Control.com - Nerds in Control

Any opinions on the Best or Worst laptops for a
road warrior that needs a laptop for developement work in the home office, developement work on the road, connecting to PLC's in a plant enviroment, etc.

I really need an 'Industrial Strength' unit.

Comments from personal experience on good ones AND one's to avoid would be appreciated.

-Dave M

Hey Dave,
I'm also looking for an industrial strength laptop. According to "Call for Help" on Tech TV, avoid Dell, for they are very flimsy. They recommend IBM, even though they are more expensive. I've since read reviews that support their analysis.

Check out the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK. It really is a strong system, also used by forklift maintanance people.

The Panasonic Toughbook was engineered for Road Warrior service. It seems to get good reviews.

Walt Boyes

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Here are some previous Control.com threads (1-2 years old) on a similar topic:

http://www.control.com/957539941/index_html

http://www.control.com/1001602497/index_html

http://www.control.com/960498369/index_html


-Jennifer Powell, Editor & Moderator, Control.com

I've used IBM laptops for the last 10 years in pretty harsh industrial environments, frequently involving dampness and corrosive vapors, and have had no problems.

I know a guy who does field service full time, though, and he swears by a unit he has from Dolch. Looks like a lunchbox -- the side folds down to form the keyboard, revealing the screen.

I believe they also have more conventional book style ruggedized notebooks as well. The lunchbox style, at least, and maybe the other styles as well, have desktop type expansion slots available, too.

Have had great success with HP and NEC. Watch out for the serial port issue. Most only come with USB and many do not even have a convertor to 9 pin serial. Have found the Wiretek USB converter works with most PLCs etc but not all. If no serial port, you may have to purchase a PCMCIA/serial converter to get the thing to work. Go to http://www.bb-elec.com/add_a_port/add_a_port.asp. They appear to have a PCMCIA/serial device with all pins wired out and support for all OSs including XP.

Stealth EElectronical Solutions RWZvision@AOL.com

We have had very good luck using Dell laptops. They seem to take a fair amount of abuse and keep on ticking. They are also available with real
serial ports, something which is sometimes tough to come by with other brands.

I would say avoid Compaqs. The people I know who use them seem to have an inordinate amount of quirks. Not that they are unusable, just that they seem to have more oddball problems.

Bob Peterson

I have been using Panasonic Toughbooks the last three years, I'm on my second one. The only reason I got a new one was clock speed. From grimy
factory environments to corrosive sulphor plants, construction to office (10 month on site this year) they have given good service.

Hugo

HI All
Do yourself a favour and go look at the Siemens web site at the field PG unit. It is also available without the programming software so it is immaterial whether it is intended to program Simatic PLC's or not.

D. Pittendrigh

I haven't used them but check out ITRONIX

S. Landau
SPEC