What's the best thinkpad I can get with a serial port

[jedisurfer1]

What's the best thinkpad or best laptop with a serial port. Company I consult with has lots of RS-232 equipment and the prolific usb serial sometimes doesn't work with some devices (though I may have been shipped a clone of a prolific chip from amazon).

[RealBlackStuff]

IBM/Lenovo is no longer an option since the T30, but you could consider this: a Serial Port ExpressCard, such as
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6839328018

Such a card will fit in any new(er) laptop with ExpressCard slot, such as mentioned here:
http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-237 ... slots.html

Or check the competition as mentioned here: https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductL ... Submit=ENE

[dr_st]

T6x support an Ultrabay Parallel/Serial adapter that connects to the native port on the board, no?

[ajkula66]

What's the best thinkpad or best laptop with a serial port. Company I consult with has lots of RS-232 equipment and the prolific usb serial sometimes doesn't work with some devices (though I may have been shipped a clone of a prolific chip from amazon).

You should be able to find a fairly recent ToughBook with a serial port. Having said that, they are generally on the heavy side, even business-rugged units like CF-52/53.

[theterminator93]

Correct, the T60/61 supports the parallel/serial port Ultrabay adapter (if you can find one). I have one that I use with my T601F and it works well, however if I eject/remove it to use a different ultrabay device (e.g. DVD drive, HDD or 2nd battery), if I re-insert it, it won't be recognized until I reboot.

The P/N is 40Y8121.

[NonesensE]

The X6x* support the parallel/serial port ultrabay adapter, too, through the ultrabase (portable docking station).

[ZaZ]

I seem to recall the Dell Latitude D630 having am on-board serial port. It's not as rugged as the ToughBook, but considerably lighter.

[jdrou]

I seem to recall the Dell Latitude D630 having am on-board serial port. It's not as rugged as the ToughBook, but considerably lighter.

Yes that was one of the last laptops to have it. I picked up a couple from ebay for that reason. So far I've been able to use USB adapters for everything I needed though.

[jaspen-meyer]

The T400 is the last thinkpad with a serial port -- but there's a hitch. The port isn't exposed, which is to say there is no physical port on the notebook. You need a 2504 docking station.

[Saucey]

Someone recycled an HP Probook 6550b at my work and I fixed it up for resale.
I was surprised to find a serial port on the machine.
I don't care for its size and form factor... no trackpoint in the model I was using, but it does have a 1st gen i5 and AMD Radeon HD 4550 graphics.
Still, the 720p 15.6" display isn't so satisfying to see, dunno if they have switchable graphics, battery reported 2 hours of life at 80%...