Laptop Without a Serial Port

Yes.  Radio Shack has such a device, which works perfect.  However, I can't find it to give you the number.

I use this one for upgrades of older MTH TIU's as well as Lionel Legacy systems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...Item=N82E16812232006

Thanks guys for the quick responses.

I found it.  It's a Gigaware "6-ft USB-A to Serial Cable", from Radio Shack. 

The NewEgg option is half the price and they have free shipping.

And the Radio Shack #26-949 has proven to work flawlessly with every version of the DCS Loader program running on every version of Windows from Win95 through Win8 as well as DCS layout automation hardware and software.  There are plenty of other USB serial adapters out there.  Some cost more, some cost less.  I've tested five others, but never the particular model John linked.  None of the others I have tested have proven to be as reliable.  The Gigaware just works.

Just make sure that that the cable is windows 8 compatible. My laptop that I bought last year has Windows 7 and I did the upgrade for $15 deal and suddenly the serial port cable was not compatible. With my bad luck with electronics the hard drive went out on the laptop and it was replaced under an extended warranty and reformatted to windows 7 so my cable now works again.

You can never go wrong with NewEgg.

I'm actually trying to avoid a Windows 8 laptop at all cost. I've looked at a couple in stores with Win 8 and it is just awful. MS was supposed to be releasing a WIN 8 update on 10/1to fix all the complaints  but I haven't heard anything more about that. 

If you need a laptop with Win 7, try Ebay. There are plenty of sellers that have NIB win 7 laptops.

You are VERY smart to do so.  Win 8.1 is a tiny patch that doesn't really resolve any of the pitfalls of the "Metro" user interface.  I have several friends from collage who work at Microsoft, two of whom work on the OS.  The scuttlebutt inside the company is that Win 8/8.1 and the Metro interface will be leaving with Steve Balmer.  Microsoft has a 20+ year pattern that every other version of Windows is good.

Win 3.11 - good

Win 95 - bad

Win 98 - good

Win ME - bad

Win 2000 - good

Win XP - why?

Win XP SP2 - good

Win Vista - BAD!!

Win 7 - good

Win 8 - Distater

Win ?? - Keep your fingers crossed!

My son has Win8 on his new laptop, I cannot navigate it at all, and I do IT for a living. It's terrible. I know that there is a freeze on deploying here until the tile screen can be turned off and it at least looks a bit more like Win 7

Why not escape Windoze completely and buy a nice friendly Mac laptop.   If you need to run Windows at all, you can run the version of your choice on a Mac using software such as Parallels. 

I just bought a new Toshiba laptop off their website with Windows 7 Pro preinstalled for the exact same reason. Every so often they'll run a special where a few of the models offered can be ordered with Win 7 installed (but with Win8 restore disks). They include a 'restore disk creator' application that you can use to burn your own Win7 restore disks.

Mine was 'customized' with a Core i5 CPU (base model is a Core i3), backlit keyboard, 2GB NVidia video card (as opposed to integrated Intel), Bluetooth. A 750GB hard drive and extra memory (total of 8GB)was added in as part of the special. They quote 8-10 business days for a customised system plus 3-5 more for shipping. In my case, I ordered it on 9/16, it shipped on 9/22 (from Chongqing, China) via Fedex, and arrived 9/27.

---PCJ  

Well, Nicole, that exactly what I'm using!  I think Chris plays both sides of the fence as well.  Although Apple has me pretty concerned at the moment.  The graphic in iOS7 have been "dumbed down" to look VERY much like Metro.  I've upgraded one of each iOS device to iOS7 for testing purposes, but the rest will be staying on iOS6 as long as possible.

This brings up a really good point for anybody who is stuck looking at Win 8 machines.  So far every copy of Win8 Pro and Win8 Ultimate (not Home or Home Premium) has included a "downgrade" license for Win 7.  Basically, you reload the machine with Win 7 and use the license key that came with your copy of Win 8 and your legal.  Microsoft's reporting system shows that over 75% of the Win8 Pro and Ultimate licenses are actually used on Win 7 installs.  Many of the machines that RailRide and others are purchasing with Win 7 are Win 8 licenses getting Win 7 installed by the OEM because that's what people want.  That's why the restore disk is for Win 8.  Microsoft has stopped making Win 7 install media.

I still have some fresh Windows 7 packages, I'm keeping them until a suitable replacement comes out.  I looked at Windows 8, and that's not it!

I have read that the Brits are demanding W7 and their suppliers are supporting

their wishes. 

It's old news actually.

Dave,

There is no Windows 8 Ultimate. 8, Pro and Enterprise.

The 8.1 upgrade provides the option to start on desktop.

In testing Windows 8.1 Pro, I have found it not so drastic to change from Windows 7.

( I am a keyboard & mouse user)

The 8.1 update will only be available to Windows 8 installations from the Microsoft store.

Internet Explorer 11 is a whole different story. Current websites don't like it, so another year of waiting for compatibility.

Back to the topic...Windows 8 does require compatible hardware, so some dongles etc. from Windows 7 will not work.

For what it's worth...

If you read the reviews for the RS Gigaware adapter, it does not work reliably with Windows 7 or 8.

This product states compatibility with all OS, including MAC OS 10.1 or later.