 locally no D610. Not sure if they can detect batt and ign.

[IcemanBHE]

Yes...avoid the DELL 600M. It dont work right. (Works fine as long as the battery and ignition warnings are turned off in EDIABAS.ini in serial and fine in USB)

Guys....those of use with ADS cars MUST have a serial port. :)

USB seems to work fine for OBDII cars and newer.

[tatarimoke]

IBM x60 + Ultrabase X6 170+40E on ebay

[newtoe46]

thanks guys for the recommendations. i've been looking into dell for a cheap setup. apparently, according to the dell website the still available E5510 has a serial port. not bad for $500 new. I've also been looking at the older D series as well. As Ice mentioned some dell with serial ports don't work properly. Any idea which one I should avoid? I found a few used D620 and D630 locally no D610. Not sure if they can detect batt and ign.

My d630 can detect batt and ign. and inpa worked in both win xp sp3 and win 7 32 bit professional

[ypoc]

i have a simple acer aspire 10 inch netbook with winXP :)
small and lightweight.

works perfect

[KB120D]

Dell d630

[EvilWagn]

What if i add a twist to this question and ask how "old" of a laptop will suffice for some noobish code reading and lcm bulb check tinkering?

Just had an old pIII era dell laptank donated to my tinkering supplies, and a dedicated unit just seems easier than arguing with my son over who gets to monopolize the computer for the weekend :D

[IcemanBHE]

Well....the original Gt1/DIS setup was run on ancient IBM T30s.

Native install was like PII and 256MB Ram.

But if you want to run both on VMWare installs, I would say that 1.3GHz CPU with 1GB RAM is pretty minimum. XP takes about ~375MB RAM to run, and DIS runs pretty decent at 512MB, and SSS/Progman really needs 700MB or more.


I also have a netbook Lenovo S10 with just INPA/NCS on it and thats what I use 95% of the time. Cant beat portability.

[bmwguync]

Yes...avoid the DELL 600M. It dont work right. (Works fine as long as the battery and ignition warnings are turned off in EDIABAS.ini in serial and fine in USB)

Guys....those of use with ADS cars MUST have a serial port. :)

USB seems to work fine for OBDII cars and newer.

Mine works with the OBD connector under dash as well as the round connector under the hood. I bought a round obd connector that plugs right into my standard obd cable to convert to the round. . It reads cars that use either. I have had great luck with it. I have had no problems with the USB connector, I do not use serial connector. Would love some help with NCSexpert though. I guess I am too afraid I may brick something. So if anyone would like to give me a call to explain sometime I would be forever in debt!

[d4rkchocolate]

i run all my diognostics on the IBM T30 you can pick them up for £80 on ebay very stable and does the job, i did up the hardrive to 500G for an extra £30

[stonesfan]

I am using a Sony VAIO VGN-S460P running WinXP. The laptop does not have a serial port which seems to be fine for my E60.

[tsam19]

IBM Thinkpad T43 plus the Expansion Docking station, works a treat.

I had tried a Compaq 6000 series and Dell C400 before and can confirm there both crap.

Thinkpad is the way forward. :redspot

[doofoo]

Dell D620 Core 2 Due T7400 @ 2.16 GHZ + 2GB Ram, runs great with Win XP + VMWare.

Nice shop diagnostics laptop.

[joako]

I use HP compaq nc6220 it's like their version of Thinkpad T40.

[Nelobarkley]

Joako, i also have hp compaq nc6220 , what kind modification i need to make in laptop to run better, i want change hard drive to 320GB.

[joako]

Max out the RAM! I think it's 1.25gb max?

[xpcgamer]

Well I went out and bought a T30 to only run INPA,DIS and SSS. While installing SSS I noticed that the 40G HDD was maxed out and I could not load SSS. Looks like I will be using a that HP i got laying around my office.

[JimmyW]

Bmwguync, do you think I could buy a copy of the little cd that came with the cable. I purchased from the same seller and lost my CD. Tried contacting them but no response. Thanks!