Batboard

I'm looking to get a used laptop just for radio programming, etc.
Are there any good reliable used models (less that 6 years old) that have a serial port, and would be a good radio programmer?
Thanks!

bedforddawg wrote:I'm looking to get a used laptop just for radio programming, etc.
Are there any good reliable used models (less that 6 years old) that have a serial port, and would be a good radio programmer?
Thanks!

Feel like elaborating on that at all?

If it is for the radios in your profile and you have the proper windows software for those radios, then any windows machine with a serial port will do. Some Dells have serial ports, the T6x/R6x series Thinkpads have a swappable bay that will accommodate a serial/parallel module, some of the Panasonic Toughbooks have serial ports as well; but that is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Otherwise, telling us what radios you want to program would be helpful.

I'm looking at something I can program Saber Astro's on up to APX...Is it possible with one computer?

Yes, any windows pc with a serial port on it will do the trick. Just make sure that the system can handle the newer software and you should be good to go I would think.

bedforddawg wrote:I'm looking at something I can program Saber Astro's on up to APX...Is it possible with one computer?

Any computer running XP with a true serial port and also usb ports would work.

Computer brands are usually a personal preference. Stay with a name brand and you should be good to go.

Jason

If you didn't need APX CPS capability I'd recommend an IBM Thinkpad A22m with the 1GHz Intel PIII processor. It's too slow for APX CPS but fast enough to handle WinXP SP3 and most every other Windows CPS package Motorola has out right now. It's also slow enough to program Sabers and Spectras in DOS and with cacheoff.com turned on STXes and System Sabers.

My other laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad X60 with the 1.6GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor. It has a true serial port in the docking station (or you can use a PCMCIA-Serial adapter) and will handle APX CPS with aplomb. I'd imagine it would also run most of the more-recent DOS RSS packages but I haven't tried it to confirm it.