My team i think is thinking about buying a laptop for robotics and i wanted to see what the best is. I have an HP which is pretty good, i hear dell is good. We will be running the AutoDesk and all that other good stuff.
better have a serial port!
Or just get a serial to USB adapter.
What’s your price range?
I can tell you the best computer (in my mind) it’s gonna cost you a pretty penny though.
We’re looking for a laptop for programming, some Inventor and 3DSMax, and possibly a dashboard too. However, we need this laptop to be as economic as possible, as funds are limited, but we don’t have a concrete price range at the moment.
Good luck trying to get those things to work.
That’s why I had an important job this year on my team. I Downloaded all the code to the robot cause I have a Serial Port on my laptop (Dell Inspiron 8100) 
1 word
avaratec! awsome laptop budget prices and very small…they don;t have a serial port though but everything rocks on these laptops
i got mine for 800 bux
1.6 amd xpm
512 mb
integrated 802.11 g
integrated ethernet
10"x10"x1"
cd-r dvd combo
i love this thing
I highly suggest you check out www.cnet.com
They do great reviews on just about anything electronic. Also check out the main pages of several pc companies and compare specs with price ranges. For programming, you do not need something awesome, but if you are going to be using Inventor, and 3D StudioMax, then you need to get a fairly decent notebook. I advise looking at Dell; their stuff is okay, but you can get stuff for a good price. Make sure you have lots of ram, a nice processor, and an awesome graphics card, and I think you should be fine. Problem is on battery life (less than 2 hours). Also note that it is difficult to upgrade a laptop due to limited space, so try to get the stuff you really want now, instead of later. I hope this helps.
You MUST have a serial port!!!
We bought a USB adapter for our Toshiba S127, and every time we tried downloading code, it locked up the computer. We ended-up using a team member’s old, but working, Fujitsu PII 366 ebay laptop running 2000 AS for programming.
Now for AutoCAD and 3ds max, try not to get a Celeron, and make sure you can upgrade the memory to at-least 1024MBs. We ran 3ds max 6 on a Celeron 2GHz, with 512 of memory, minus 64 for graphics, and a 30 GB hard drive. Now were going to run it on an S126 with 2.8GHz Celeron, 512 -64, 30GB HD, and ATI Mobile Radeon 7000, but we still have to use SW rendering.
My suggestion:
Don’t get a Toshiba. Buy from Circuit City or Best Buy. Your extended warranty is your best friend; It’s worth every penny of the $150-250 price-tag. Make sure it does NOT have a Celeron processor, and that it does have a built-in serial port.
I would recommend against buying a Dell laptop. I bought one last year (an Inspiron 5150) and I’m not satisfied with it, even though it has a fast processor, an excellent video card, and plenty of RAM. A friend of mine recently bought a Toshiba with the same video card, same amount of RAM, and a slower processor, and it runs much faster than mine, even though mine theoretically should be running faster than his. My laptop has also broken down twice in the past four months, and had to be sent back for repairs.
Dell has excellent service and is fine for desktops and servers, and has great prices, but in my opinion Dell laptops are inferior in performance to similar laptops from other manufacturers. I would instead recommend HP or Toshiba.
By the way, I have never had any problems programming the robot with the USB to serial converter I purchased for my laptop, so don’t worry too much about getting a laptop with a serial port (just worry about getting a good USB to serial converter).
If you dont care about brand names, check out a site like www.discountlaptops.com, or www.powernotebooks.com.
They’re all from the companies that make laptops for the brand names,(You’ll notice that one of the Sager models is exactly the same as the old Alienware Area-51M) and they come with the same standard warranties, and in many cases are identical to models sold by the brand names, except for looks (As I recall, Apple, and maybe one other manufacturer actually make their own laptops).
I got the Compal CL56 from discountlaptops.com, and I saved like $500 over the same spec’ed out Notemagix B50 from Velocity Micro (Identical computer, no Velocity Micro stickers on it). My dad wanted me to get a Dell, and had I gotten the same specifications in a Dell, it would have been over $1000 more than what I paid.
I’ve had it for over 2 months now, and I love it. I havent haid a single problem with it, and I leave it running 24/7. My friend who got an HP 2 months ago can’t say the same thing about his. He’s already sent it in twice 
www.notebookforums.com is also a good site to check out. I did all my research on there, and Cnet, before deciding to get what I did.
Cory
If you’re talking about me, it’s a Compaq (yeah yeah, same thing), and it was once ;-).
As for laptop, go for anything that has a serial port. Period. If you want something to RENDER movies and such, you’re better off with a desktop, much more cost effective. However, if you’re looking for a “one size fits all” solution, find the best laptop you can with a serial port. My friend got a Dell recently, only because it had a serial port. I, honestly, hate Dells, so that wasn’t enough to persuade me, but if you’re using it for a robotics laptop, it had better have a serial port on it, or else you may be in for lots of trouble.
Thanks for all of your suggestions. Most if not all of the 3DSMax animation will be done on a desktop. The biggest thing we need this for is quick Inventor drawings and programming in the shop and at competition. We might also use it to display video presentations so we don’t have to lug around a desktop. Thanks again for the suggestions, we’ll take all of them into account.
I was wondering if there were any teams who had an Alienware laptop?
Btw - would the intel centrino processors be good for running 3D max, inventor, and all of the other good stuff?
Dont waste your money on Alienware… you’re paying for the name.
A Centrino is fine. Depends which one though. A centrino processor multiplied by 1.4 will give you the approximate clock speed of the comparable P4 processor.
I have a 2.0 ghz Dothan processor, which is roughly the same as a 2.8 ghz P4 processor, and it can run anything I ask it to fantasticly
Inventor and other similar programs dont rely on your processor’s clock speed as much as they rely on RAM and your graphics card. If you had to choose between a faster processor, or more RAM, I’d go for the RAM.
Cory
Very true, and good point. Although, I just wanted to put emphasis on the value of Dell computers. I am somewhat satisfied with Dell’s overall value, and I am not qualified to talk about their laptops, since I do not own one. But I do have a desktop Dell PC, so there is a big difference (irrelevent I guess). If money was not a problem, I would not have gotten a Dell. So get something uber like AlienWare. 
I think the big thing about the Intel Centrino is that it does not use up a lot of voltage to operate; this is good for laptops (especially for extended battery life usage). But since the Centrino processors are built specifically for mobile use, I am not sure if they are quite at par with a regular desktop processor (or similar to an Intel Pentium IV in this case). If somebody wants to clarify, please go right ahead.
What I do know is not to get a Celeron since these processors are cheaper, and were specifically designed for basic computing needs (email, typing documents, etc.). Which is not what you want when using Inventor or 3D StudioMax.
Here is a good description of Centrino:
Because increasing the processor GHz also increases the power used, Intel created a more efficient design with the Pentium M. The Pentium M is set to slow down to 600MHz when at idle (where it will consume only 6W), and then just like using a gas pedal it will accelerate to its rated speed when you ask it to do more than just simple typing. This also greatly improves battery life without losing any of its impressive speed.
Then, with the recent introduction of the new “Dothan” version of the Pentium M, the L2 On-die cache is now FOUR TIMES that of a Pentium 4 (2,048k as opposed to 512k used in the Pentium 4).
With its efficient architecture, and the extended L2 On-die cache, the performance of a Pentium M is roughly 1.7 to over 2 times that of a Pentium 4 processor. L2 On-die cache is where the processor stores the instruction sets that it uses most often. Just picture two carpenters each up on their own ladder. They both have tool belts on…but one of them has a tool box on his paint bucket shelf as well. Now, they both charge the same amount per hour. Which one are you going to hire?
Pentium M is also the same thing as Centrino, it just doesnt include the Intel wireless chipset
I guess Cory knows his stuff. Can anybody say, “Computer Engineer?” 
BTW - Thanks for clarification.
Id suggest an ABS Mayhem G2… 1.7 ghz centrino with b/g wireless, 128 meg 9700 video card for 3ds max and 512 ram for inventor/dashboard/ etc. Its economically priced at 1699$ for the model i spec’d which is on the laptop homepage located at http://www.abspc.com/app/config.asp?mono=1851
this laptop also has a 1280x800 reso. screen and a 60 gig 5400 rpm hd… as you can see on the page
I’m not going to pour out my “geek of IST” and try to pusuade you to buy one brand over the other. Personally, I just DON’T like Dells for anything as high tech as what any of us would ever do. I have an HP ze4100 an a new HP zd7000. I will only suggest that you be fully sure you have THE BEST graphics card you can get for the system you purchase. Appx. 8 months after purchasing my ze4100, and running multiple programs for an engineering/design class including AutoCad… I internally surged my mobo/video.
When we won the Autodesk Inventor Award in 2003, Autodesk gave us an HP laptop. It runs Inventor very well. This is the laptop that Autodesk, not our team, thought was the best laptop to run the software. So I’d take Autodesk’s advice if I were you.
Good luck!