specs for a "good" progamming laptop

[Chris_Elston]

I program other things, like PLCs, Smart Servos, HMIs, Vision Systems, and robot controllers, etc..

And one thing looking BEYOND "FIRST" you may consider is having a laptop with a serial port. I have only found a few laptops right now that can be purchased with a serial port, but even so more a problem is a laptop with a decent OS like Windows XP. I did find one recently that I just bought. Has Windows XP Pro and a Serial Port. I am pretty happy with it so far. I don't like the d-pad mouse buttons, but I run an external mouse always with a laptop anyways.

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=464436

I would also recommend the Dell Precision series. Like an M4300 or so. The problem with those now are they too as well are starting to be preloaded with Windows 7 which doesn't normally play nice when trying to write code in ladder logic DOS software or some other compilers like even IFI loader. Windows XP seems to play nice with all the development software packages I have played with.

Dell Outlet has some great deals on some Dell Precision laptops that still have Windows XP loaded.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...=28&l=en&s=dfb

You may not find a serial port on these machines anymore, but for what you want to program now, you won't need it. But if your a hard core junky like me that plays with all different types of hardware, having a native serial port is a blessing.

[Robototes2412]

all you need is debian, a shell and the sun JDK+ant

or at the least, wine, an x server and a base busybox install

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by Chris_Elston

I program other things, like PLCs, Smart Servos, HMIs, Vision Systems, and robot controllers, etc..

And one thing looking BEYOND "FIRST" you may consider is having a laptop with a serial port. I have only found a few laptops right now that can be purchased with a serial port, but even so more a problem is a laptop with a decent OS like Windows XP. I did find one recently that I just bought. Has Windows XP Pro and a Serial Port. I am pretty happy with it so far. I don't like the d-pad mouse buttons, but I run an external mouse always with a laptop anyways.

Just curious, have you had issues using USB to serial converters? I have had to program a variety of things that have serial interfaces (PLCs, Controllers for Robot Arms, various micros) but have never had problems using my ThinkPad with a USB to Serial adapter.



Back to the thread topic. As said before any new computer will run the programming software. I would recommend buying something fairly portable (14 or 15 inch screen) with pretty goods battery life. I know that at competition it can some times be difficult to find a place to plug in. Other than that just make sure it is comfortable to type on. Some computers that are designed for entertainment tend to squish the keyboard so they can fit additional controls for media.