Mac for MCC?

[Notneb]

How bout this, how bout you tell us what requirements you need in a laptop. You'd be surprised at how resourceful some of us can be, lol. I was an ET in the Navy, so needless to say I've had to deal with A LOT of crappy electronics, and I'll tell you now, Windows 7 is a damn near flawless platform. In my professional opinion it's the ONLY PC OS that's worth a damn.

Another thing to think about is you can buy whatever laptop you want without an OS and just get a copy of 7 and load it. I'm just trying to keep you from buying an expensive POS because Windows 10 is junk. Seriously you're better off doing a partition on a Mac, and I loath Mac's because of their lack of user customization/access.

 

[torque beast]

How bout this, how bout you tell us what requirements you need in a laptop. You'd be surprised at how resourceful some of us can be, lol. I was an ET in the Navy, so needless to say I've had to deal with A LOT of crappy electronics, and I'll tell you now, Windows 7 is a damn near flawless platform. In my professional opinion it's the ONLY PC OS that's worth a damn.

Another thing to think about is you can buy whatever laptop you want without an OS and just get a copy of 7 and load it. I'm just trying to keep you from buying an expensive POS because Windows 10 is junk. Seriously you're better off doing a partition on a Mac, and I loath Mac's because of their lack of user customization/access.

Ok. I trust you. I will look for one with Windows 7. Just hate buying another computer when I have one with the memory to run 7 or 10 but I can't buy 7 at the store. Would have to buy online and fixin to take a trip so was wanting to updated tonight. Guess that's what I get for procrastinating

 

[torque beast]

Found Lenovo sl510. $100. Any good?

 

[Notneb]

PM sent

 

[CATDiezel]

Alot of very large corporations are just now switching to Windows 7 in the energy industry because of its proven reliability.

 

[UpstateDieselGuy]

Good reading in here. I think a lot of it comes down to there are two camps, those that are fluent with computers and their operation, coding etc. and those that really have to idea other than how to use one. I fall in the latter and I'm of the age that should probably know more and be more fluent, but I'm not. It never interested me and I never took initiative.

For instance, I had an android and didn't care for it. I didn't like to have to configure and customize everything. I went to an iPhone and have been extatic. It's just easy and straightforward. I don't have the time to mess around with everything nor the desire. I have other things in my day to do.

I will likely have my cousin rebuild our current laptop for tuning when we get something new and use it only for that. I would like to be able to have something where I could try tuning as I like problem solving, but the software is generally laid out as mapping and not code.

 

[Kind]

I run a MacBook Pro using bootcamp with Windows 7 for my MCC. Works perfectly fine.

 

[tbsimmons]

I have thought about using Bootcamp to run windows.
Couple reasons I didn't:
1. Unless you get a bootleg copy buying another operating system.
2. Running Windows on a MAC, now the whole virus thing that Apple cant fix.
3. Programming cars if the computer burped, farted, etc. You fried the computer so I didn't want to take a chance. Don't know how temperamental the MCC stuff is though.

 

[CoreyMS]

I've built most of my desktops the last 10 years, and I use that mostly. But I do have a tuning laptop like most say, asus k55a that I got 2 years ago at best buy for like $300. Simple win7 laptop that gets the job done. The only reason it really ever connects to the internet is moving tuning files or updating. But I made sure when I bought it to get a decent processor and plenty of memory. Use dropbox to move my files between computers.

 

[tbsimmons]

Connecting to the internet is the main thing. My tuning laptop never does. I transfer files by USB.
Hell I am running Windows XP with no updates on it. Don't fix whats not broken.
I need to get a new one though, its old and the spring is broke that holds the screen up.

 

[Towerguy]

Connecting to the internet is the main thing. My tuning laptop never does.

That is a huge part of getting away with an old laptop with limited resources. Malware can't get on it and slow it down and without malware there is no need for security software which can also be a huge drain. If feasible, I would even go so far as to remove the wireless card so that it can't be inadvertently turned on. I don't do tuning but in telecom I have had a need over the years to run an old OS like XP just because of the number of old legacy devices and applications that wouldn't run on anything newer. After laptops with serial ports became harder and harder to find, guys would hang on to one of those even if they had to take them to the grave just because many old devices in common use had serial interfaces and many USB to serial adapters could act so flaky with some devices.

I would look for an older business class laptop like something out of the Thinkpad lineup that was mentioned. They will have a more durable build quality than consumer grade laptops which makes them better suited to banging around the shop. And I would prefer a 15" widescreen that has a numeric keypad. Soooo much more convenient if you are doing a lot of data entry and changing values frequently.

 

[jwanck11]

It's just not worth it to address so many points of bad info.

Get a mac. Follow JCain's advice. Be happy.

 

[drunk on diesel]

With MCC, you're not flashing the EPROM with your laptop. You're still using the H&S programmer as your programming interface.

It's next to impossible to lose an ECM on one of these trucks, particularly with an H&S.

Just to quell anybody's concerns in that area

I have thought about using Bootcamp to run windows.
Couple reasons I didn't:
1. Unless you get a bootleg copy buying another operating system.
2. Running Windows on a MAC, now the whole virus thing that Apple cant fix.
3. Programming cars if the computer burped, farted, etc. You fried the computer so I didn't want to take a chance. Don't know how temperamental the MCC stuff is though.

 

[tbsimmons]

I understand that you use the H&S as the uploader. I am talking about if the computer decides to do something halfway through uploading a new tune, does it fry the uploader?

 

[Notneb]

It's just not worth it to address so many points of bad info.

Get a mac. Follow JCain's advice. Be happy.

I live for the day you stop posting on here...

 

[torque beast]

Thx for the help fellas. Got a good deal on Windows 7 and just upgraded mine. I downloaded the h&s updater and trying to update and gives me this:

Any ideas?

 

[Notneb]

Send Dallas @ H&S a PM?

 

[drunk on diesel]

I understand that you use the H&S as the uploader. I am talking about if the computer decides to do something halfway through uploading a new tune, does it fry the uploader?

no, the tuner is never plugged in/synched to a computer. you save files to the SD card and the card is inserted into the tuner.

it's spoiled me to updating any other tuner. it's the simplest tuner to update. no proprietary "updater" program or drivers to download/install/etc.

just paste files to an SD card and roll

 

[torque beast]

Send Dallas @ H&S a PM?

Not yet but I will if I can't get it manually. Just never seen that issue before

 

[CoreyMS]

I ran into some weirdness like that when I first got my mini. I finally formatted the card (FAT), full format not quick. Then it worked.