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Thread ID: 67981 2006-04-12 22:02:00 Laptop specs (possible?) Myth (110) Press F1
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445943 2006-04-12 22:02:00 I have a business client who wishes to upgrade. He has recently found the merits of laptops so is wanting to upgrade from an old one he has acquired to a newer one for business needs (he is owner of his own business in the auto trade). But having just migrated from his now dead desktop (antique, cpu and suspect mobo blown) he wants to have a number keypad beside the keyboard (a la desktop keyboard) on his upgrade. In a laptop, is this possible? I am looking round at the moment, but I have never seen a laptop with this. Has anyone seen this or know how I can get around this? Brand name leads will help :) I have told the client I havent seen this setup in a laptop but said I would look anyway.

The other requirements are it must have a parallel port, and at least 2 x USB, with minimum DVD-Rom (easy requirements to fill)

Just the keyboard requirement has thrown me a little
Myth (110)
445944 2006-04-12 22:07:00 You can buy a keypad seperate. Let me just try and find a link for you.

www.ascent.co.nz
(out of stock, but has a picture so you can look at it)

www.ascent.co.nz
(in stock, no picture)

Actually, this one has a wrist rest, which could be useful:
www.ascent.co.nz
mejobloggs (264)
445945 2006-04-12 22:09:00 I don't know of any laptops with keypads but you are able to get keypads that plug in (USB?) when required or wireless ones.

See Ascent's page for examples: www.ascent.co.nz
pilgrim (2373)
445946 2006-04-12 23:05:00 Parallel ports are getting harder to find on a laptop as well. Limits the choice.

As to the number keypad, the external is the only solution. Laptops are simply not wide enough to house an inbuilt keypad, and if they were they would be too wide to be easily carried.
godfather (25)
445947 2006-04-13 04:36:00 If the parallel port is for a printer, which is likely to be not transportable, you can get USB "docking" boxes which have parallel ports, and often extra multiple USB ports as well. Most inkjet and laser printers have USB connection these days, anyway, but he might still be using a dotmatrix printer for multicopy invoices. Graham L (2)
445948 2006-04-13 06:36:00 If the parallel port is for a printer, which is likely to be not transportable, you can get USB "docking" boxes which have parallel ports, and often extra multiple USB ports as well. Most inkjet and laser printers have USB connection these days, anyway, but he might still be using a dotmatrix printer for multicopy invoices.Yeah he is, though Im not sure its for multicopy purposes. He has one USB printer and one parallel atm.
I might see if he will change to an MFC, but thats another time
Myth (110)
445949 2006-04-13 07:22:00 One of those docking boxes (or a USB-parallel adapter) might be cheaper than a new printer, and the dotmatrix will be cheap to run. They just keep on going. Graham L (2)
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