[blackwasp]

Guys, need a bit help. My dad needs laptops with serial port, but they are a rare breed now a days. Recently we had to buy two used ones since they had this port. But they are dated with low ram(max 4Gb) and other issues. I was browsing the dell site and spotted a dock in the accessories section. Has anyone used that?

Any alternates to consider? Tried the USB to serial adapter, but it's buggy and doesn't always work.

The best case is finding a laptop with serial port and the next best option is one with dock.

Thanks.

[heydj]

I have just ordered Dell Latitude E7450 Ultrabook with 8 gb RAM & i5 processor. It weighs about 1.54 Kg and comes with 3 years onsite warrant, SSD, touch display, and 6 cell battery.

Was thinking of going with Mac Air but addicted to Windows platform.

Thinkpad was on the shortlist but did not like the keyboard, I prefer Dell.

[RonXRi94]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Guys, need a bit help. My dad needs laptops with serial port, but they are a rare breed now a days. Recently we had to buy two used ones since they had this port. But they are dated with low ram(max 4Gb) and other issues. I was browsing the dell site and spotted a dock in the accessories section. Has anyone used that?

Any alternates to consider? Tried the USB to serial adapter, but it's buggy and doesn't always work.

The best case is finding a laptop with serial port and the next best option is one with dock.

Thanks.

Hi,

I'm assuming you need the serial port for an old device like a printer or something.

If so, it's better to just replace the outdated device with a newer one. Printers and other peripherals come pretty cheap these days, and are generally better replaced than living with an old laptop.

In case I've assumed wrong, try out the dock. Buy the dock and test it with a friend's USB port. If it works fine, well and good. If not, it's anyway probably not too expensive and maybe can even be returned

Cheers,
Ron

[Tanveer_2558]

Just got my self a Mac book pro 13inch 2015, In exchange of my old 2012 mac air which had lot of issues, They still gave me 20k for that and 14% student discount, So i effectively paid only 61k For the 128 SD model.

Bought it from Market city Kurla, At Nyasa.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by RonXRi94

Hi,

I'm assuming you need the serial port for an old device like a printer or something.


In case I've assumed wrong, try out the dock. Buy the dock and test it with a friend's USB port. If it works fine, well and good. If not, it's anyway probably not too expensive and maybe can even be returned

Cheers,
Ron

Haha. I wish we could solve the problem that easy. The port is needed for book binding machines and printing presses not easily replaced.

The problem is that I'm not sure if the dock connects via the USB bus or through proprietary port. Also didn't see it available on the Indian dell site. I'll going to give them a call on Monday and see if they have it here.

We've had almost nil success using the usb-serial adapters. Right from the cheap Chinese ones to the branded expensive ones.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Haha. I wish we could solve the problem that easy. The port is needed for book binding machines and printing presses not easily replaced.

The problem is that I'm not sure if the dock connects via the USB bus or through proprietary port. Also didn't see it available on the Indian dell site. I'll going to give them a call on Monday and see if they have it here.

We've had almost nil success using the usb-serial adapters. Right from the cheap Chinese ones to the branded expensive ones.

I am assuming that you will use the machine in a printing press environment. In that case, why don't you get a small desktop, an all-in-one will do if you want it small. The advantages are
. You can keep upgrading the desktop piece by piece
. You can always add ports via expansion slots
. As you may not need much power, the least expensive Intel MB with a couple of GB RAM should do

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by Aroy

I am assuming that you will use the machine in a printing press environment. In that case, why don't you get a small desktop, an all-in-one will do if you want it small.

Thanks, that was thought as well, but only a laptop is in contention as portability is needed. These will be used by engineers during their visits to various clients all over India.

This and the discontinuation of Windows XP is causing us problems. The XP is not much an issue since the machines they run on are 100% offline with no software except the ones running the press/book binding machines.

So far, I have spotted only 2 laptops, both Lenovo and the Dell docking station. Hoping to find them in India.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Thanks, that was thought as well, but only a laptop is in contention as portability is needed. These will be used by engineers during their visits to various clients all over India.

This and the discontinuation of Windows XP is causing us problems. The XP is not much an issue since the machines they run on are 100% offline with no software except the ones running the press/book binding machines.

So far, I have spotted only 2 laptops, both Lenovo and the Dell docking station. Hoping to find them in India.

Have you tried these
http://www.adfweb.com/home/products/...pg=matrix_10_8
http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapte...-16950~CB2S950
http://www.i-tec-europe.eu/?t=3&v=19

Ultimately, you have to home in to some sort of RS232 adapter, whether on USB, or Ethernet or on PCMCIA slot.

[scrooze]

Does anyone has HP ae009 TX? Thinking of buying the same. Available at Snapdeal at 82.5k.

Also let me know if any other laptop with similar spec's plus 4-5k should be ok.

[dubstar]

Originally Posted by heydj

I have just ordered Dell Latitude E7450 Ultrabook with 8 gb RAM & i5 processor. It weighs about 1.54 Kg and comes with 3 years onsite warrant, SSD, touch display, and 6 cell battery.

Was thinking of going with Mac Air but addicted to Windows platform.

Thinkpad was on the shortlist but did not like the keyboard, I prefer Dell.

Hi heydj

Could you share where you bought the Dell E7450 from? I have spoken to various Dell dealers / retailers but the Latitude series seems to be unavailable to retail customers. Online is the only option I found and I have had a bad experience ordering online from Dell in the past.

Any information you could share would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[heydj]

Originally Posted by dubstar

Hi heydj

Could you share where you bought the Dell E7450 from? I have spoken to various Dell dealers / retailers but the Latitude series seems to be unavailable to retail customers. Online is the only option I found and I have had a bad experience ordering online from Dell in the past.

Any information you could share would be much appreciated.

Thanks

I ordered it via office, they have further ordered via corporate account.

or call up dell and mention company you are working with, ask them to bill it at your home address.

[Prodigy07]

Guys,

Please suggest a good laptop for my dad. I have zeroed on Dell 5th Gen i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD for $399. Is this a safe buy? I don't want to spend more that $450.

My friend is travelling down from US next week. Is it worth buying a laptop from the US now? 1 USD = 66INR :(

[dubstar]

Originally Posted by heydj

I ordered it via office, they have further ordered via corporate account.

or call up dell and mention company you are working with, ask them to bill it at your home address.

Thanks, have not tried that route, will give it a go.

[heydj]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

Guys,

Please suggest a good laptop for my dad. I have zeroed on Dell 5th Gen i3 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD for $399. Is this a safe buy? I don't want to spend more that $450.

My friend is travelling down from US next week. Is it worth buying a laptop from the US now? 1 USD = 66INR :(

If you run windows 7 then i3 is ok but windows 8 will hang a lot.

In India laptops with this specs are quite cheap, did you look?

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by heydj

If you run windows 7 then i3 is ok but windows 8 will hang a lot.

Been using win 8 on a four year old i3 based HP laptop and it works just fine. No hanging in the past three months of my usage. I use it for emails, browsing and not any programming or development though.