Hi folks,

I want to upgrade my 570 to a newer model and keep the 570 as spare. I need a portable (so no dock) computer with serial port. USB 2.0 would be perfect.

Is there such a Thinkpad with integrated USB2 and serial port?

I've been searching but haven't found it


Thanks,
A

The last ones with a serial port were T2x and T30, both with USB1.1.
Anything newer will have USB2 but no Serial Port, unless via port replicator or dock.
Alternatively, you can buy PCMCIA adapters with a serial port, and probably also USB adapters.

There was an UltraBay Slim Serial/Parallel ports adapter for T60/T61 series. Here are some photos:
http://thinkpad-wiki.org/ThinkPad_Seria ... ay_Adapter
(German site)

Could be hard to find but it did provide "real" ports, directly off the system board (UltraBay has a separate connector for this in these models).

I'd definitely recommend the Ultrabay or dock ports if possible. I have several USB-to-RS232 adapters (chips from Huge Pine, Prolific, and FTDI) and they are generally not as good as real ports. The cheapest ones (Huge Pine) don't have Vista or 7 drivers and are also less reliable than the others. From what I've read the cost+quality scale on these adapters is generally Huge Pine < Prolific < FTDI.

I was recommending an X31

but I'm sorry it has a parallel port

which many people need