Cheap laptop for Programming

Post here about your Arduino projects, get help - for Adafruit customers!

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
Spondulix
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:10 pm

Cheap laptop for Programming

Post by Spondulix »

I am going to look for a cheap laptop on ebay to do my programming with and be portable. What are the minimum requirements for such a laptop, so I can get as cheap a unit as possible.

Thanks

magician13134
 
Posts: 1119
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:17 am

Post by magician13134 »

USB, serial, and parallel are all nice to have built in, parallel is tricky to find though. An infrared port accessible to easily read from and interface with is nice. 512 or higher RAM, 20gb or higher hard drive. NOT Vista, XP will do nicely. Screen size of around 15".

If you can't find those features, here are some cheap upgrade options:
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-to-RS232-Serial ... dZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-to-RS-232-DB-9- ... dZViewItem

When searching for features like parallel, serial, infrared, most sellers don't put that in the title, so it may be easier to "Search in title and description".

Just my two cents.

mtbf0
 
Posts: 1645
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 12:59 am

Post by mtbf0 »

asus eee pc. $399.

under 2 lbs. fits in a large pocket. carried it to the laundromat the other day tucked into the wasteband of my pants.

512 mb. 4gb solid state "harddrive." 7 inch, 800x600, display. 3 usb 2.0, rgb out, 802.11g, 10/100 ethernet, sdhc, webcam, xandros linux.

i installed avr-gcc from a debian etch repository. unzipped arduino. diddled the arduino preferences file to make things fit. installed gcc and other devlopment tools from debian etch repository so i could build avr-dude 5.5 for my tinyusb.

with my project in a cigarbox my whole lab fits in a map case i got at the surplus store with room left over for a can of coke and the latest issue of make.
Last edited by mtbf0 on Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
opossum
 
Posts: 636
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:42 am

Post by opossum »

Dell Latitude D600 (14") or D800 (15")

They have USB, serial, parallel and IrDA. Well built and durable.

The newer models (D610,D620,D810,D820) don't have the parallel port, but the docking station for the D series has serial and parallel. There is also a docking station with a PCI slot.

eustace
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:08 pm

used Thinkpad

Post by eustace »

If you get an older used Thinkpad (like my T30) you get serial and parallel ports - handy for programming.

TomLackamp
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 3:03 am

Post by TomLackamp »

I bought a refurb Dell C610 on eBay a couple of years ago for about $200, just because it had a serial port. (At that time, I was using serial for my PIC work, and was tired of arguing with USB-serial converters.)

It came with XP and Office 2003 installed. Only a 10 GB HDD, though.

It's still cranking right along. Best $200 I ever spent. I use it for PIC, Picaxe, and Arduino programming, as well as darned near everything else I do on the 'hobby' side of the house.

Tom
----
http://www.mindspring.com/~tom2000/Proj ... emote.html

ticom
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:53 pm

Post by ticom »

Check hamfests and computer shows. Someone is almost always selling used laptops at reasonable prices.

You might also find other neat stuff for the hobby side of things.

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Arduino”