Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

Can anyone suggest a "late model" ThinkPad with a DB9 serial port on the case?
I'm working with automotive diagnostics systems and the USB to serial adapters cause no end of anguish.
My T42 has a serial port I can use but it requires a port replicator or dock which are a pain under the hood of a car.
My 390E works well but it's got LCD hinge problems caused by a damaged base cover.
Any suggestions much appreciated as I'm not looking forward to downloading a pile of Hardware Maintenance Manuals just to find a machine with a DB9 serial port.

Thanks

I don't know how common they are, but there is a ultrabay slim adapter for the T6x with native serial and parallel ports - if you can find that it would work. Otherwise you may need to look at other brands, I know some of the newer dell latitudes had them (IIRC the D620 does, not sure about newer ones). for thinkpad the newest is the T3*, R4* as the T4*/R5* only have parallel ports.

T23 and T30 were the last ones with a Serial Port on board.
Both still had USB1.1.
The T23 had problems with inductors 'falling off'. Soldering them back on with leaded solder always solved the problem.
The T30 had problems with poorly soldered RAM contacts. Resoldering them with flux solved that problem most of the times, but not always.
I have several T23s for sale. Feel free to PM me if you are interested.

The 60/61 generation is the latest that has support for native serial ports, even though the physical ports aren't there. X60/61 + UltraBase will give you a native serial port, is relatively portable, and should be easy to acquire. T60/61 + UltraBay serial adapter will also work, but these adapters are very difficult to find.
If you don't need the "latest" generation, an X40/41 + UltraBase is also an option.

My experience is that the adapters do not play nice with a lot of stuff that runs over serial ports, and that's why a native serial port is a must for certain applications.

Most of the car shops I know of use ToughBooks, not ThinkPads.

That being said, all the older ThinkPads with an integrated serial port (a3x, T23, T30) are inexpensive enough nowadays to give one of them a shot...

My thanks to all who provided feedback.
"Another brand"? Thou speakest heresy good sir, although you're probably right. But have you seen what used Dell D series machine are going for?
I'll investigate the suggested ThinkPads after I test the 240 I was just gifted.

I don't know how much performance you need but the X31 or X32 will have a serial port on board and should be very portable.

They don't! All they have is a Parallel port and a VGA port on board.
The Serial port is on the (external) Ultrabase, same as with X4x and X6x.

Yup, my bad. It was late and I wasn't thinking straight. Sorry for any confusion.

Turnschuh wrote:"Another brand"? Thou speakest heresy good sir, although you're probably right. But have you seen what used Dell D series machine are going for?

OMG, I miss the Latitude D820 so much! It remains the most beautiful laptop I have ever had. Anyway, if you want a modern laptop, the Latitude E5510 may be the most modern (Core i5!) business-class laptop with an inteegrated serial port: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367901,00.asp .