OT: The Last Good Laptop with a Serial Port?

Tom2000

Senior Member
About three years ago, after becoming disgusted with the state of USB-to-serial converters*, I bit the bullet and bought a used, refurbished Dell Latitude C610 on eBay for not a lot of bucks. It had a dedicated serial port, so it was good for my Picaxe, PIC, and Arduino work. I spent a few more bucks to upgrade the RAM to 1 GB and replace the battery, and I was ready to go.

Three years later, the machine is still going strong. It started as just my workshop machine, but I liked it so much that I added my professional and financial stuff, and later, even installed Delphi on it. It's good enough that I even developed a couple of Delphi freeware apps with it. A real joy to use, even if it's slower than modern machines, and only has a 20 GB hard drive. But it's small and light, an ideal machine to take out in the field. (Although I get some raised eyebrows when I unpack it at a customer's office. :) )

I use up laptops. I've blown through consumer-grade laptops built by Compaq, HP, and even a very expensive Toshiba in about two years each. To have one still going strong three years later is, for me, just about miraculous.

However, knowing how hard I am on these machines, I started thinking about the C610's replacement. I went back to eBay and looked for another C610. Didn't find one that looked good, but I noticed that the newer Dell Latitude D620 has been designed with a serial port.

As a Latitude, Dell's business series, I expect a better design than a consumer-grade machine. I did some research on the net and found that the D620 has been built for durability and long life. And there are a bunch of them available on eBay right now, so the prices are very attractive.

I bought one, and have spent the last week or so working with it and loading it up with my software and data.

The machine has many modern features. First, it uses a relatively fast Core Duo processor. Mine came equipped with the T2500 2.0 GHz version. 1 GB RAM. 60 GB SATA hard drive. 14" WXGA screen at 1280 x 800 resolution. The display has a matte finish that resists glare, and is very easy on the eyes. CDRW/DVD-ROM drive. WiFi, USB 2.0 ports, serial port, Ethernet, modem, and VGA ports. XP-Pro and Open Office installed. The machine is as fast as the modern Core Duo laptop that I use, these days, pretty much for video and multimedia stuff only.

(Note that these machines use the Core Duo processor, not the Core 2 Duo series.)

What it doesn't have: it's a business machine, so it doesn't incorporate multimedia features such as decent speakers, an S-video port, a dedicated high-performance graphics adapter, a multimedia card reader, or a DVD-RW drive. (In fact, the built-in speaker is mono, just suitable for the system sounds. Keep a set of earbuds in your pocket!)

One interesting feature of the machine is the removable drive bay. The CDRW/DVD-ROM simply pops out and can be replaced on the fly by either a hard drive module or an extra battery. As soon as I had all my software installed, I took advantage of this feature by installing a second hard drive, a 250 GB Western Digital Scorpio. Buying the drive and the caddy on eBay, the second drive installation cost less than $100. With the second drive, I can back up critical data, right now, when I'm away from my home network's NAS drive. I keep the CDRW/DVD-ROM module in my laptop bag just in case I need to read or burn a CD out in the field.

If you're looking for a relatively high-performance, rugged laptop for your serial needs, consider the D620. I don't know if it will last as long as my C610, but I like what I see so far. I've gained enough confidence in the machine that I've retired the C610 to a desk drawer as my hot spare.

One tip for buying these on eBay... Don't buy a used laptop from an individual. Look for an outfit that refurbishes and sells lots of the particular model you're seeking. Make sure they advertise lots of upgrade options for the machine, even if you're not buying any upgrades. (Lots of upgrade options indicate, to me, that they have an active build and service operation, staffed by competent technicians.) And, as always, check the seller's feedback.

Lots of Latitudes have been surplused from government and businesses. If the C610 and D620 are typical examples, these machines have been used gently. Both of my machines arrived in like-new condition.

I know this isn't as attractive as one of Stan's $20 machines :), but for the extra money, you gain lots of performance, reliability, and longevity.

Good luck!

Tom

* Back in the bad old days, I went through three USB-to-Serial converters, looking for one that would work for all my serial needs. None of the three worked for everything I was trying to do. A real hassle, and extremely annoying.
 

manuka

Senior Member
OK-I'll rise to the bait-you certainly don't need much computing horsepower for PICAXE programming, & even W95/98 machines work well! In spite of using diverse USB-D9 adapters,I too remain a direct serial port fan. Even after 6 years of thrashing,all my PICAXE work continues on the same 2002 era D9 fitted Toshiba laptop. (Of course I've something more recent for other needs-WiFi especially).

Schools wrestling with networked editors,dedicated PC room booking,clunky desk hogging VDUs & slow log on times are especially advised to "just grab some old standalone laptops" for PICAXE work. Reliable shot battery y2k era W98 Toshiba 480CDTs dominate my swag, & US$20 each was indeed the going rate. NB-more recent (& still D9 fitted) Tosh. Satellite Pro 4300 series run XP a treat, & are now going for US$20-$50.

THOUGHT: Aside from PICAXE work, such "oldie but goodie" laptops may better suit tight budgets than the celebrated OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). OLPCs are presently being offered under a G1G1 (Give 1 Get 1) scheme which prices them at US$200 each... Stan
 

premelec

Senior Member
My USB to serial converter seems to work OK - and I have many boxes with the old port... However I've found various serial USB ports that somehow are picky about what's connected and give errors or ding dong and no show etc... someday there'll be SuperUSB...
 

Tom2000

Senior Member
Hi, Stan,

OK-I'll rise to the bait-you certainly don't need much computing horsepower for PICAXE programming, & even W95/98 machines work well! In spite of using diverse USB-D9 adapters,I too remain a direct serial port fan. Even after 6 years of thrashing,all my PICAXE work continues on the same 2002 era D9 fitted Toshiba laptop. (Of course I've something more recent for other needs-WiFi especially).
That was sort of my idea when I originally bought the C610. I wanted a cheap machine that I could dedicate to my workbench needs. Of course, I had some further requirements beyond the serial port. I needed WiFi to gain access to my home network, enough memory to comfortably run XP and XP apps, and a large enough hard drive to store a bunch of programs and data. The fact that my cheap little workbench machine could do so much more came as a very pleasant surprise.

And after six years, you've certainly gotten your money's worth from that Toshiba!

Schools wrestling with networked editors,dedicated PC room booking,clunky desk hogging VDUs & slow log on times are especially advised to "just grab some old standalone laptops" for PICAXE work. Reliable shot battery y2k era W98 Toshiba 480CDTs dominate my swag, & US$20 each was indeed the going rate. NB-more recent (& still D9 fitted) Tosh. Satellite Pro 4300 series run XP a treat, & are now going for US$20-$50.
You have some pretty good sources. I just checked eBay and only found a few of those machines. Of the few available, I think I only saw one that I might consider buying, and even that one was more expensive than $50.

We have a large used computer outlet in the area. Next time I'm in that neighborhood, I think I'll stop by and see what they have available.

THOUGHT: Aside from PICAXE work, such "oldie but goodie" laptops may better suit tight budgets than the celebrated OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). OLPCs are presently being offered under a G1G1 (Give 1 Get 1) scheme which prices them at US$200 each... Stan
Very good idea! (Interesting coincidence. I just found Amazon's G1G1 program a couple of nights ago. I'll re-visit that page after I pay off the credit cards from my Christmas shopping. :) )

I'm sure that, if the ball got rolling, an operation to collect and refurbish older laptops would be more economical than supplying new XO machines. I wonder if they could be supplied in sufficient quantities, though. I understand that the XO deployment will be in the millions of machines, eventually. However, having access to a fair number of older machines, something like that might work locally for a single school or maybe even a school district.

Thanks for your ideas, Stan.

Very 73,

Tom
 

krypton_john

Senior Member
Well I'll be!

Yes it is a nice machine. Some colleagues here have D620's and I have noticed their battery life is way better with the slower CPU though.
 

Ralpht

New Member
I have a work owned Latitude D610, complete with serial port. Never had any problems either with the serial port nor the laptop itself other than a sensitive mouse touchpad. Can live with that.

We use these because they are one of the few laptops around with a genuinely reliable serial port. Need it to directly log into our equipment and the USB <> Serial cables just don't do the job right.

I even dropped it whilst it was on, from about 2 meters. I was sure the HDD at a minimum would be stuffed. Not so, and even 2 years later still going like a bought one.

I only find it a bit heavy when lugging it around along with the other test gear I use for my job. Battery life is a good 3 hours which to me is acceptable.

When it comes time to upgrade it will suddenly be "stolen" or something - just so I can keep working with it ;)
 

papaof2

Senior Member
The small US companies I have experience with usually offer the computers to staff at the current average Ebay price of the computer. Those that aren't taken are then sold on Ebay with a starting bid of $0.99 - they always sell for the going price.

John
 

Ralpht

New Member
I certainly will be doing my utmost to get it when it's serviceable life is over.
My company tends to keep things forever, or at least until it's broken - then they want it fixed rather than replaced.
 

Tom2000

Senior Member
I have a work owned Latitude D610, complete with serial port. Never had any problems either with the serial port nor the laptop itself other than a sensitive mouse touchpad. Can live with that.
Ralph,

You can adjust your touchpad's speed and sensitivity, and activate any other neat features provided by your touchpad's driver, by double-clicking the touchpad icon down in your system tray, near the time display.

A dialog box will open. You'll notice lots of tabs. With luck, you'll even have a Help button. Navigate through the options available to you and adjust your pad's speed and touch to your preferences.

Have fun!

Tom
 

Ralpht

New Member
Thanks Tom2000,

Mine didn't have the icon in the system tray, so I found it via control panel etc...

This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" situations...:eek:

Thanks for the tip, I've adjusted some settings and now it appears to be much better. I love this laptop even more than before now :D.

Now for an anti-gravity option so it isn't quite so heavy.

Ralph
 
Top