Laptop recommendation

[scracha]

FYI I have used a USB > Serial adaptor in windows 7 for quite a while with no issues at all so far. I think you'd be lucky to find a laptop with a serial port these days but they may be out there.

64bit drivers or 32 bit? Details purlease as I've tried a few of these and about half are useless

[mashman]

Would be great if any of the distri's actually stocked it.

That's the problem with the Toshi stuff... it goes out the door just as fast as it arrives... Had the same problem back in November... big project, needed much better laptop for crunching financial data, but the next batch of P500's were 2 weeks away and i needed it right there and then... Ended up upgrading the hard drive and throwing in another gig of memory... and the sting in the tail... the project was reprioritised... waaaaaa

Nice piece of kit you've found there... Should give you what ya need and some.

Meh! I'm a winner!!! pass the beer tokens on to a complete stranger next time you're in the pub... that way they'll get used ha ha ha... pubs nae mer at the mo. Good luck with the work!

[jonbuoy]

I got a Dell Lattitude D630 a couple of years ago - Dell made the only modern - duo core laptop I could find with a real serial port its been rock solid. No HDMI/DVI though

http://www.dell.com/us/en/enterprise...0&cs=555&s=biz

This looks like the last Dell to have a serial, thinking of getting one myself to have the last of the serial laptops, by the time this one dies most of the old kit running serial will be dead too.

[scracha]

I got a Dell Lattitude D630 a couple of years ago - Dell made the only modern - duo core laptop I could find with a real serial port its been rock solid. No HDMI/DVI though

I'm pretty sure Asus do some. Can't be @#$cked looking.

Meh! I'm a winner!!! pass the beer tokens on to a complete stranger next time you're in the pub... that way they'll get used ha ha ha... pubs nae mer at the mo. Good luck with the work!

I'll find an Englishman. Preferably one on holiday. They'll probably spend their whole holiday gibbering about how a Scotchyman gave them 2 pints of lager for nothing.

[Trouser]

I have searched everywhere and cannot find one with both hdmi and a serial port. Plenty with serial port and esata, thousands with esata and hdmi but none with all three.

[EJK]

OK this maybe off topic but what do you guys think of this laptop?

Reliable Toshiba
2.3Ghz Intel T4500 (1MB L2 Cache. Meh...)
15.6" LED screen
4GB DDR2 (not bad for a laptop)
ATi Radeon HD4570 512MB GDDR3 Graphics
HDMI
but no eSATA
http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/compute...rod102001.html

All that for mere $1099!

[scracha]

Spend an extra $100 and you'll get a far better Core 2 Duo processor with Windows 7 pro. Also, don't take their supercover. Any
'puter shop should be able to get you the far better Toshy FACTORY 3 year warranty for under $200.

OK this maybe off topic but what do you guys think of this laptop?

Reliable Toshiba
2.3Ghz Intel T4500 (1MB L2 Cache. Meh...)
15.6" LED screen
4GB DDR2 (not bad for a laptop)
ATi Radeon HD4570 512MB GDDR3 Graphics
HDMI
but no eSATA
http://www.noelleeming.co.nz/compute...rod102001.html

All that for mere $1099!

[EJK]

Spend an extra $100 and you'll get a far better Core 2 Duo processor with Windows 7 pro. Also, don't take their supercover. Any
'puter shop should be able to get you the far better Toshy FACTORY 3 year warranty for under $200.

Where and how??? I'd like one!

[quickbuck]

Where and how??? I'd like one!

Well,
What usually happens... if you buy a computer from a toaster shop, is you see a great low price deal like the one you saw...
Then pop down to the shop for a looksie....
Then sitting beside that model, is a slightly higher spec machine for a little bit more.... then you just keep looking in multiples of $100 until it actually has all the features you need...

Well, that is my experience....

Oh, and I think scratcher ment $1200

[EJK]

Well,
What usually happens... if you buy a computer from a toaster shop, is you see a great low price deal like the one you saw...
Then pop down to the shop for a looksie....
Then sitting beside that model, is a slightly higher spec machine for a little bit more.... then you just keep looking in multiples of $100 until it actually has all the features you need...

Well, that is my experience....

Oh, and I think scratcher ment $1200

Alrighty then, I'm no professional but I think it's got alot* for a $1100 laptop



*Compared to a $1300+ Compaq/ Acer laptop selling right next to the Toshiba

[quickbuck]

Alrighty then, I'm no professional but I think it's got alot* for a $1100 laptop



*Compared to a $1300+ Compaq/ Acer laptop selling right next to the Toshiba

Yes, it has for now.....
Trouble is, no matter what you buy now, there will always be a better cheaper one in 6 months time.
Trick is to get the highest spec, for the right money.... Be careful of buying too cheap though, as some of the components in cheaper machines are made by people who won the contract at a very low tender!

IMHO, you should be okay with Toshiba....

[EJK]

Yes, it has for now.....
Trouble is, no matter what you buy now, there will always be a better cheaper one in 6 months time.
Trick is to get the highest spec, for the right money.... Be careful of buying too cheap though, as some of the components in cheaper machines are made by people who won the contract at a very low tender!

IMHO, you should be okay with Toshiba....

But really I'm (also) after a laptop, which should be capable of "OK" gaming. If theres a place where I can get a better deal or better spec within the price range, please let me know.
What do you think of Trademe laptops quickbuck?

And yes, I understand how fast computers develop

[quickbuck]

But really I'm (also) after a laptop, which should be capable of "OK" gaming. If theres a place where I can get a better deal or better spec within the price range, please let me know.
What do you think of Trademe laptops quickbuck?

:

Hey, I'm no expert either.
I just go out look for something that costs about 2k, and hope it keeps up with surfing the net, looking at photos, and watching movies.

I have no idea what most of the stickers on my Sony Vaio actually mean... All I know is it is much faster than the thing i replaced, and holds more info... and cost less..

I also now know how much Memory Vista takes to run!

So, really a bump, Trouser will have an opinion on Lap tops on TM (Not being a smart arse, I actually know Trouser), but I would say you are better to walk into a computer shop and talk to the techs in there.
Toaster shops are okay, but they are full of salesmen, and have generic spec'd machines full of stuff you may not actually need.... But pay for anyway....

Oh, BTW, the reason I got the Sony, was because it was a deal i just couldn't pass up at the exact same time my old Lap Top died. Good thing I had just got an external hard drive to back up all my files on!

[k14]

64bit drivers or 32 bit? Details purlease as I've tried a few of these and about half are useless

32 bit, running on a 4 year old Dell laptop. Bought the usb to serial adaptor off trademe for about $15. Never had a problem with it, use it to communicate with both my bucket cdi and the yoshi ecu for my gixxer.

[golfmade]

Oh, BTW, the reason I got the Sony, was because it was a deal i just couldn't pass up at the exact same time my old Lap Top died. Good thing I had just got an external hard drive to back up all my files on!

Sucky thing about Sony is they don't have, I dunno how the correct word as I just got up and was up late last night, but good warranties as in if you move to another country and need your laptop serviced/fixed. That's not an issue for most here I'm sure but just more information.

HP on the other hand, when I came to Taiwan with my Compaq laptop, it had some problems, was past warranty for a year or so anyways, took it to the offical place in town and they fixed it right up and charged me a bit but nothing huge.