Need recomendation for a computer to program vm16

[dkirby]

Ok, just a little research, went to Office Depot Canada site.
They have a Dell Inspiron 15 5000
12g of memory
1tb hd
Windows 10
on sale until Sat. for $600.00
The office # is 25586679 ....... I would provide a link if I knew how!!

Do you think something like this will do?

[Brian L]

That would work just fine... mine is the Dell Inspiron 15 5000, but with only a 250gb SSD drive, works fine

[dkirby]

New is Windows 10 only, Windows 7 can be had on refurbished or used computers. I would to with Windows 10 as you don't want the non-support of 7. The unit I linked to will run Fusion no problems...

You have to have a 64 bit processor, all new computers are. 4GB of Ram, the one I linked to was 12gb and the hard drive needs to be 2.5gb and the one I linked to was 1000gb (one Terabyte). So it more than qualifies.

You are way over thinking this... just about any $500 laptop is going to easily do the job for you.

Brian you had already posted before I posted what I had found at Office Depot.
First I would like to say thank you for yous advise. BUT to someone who knows computers and what they are doing with them, it may seem to you that I am over thinking this. That's fine.
But for me to drop $650.00 on something and then find out that I made a mistake and it will not do, what I need it to do.
To me that is pretty stupid all because I didn't ask the right questions.

[Brian L]

Oh, I agree... no problems there. You just don't need a $2500 computer... trying to save you money.

[Jim Dawson]

There is a reason that Apple is now worth about three quarters of a trillion dollars, you just got a small sample of it

I'm kind of partial to Win7, but I'm old and don't like change. But Win10 works just fine.

Buying used is not a bad thing. Every computer I have was purchased used, I normally buy from guys that service large commercial accounts and they sell the takouts as a side business.

[dkirby]

Oh, I agree... no problems there. You just don't need a $2500 computer... trying to save you money.

Brian, you are so right. If I did really need it, my old stand by...... finger cam would have to do.

The fellow that I used once before that cleaned my computer has a business that deals with larger companies.
Since I had not considered a used laptop, maybe I will check with him to see if he has any available, but $600.00 for a new Dell is pretty appealing.
Well we can't forget my tax contribution so........ we are now looking at $678.00

Thanks guys.

[Brian L]

I have a local place that sells off lease computers, haven't purchased from them before. I do have two PC's running windows 7 that I bought refurbished from Newegg, one is in the shop hooked up to my Milltronics, the other is in the wife's office. Both have been fairly reliable, one in the shop the battery inside died and I had to put a new battery in, I also added a wifi card so I didn't have to transfer files by email or thumb drive from the house to the shop.

All that said, a years warranty or more if you want to pay for it, on a $600 laptop with the latest and greatest features is a pretty good deal in my opinion.

[dkirby]

Went to Staples today, armed with the data that I found last night.
The salesman was not able to find the Dell model that I gave him. He thinks that it is a U.S model. I don't know how that could be.

I had him download the Fusion 360 site with the specs that are required to run the program.
Most of the computers that were capable of doing the job were north of $1000.00 except one.
It was an Acer computer at $750.00. They only had one in the store and that was the one they used for a demo.
So he is trying to get one from another store. Will probably find out more Saturday.
Looks like my $600.00 deal is blooming into something closer to $800.00
I may just go the refurbished route yet.

[Brian L]

Staples is going to be more expensive. Do you have Sam's Clubs or Costco? You could also buy direct from Dell, or on the web from Newegg or Tiger Direct. I went and looked at the Dell site, for $500-$550 you could get any one of these on this page and they will work just fine:

Inspiron 15 5000 2-in-1 Laptop | Dell United States

[dkirby]

Staples is going to be more expensive. Do you have Sam's Clubs or Costco? You could also buy direct from Dell, or on the web from Newegg or Tiger Direct. I went and looked at the Dell site, for $500-$550 you could get any one of these on this page and they will work just fine:

Inspiron 15 5000 2-in-1 Laptop | Dell United States

Well, not only is Staples more money, apparently they don't want my business anyway.
They never called me back to tell me if they could get me the Acer. I kind of liked that particular screen as it was 17".

Now I am 2 for 2, since I got in touch with the guy who I had do repairs before..... he never called back either!! This was over a week ago.
I can plainly see, why more people are doing their shopping online.

Brian, what brands of computers do Costco handle?
Costco has a store about 1hr. away, but I have never been in it.

[Brian L]

You can look online:

https://www.costco.com/laptops.html?sortBy=PriceMin|0

[Jim Dawson]

Best Buy might be an option also.

[converterk]

Dell Precision M4800 Workstation | Intel Core i7 2.70GHz 4800MQ | 16GB RAM | 750GB HDD | Windows 8.1 This would be a good choice that can run any cad/cam program.

[Brian L]

Supposedly great computer, not so sure about windows 8, when that came out it was so bad that Microsoft gave free rollbacks to windows 7 to anybody that had it, and allowed free upgrades to Windows 10 when it came out for a period of time. You could always upgrade the software though.

[converterk]

They are a great computer. You can get a Dell windows 7 install disk and it will automatically activate or buy an upgrade to windows 10. The nice part is you can buy repair parts cheap on ebay. I had a m6600 and replaced the motherboard for $100. I use a m4700 for a Centroid machine control and a m6800 for programming.

[sportybob]

Check Newegg or Tiger direct for both new and refurbished PC and laptops. Get a i7 processor and 16Gb + ram
Dell Optiplex 7010 Desktop PC - Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz, 16GB DDR3 RAM, 2TB HDD, DVDRW, 6x USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, 1 Year Warranty, Refurbished - PC1-0889 at TigerDirect.com $420.00

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...NE&N=100019096 4016 50010772 601190701&IsNodeId=1&SpeTabStoreType=97&name=Deskt op%20Computers&isdeptsrh=1 $200. to $800.

For a less expensive Cad Cam I can recommend the Fusion 360. https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview $300. per year


sportybob

[Brian L]

No doubt you can get a much better desktop computer for the money, but pretty sure he's looking for a laptop. And... Fusion 360 is free if you make less than $100k per year, so even better.

[dkirby]

It is taking me about 5 to 6 mins to get on this site, looks like my time with this computer is very limited.

Went to a computer store today on a recommendation of a friend. He deals with the local industries that have CNC equip.
I had him go to the Fusion 360 site to view the system requirements.
He said that most of the new laptops will have no problem running Fusion 360. Where the problem lies is in connecting the laptop to the machine.
I told him that my machine has a rs232 cable connection now (at least that what I think it is) and he said that any new computer does not have that port.

I explained to him about some of the postings here, and I was pretty sure that some of you are using the newer computers.
My question is..... is there a special adapter to be able to connect to my VM16?..... and what is it??

The guy does know what he is talking about I think, the problem being is,I do not..... and my machine is now 21 yrs. and maybe before his time.
Go easy on me, I am just relaying some questions he is asking me.

On another note. you do realize that I live in the Great White North ( for sure this winter) and I am wondering, do some of the companies that you all posted, such as Newegg, do they deal with Canada???

Thanks

[Brian L]

I use an older Desktop, running windows 7 and it has a DB9 serial port on the back. I made a cable that goes from that to the DB25 port on the machine. I don't have any experience with it, but I know there are USB to DB25 cables out there specifically for CNC communications. You would have to find out which cables work, Sporty Bob or ZZZZ could probably tell you. I've seen specific recommendations of brand and model before, just wouldn't know where to tell you to look. I did a quick google search and came up with this one, I'm sure there are others:

https://cnc-specialty-store.com/rs23...9beee0f5741397

Maybe not, that's USB to DB9, your machine most likely has DB25 (25 pins instead of 9), keep looking on that site though, I bet they have something, or will make it for you.

[dkirby]

I use an older Desktop, running windows 7 and it has a DB9 serial port on the back. I made a cable that goes from that to the DB25 port on the machine. I don't have any experience with it, but I know there are USB to DB25 cables out there specifically for CNC communications. You would have to find out which cables work, Sporty Bob or ZZZZ could probably tell you. I've seen specific recommendations of brand and model before, just wouldn't know where to tell you to look. I did a quick google search and came up with this one, I'm sure there are others:

https://cnc-specialty-store.com/rs23...9beee0f5741397

Maybe not, that's USB to DB9, your machine most likely has DB25 (25 pins instead of 9), keep looking on that site though, I bet they have something, or will make it for you.

So Brian, what you are saying is, that rs232 cable can be either 25 pin or 9 pin and the one on the Vm16 is 25?
Just wondering if I understand this correctly.