Latitude E5500 has a serial port, just seen that, not sure if it's on the USB bus or not though.

Ah, the old laptop for the console port!

We gave up on them.. found half decent usb-serial adaptors...

So basically a built in USB > Serial adapter? Funky...

We've got brand new Toshiba Tecra's at work - all have serial ports however they are also on the USB bus !

You can adjust the baud rate of the USB > Serial adapters, I've found that they can work quite well when setup properly :)

There are loads of problems with usb-serial converters.

Do the panasonic toughbooks not have them?

I think you can adjust the baud rate of the USB adapter if you're having issues with clock speeds if you don't find any laptops with serial ports.

Have you looked at pro laptops like Thinkpads or the pro Dells? You might find what you needs there if you're only looked at consumer stuff...

We have Allen Bradley PLC5's and Bristol Babcock 3330's from the early/mid 90's. As well as other bits of instrument/control kit and HMI's installed late 90's/early 2000. They dont work very well with the USB adaptors, something to do with the clock speed of the USB and computer not being in sync (might be bollox, but they dont work well).

Some of the manufactures have relesed USB's but not many of them for the older kit :(

What's wrong with a serial port adapter? I've not had problems with them...

However, what do you need the serial port for? For the pic programming I do my downloader cable has a USB plug on it, however it has a built in USB to Serial converter. Nothing like that available?

Nope, I've never seen them.

I thought the paralell and serial technology has been left behind in favour of faster bus speeds etc

Do any Modern laptops come with serial ports these days? All our laptops at work are old date Compaq and seriously need updating, but we NEED serial ports. Any out there.

P.S. USB Serial adaptors are a no go, as they never work properly.

[Edited on 22-03-2010 by oceansoul]