HELP Laptops

[Ron G]

My wife is wanting a laptop,can ya'll explain to me how the wireless works and basically what do i need to know before getting this thing?ya'll know im dumb as a sack of taters when it comes to tecknoledgy so can ya'll explain this to me thanks

 

[i386]

Re: HELP Laptops

I'll assume you have cable or DSL.

You'll need a wireless router. They're about $40-$100. It will connect to your cable or dsl modem. It'll have jacks for network cables and an antenna. Your computers can either plug directly into it and/or connect to it wirelessly.

There's a little more to it than that such as special settings for security but that'll get you started.

What type of Internet connection do you have?

 

[Ron G]

Re: HELP Laptops

We have DSL...but how would the wireless connection work if she was out of town? Do we need to pay for a seperate wireless connection? How does all that work? What's the difference between wireless and wi-fi

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: HELP Laptops

A wireless equiped laptop communicates with the wireless router mentioned by i386. This allows you to pick up your laptop and communicate with the internet while sitting on the front porch, on the living room sofa, in the bedroom, etc. Prior to wireless, you could still do that, but you'd have to drag an eternet cable around that was connected between the laptop and router. It's just a convenience. The distance between the laptop and router varies depending on what and how much material the transmissions must pass through. Generally 50 ft. is safe.

Whenever your wife is out of town, the wireless capability is useless, unless she's in proximity of a "hot-spot" or router owned by someone else, like Starbucks or maybe the hotel she's staying in. When I was visiting my son at his apartment, my laptop "saw" 4 different routers in the complex - they're everywhere, but sometimes secured so they can't be used by the casual passer-by.

 

[Ron G]

Re: HELP Laptops

Thanks for the info, we'll be looking into it more before buying.

 

[Minuteman]

Re: HELP Laptops

For out of town: You can purchase a wireless card for laptops that connect at broadband speed for using without your home setup or local hotspots. I don't use one, but I have a customer who travels alot and wanted a broadband connection she could use on the road. Verizon has a laptop card that you plug in and it will connect away from home at broadband speed as long as you are in their service area. I'm sure other companies have the same service.

You log on similar to a dialup account, but with no phone wires and much higher speed. I'm not even sure how much it costs, but she did it herself without any help. I was impressed!

 

[JasonJ]

Re: HELP Laptops

Most new laptops come wireless ready. When your wife travels and wants to use wireless at a hotel or whatever, she may have to pay a fee. With the fee comes a security code. She would then have the laptop search for the wireless hub, she would input the security code, and she would be all set. If she is in an area with free wireless, then she probably would not need a security code.

I know a guy who leaches off of his neighbors wireless hub without the neighbor knowing it. Kinda like stealing, but unless the neighbor and him were trying to stream video at the same time, the neighbor will never know. If you get a hub, make sure you set the security so no one leaches off of your hub. You can connect up to 100 feet in some cases, and I have heard of people just driving around neighborhoods until they find a hub and just sitting in their car and leaching.

I have a wireless card I bought for my 5 year old laptop. I simply plug it into the port on the side, and I have wireless anywhere there is a hub and it works great. New laptops are even better.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: HELP Laptops

Stop at any WalMart and pick up (I think) a JT Wireless thingy. It will tell you if a wireless signal is available, so you don't have to fire up the laptop to look. Think they cost about 20 bucks.
Also go here...
http://wififreespot.com/
or here
http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/

We have free WIFI at the Farmers Market in town, and the east bay marina. I also am using my neighbors wireless right now, but I give her 25 a month to split the cost.

 

[i386]

Re: HELP Laptops

The name of my wireless network is "hit3kr3dn3ck". I wonder if my neighbors know who's it is.

 

[llfish]

Re: HELP Laptops

Ron, go to Linksys home page and you can find a good explanation on wireless.

 

[Ron G]

Re: HELP Laptops

Thanks for all the info,we decide to stop by a computer store and look and see what they had.talking about a deal we got a gateway 2 months old with all the dvd burners and cd things and 1gig of ram and all kind of stuff for $700 bucks the wife was tickled the ones on dell with all that stuff was around 1300 bucks.still aint for sure if its going to be able to do what she wants but were still researching.but what makes the wife happy makes me happy.thanks for all the info buds.

 

[KaGee]

Re: HELP Laptops

You can buy new Dell laptops right now for $500 on up. If she's just going to use it for email and chat, you don't need to buy all the extra features the run the cost up.

For instance "Duo" is a hot buzz word for dual processor... you don't need a dual processor for basic stuff. As mentioned above, the wire-less feature is pretty common now, it's built in for use when needed. If you don't need it at the moment, you just don't use it. And do you really want or need DVD burning on your laptop? That's for you to decide, but don't buy it unless you want it.

 

[Ron G]

Re: HELP Laptops

Shes a private duty nurse,so theres no telling what all she'll be doing on the thing.studying,watching dvds.just as long as shes happy!i may get me that new gps depthfinder before i thoughtd

 

[Colorado04]

Re: HELP Laptops

Just to clarify a bit. There are two types of wireless technologies at the moment. The first is the setup most people refer to as "wireless" which is the one that the other posts above are speaking of. It is "WiFi" or 802.11x. The effective range is about 300 feet. This is the setup for use at home or in "hot spots". The second is true "wireless" that utilizes either 1X or EVDO modem technology that uses the cellular network. 1X/EVDO is growing in popularity but is mostly used by business at the moment due to high cost. It truely allows the user to be mobile. I can be driving around in my truck anywhere that has a cellulare network and maintain a minium connection of 56kb ( dialup speed ) or when I hit a EVDO capable segment of the cel net, get speeds of 4-5 Mb. EVDO is just slightly slower that being physically connected at home or in the office.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ron G]

Re: HELP Laptops

Thanks colorado and everbody elses seems like this present for her just keeps taking:/we went and got her a cingular wirelesss card.the 1x and evdo is making sence now.so the speed of it is were you are not nessicarly signal strength.

 

[Colorado04]

Re: HELP Laptops

Yep....the signal strength is more of a measure of how stable the connection is. Check with your service provider, they should be able to give you a map of their service area indicating where 1X and EVDO coverage is. The beauty of EVDO is that if you are out of the EVDO coverage area, it should fall back to 1X speeds automaticly. Forgot to mention that 1X has reached the end of it's devolopment life cycle. The manufactures are focusing on EVDO. A 1X unit can not be upgraded to work on the EVDO system.

Another thing that you can do is, connect your GPS unit to your laptop and then interact with Goole Earth paid service. You will be able to track you position and progress in real time.

No worries, anytime.