A Computer for Dummies question?

[Mercy]

We have one computer at home now, but I'm always fighting with my kids to get time on. I would love to have a laptop of my own.

So, my questions is... if I have a laptop how does it plug in so to speak. We have a cable modem... will I need to have to hook it to a cable??? I'm probably not asking this right, but hopefully you will understand what I mean. When people are outside using their laptops, what are they plugged into??

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

If someone is outside and they're using their laptop online, then they're in an area that has WiFi. The laptop has to be equiped with proper hardware in order to do this, or you can buy external notebook cards, which is what I have.

I also have a router, that enables me to go wireless inside my own home. We have two laptops and one desktop set up that way.

I only had cable for a very short time, but you'll hook up an ethernet cable to your laptop, or you'll have to have a router to go wireless. In that case, the ethernet cable gets plugged into the router.

I'm probably not explaining this any better than you felt you asked your question. Sorry!

 

[Viking]

You should upgrade your system to WiFi and buy a laptop equipped for it. You need a WiFi-router for that, which are availble for around $50 -100. You can still hook up your desktop via cable or also upgrade it to WiFi with an expansion card at about $40.
You can also hook up your laptop using a a cable, but that's not very comfortable.

 

[Mercy]

Ok, so let me see if I understand. Our main computer is down in our family room... so if I want to use the laptop in my bedroom, I would either have to have a cable hookup in my bedroom, or have a router and have the cable hooked to that, right? Where would the router be? Do you have to plug the laptop in, to an electric outlet... or does it run on battery?

 

[Viking]

Ok, so let me see if I understand. Our main computer is down in our family room... so if I want to use the laptop in my bedroom, I would either have to have a cable hookup in my bedroom, or have a router and have the cable hooked to that, right? Where would the router be? Do you have to plug the laptop in, to an electric outlet... or does it run on battery?

You got that right:
My router has the modem built in, so it's just one device. It's located at my telephone jack. My PC, laptop, Playstation Portable, and my PDA/Mobilephone are hooked up to it using the wireless feature.
You can run your laptop using the battery. depending on what you do and on the quality of the battery you can work between 2 and 5 hours before you need to recharge it.
As most American homes are made from wood, one router should be sufficient for the whole house. In a stone/concrete building you might need more than one router.
My laptop is usually hooked up to a wall outlet for power. It's a Sony Vaio. When I use it with WiFi and do a lot work like DVD-burning it runs about 2.5 hours. If I use it without WiFi and just do wordprocessing or other not so demanding tasks, it runs up to 5 hours.
But as I usually use it in teh living room in the place while watching TV it's hooeked up to mains and so I don't need to care about battery life.

 

[Mercy]

Ok, I think I kind of get it now... Thanks, Viking and Am I There Yet for the explanation!!

 

[Viking]

You're very welcome. When you really switch to wireless make sure that you encrypt your system after installation!!!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Just keep in mind that the farther you are from your router, the weaker the signal will be.

 

[Feralpeg]

I was in the same boat. I had no idea how to handle it. I went to Best Buy. In five minutes the guy got my exactly what I needed. It was very easy to install on DD's laptop. Now, I don't have to argue for internet time.

She uses her laptop all over our house and has not had any reception problems.

Good luck!

 

[jsmith]

be sure to enable some security features on you modem or you will be giving access away to the neighbors for free-we have a desk top and four wireless laptops-we have a wireless router and so to three neighbors-none of them have security on the routers and depending on where you are in in our house-sometimes you connnect to our router and sometime to one of theirs