Laptop for Tuning - F-Body Road Racing and Autocross Forums

Many of you tune and modify the LS1. This requires a laptop with a serial port which is hard to come by and the add on serial ports from a USB may or may not work. I've also heard that programs like HPTuner don't like Vista which is the current standard. I was wondering if there was a market in the GM EFI tuning community for a remanufactured laptop?

There is a picture below along with a review. The specifics of what I have is 512 MB Ram, 80 gig hard drive, 2 USB ports, recessed serial port, and a DVD reader. The drawback I can see is they are bigger and heavier than a standard laptop. You could get a bar bones new mini laptop plus remote serial port for the same price. The Benefits are that you can drop them while running, will work after being driven over by a light car, and they are water resistant. This would help for the tough environments where cars are tuned. The parts and batteries are still available from Panasonic. It would come with a fresh load of Windows XP Pro but no Office Suite. This laptop was between $3500 and $4500 new and it would be around $450 used.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/panasonic-...7-30676333.html

Would there be any interest out there?

Marty View Member Profile	Feb 8 2009, 10:43 PM Post #1
Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 71 Joined: 27-June 05 Member No.: 787	Many of you tune and modify the LS1. This requires a laptop with a serial port which is hard to come by and the add on serial ports from a USB may or may not work. I've also heard that programs like HPTuner don't like Vista which is the current standard. I was wondering if there was a market in the GM EFI tuning community for a remanufactured laptop? There is a picture below along with a review. The specifics of what I have is 512 MB Ram, 80 gig hard drive, 2 USB ports, recessed serial port, and a DVD reader. The drawback I can see is they are bigger and heavier than a standard laptop. You could get a bar bones new mini laptop plus remote serial port for the same price. The Benefits are that you can drop them while running, will work after being driven over by a light car, and they are water resistant. This would help for the tough environments where cars are tuned. The parts and batteries are still available from Panasonic. It would come with a fresh load of Windows XP Pro but no Office Suite. This laptop was between $3500 and $4500 new and it would be around $450 used. http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/panasonic-...7-30676333.html Would there be any interest out there?

Marty View Member Profile	Feb 12 2009, 03:00 AM Post #2
Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 71 Joined: 27-June 05 Member No.: 787	I realize there are a lot of different versions out there. Here are the specific specs of what I would have for $450. I'd love any comments about the specs and price given this market. CF-29's Panasonic toughbooks Processor Intel Pentium 1.20GHZ Memory 512 MB (installed) / 1.50 GB (max) DDR SDRAM Display adapter Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller CD/DVD Matshita UGDA750 CD-ROM Modem Agere Systems AC'97 Modem Wireless Network Adapter Intel Pro/wireless 2915ABG Network connection Network Adapter Realtek RTL8139/810X Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC PCMCIA (2 slots) Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) or compatible Card buss controllers Ports (1) com port (1) ECP port (1) USB port Sound SigmaTel C-Major Audio Battery Panasonic (CF-VZSU29) LI-ION output 11.1V 6.6 AH Hard Drive CF-29HTQGZBM (80 GB) Screen size 13.3" TFT active matrix XGA (1024 x 768) Input devices Touch Screen, Touchpad, Keyboard Weight 7.9 LBS Operating system Windows XP