Which replacement laptop please?

[muggles]

Currently running a Dell Latitude D610 with XP Pro, issues with it are poor battery life and sluggishness.

 

My laptop is used for work and Internet browsing, including playing videos, but no gaming. I run Microsoft Office Pro 2010, I sometimes need to do presentations using a mix of Powerpoint and the Internet, meaning I often have lots of tabs open in Opera, and I use Publisher quite a bit too. Some of the things I do require a few programs to be open at the same time, and whilst none of them are individually very processor hungry, it does of course all add up. I also need to use some ageing peripherals sometimes, so connectivity options are a priority too

 

Requirements list therefore is:-

Long battery life between charges

Good processing power

USB ports

9-pin "D" Serial Port for ageing peripheral connection

Digital and Analogue video out for a projector

WiFi

Bluetooth

SD card slot

CD/DVD drive

 

Happy to go second hand, any thoughts on what's good please?

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Muggles and welcome back,

There are so many options available it is difficult to say for any particular model or make, no doubt there may be some who will say stay away from this make or that company is struggling so don't buy one of theirs in case they go bust and so on.

 

What I do suggest is to have a look at what is available and how much they offer for your needs by going through say Amazon or New Egg, to mention major internet retailers, don't forget the smaller guys can sometimes have the one you want at the bargain price too.

 

Now we come to this ageing peripheral, there may be a major stumbling block here depending on what the peripheral thing is, I assume a printer or scanner, considering you are only likely to obtain a new laptop that will be running Windows 7, there may well be compatibility problems as there may not be drivers for Windows 7 to make your device actually work.

 

As for most other things in your wish list, most of it is now standard on the mid range machines.

 

So have a look, see something you like, then ask us our opinion is the better way forward, as there is no way I or anyone else, could find the time or even money to give an opinion of all there is out there as it stands.

 

Nev.

[muggles]

OK thanks

 

As I said, I'm quite prepared to look at the second hand market. The serial port is quite essential - I'm a glider pilot and often act as competition director / official scorer in competitions. A lot of glider flight loggers use serial connections to download their stored flight traces to a laptop for scoring purposes, and they're also a bit highly strung and don't always react well to serial-to-usb converters

[Plastic Nev]

OK, I understand your concerns regarding the logging equipment and the need for that serial port.

 

You may find perhaps a second hand machine with one and still be new enough to have Windows 7.

 

I don't honestly know without a major search myself of everything now available, but a shortened search proved fruitless so far.

 

You may finish up having to get a computer for your other needs, but need to keep the old one stripped of everything else software and data wise just for the serial port.

 

Edit to add, I have just found on the Dell site they do serial adapters, not USB, but devices which fit into expansion slots, have a look here=

 

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=us&l=en&cs=&k=laptops with serial port&cat=all&x=0&y=0&delxlap=1

 

(Copy and paste the entire link from above to get to the relevant page, not just the underlined link, that goes to a general Dell page.)

 

One of them might be an answer for getting a serial port onto a newer machine.

Nev.

[KenB]

Hi

 

Some Toshiba machines still have a (serial ) RS232 connection.

Take a look here:

http://www.ebuyer.com/341777-toshiba-tecra-a11-1hp-laptop-ptse0e-0mj052en

 

If you want more options then Nev's idea should not be discounted.

[muggles]

Ideal, that'll give me something to go on, thanks guys

[KenB]

You are welcome - let us know how you get on :)

[BeeCeeBee]

Just a a possible alternative you may want to look into a serial port to usb adapter. I have never used one but there are plenty of choices around. The only reason that I am suggesting this as a possible alternative to all the good advice you have been given is that it may reduce the limitations on what you can buy.

 

As a practical matter I would try one out on another laptop before you commit to a machine without a serial port.

[Synapse]

Another option would be to use a PC Card to Serial adapter - newer versions are Expresscard. It is older technology and connects directly to the PCI bus, and is less likely to have the same issues as USB to Serial.

 

This link gives the general idea

 

http://www.ni.com/pdf/products/us/3ser704-706.pdf