? about Notebooks from a not so savvy computer user...

[DeterminedOne]

I am thinking about getting a Dell notebook. Mainly because I want to access the internet away from home, outside on my balcony, while lying in bed, etc.
I am looking for something inexpensive ($500-700) - any suggestions? Another question I have is regarding internet access. Right now I have high speed through Comcast. How will that work if I get a notebook? Will I have to pay more, or is there a way to route service to a notebook w/o paying extra? I am totally ignorant, I know. Thanks for your help.

 

[Papa Deuce]

It is easy. You can wire the laptop directly for internet if you need to, but most likely it already has a wireless card in it. If you have a wireless router the laptop should find the signal on its own. My HP laptop ran an internet setup wizard and I was up and running in no time.

If you have to get a wireless router, that is still fairly easy to do. Just do what the software tells you to do.

It really should be a piece of cake.

Oh, and you don't pay more to run it. It is free with your siganl, though you may need to buy a wireless router.

 

[DisneyfeverTN]

You can buy a router. You hook up the router to the modem that comcast provided. This will send out the signal for your network, making a wireless network.

Your laptop will probably come with a built-in wireless card. Your laptop should be able to pick up the signal from the router. You should be able to access your network anywhere in your house and even in your yard. If your signal is weak you can buy stronger antennas. That's what I did and I always get an excellent signal everywhere in our house.

If you have problems setting up the router box, you can always call their help line. I hate calling help lines, but sometimes it is all that I had left. After the purchase of your router box, you will not have to pay any additional charges. You can have several computers on your wireless network if you want.

There is a possibility that comcast will offer the router for free or their modem might have a built-in router. After I got everything set up, I found out that bellsouth was offering it for free! Oh well.

You will LOVE the freedom of getting online anywhere. Also, you can take your computer with you on trips and access wireless networks at hotels and even certain areas of airports.

 

[DeterminedOne]

You guys are so wonderful!!

 

[MikeS.]

Post #3 keeps saying a router. Be sure to get a WIRELESS router. A non wireless router requires an Ethernet cable from the router to the computer/laptop.

When you setup your wireless router/home network be sure to enable encryption. WEP is good but WAP is better. This will be a choice in the router setup. Without encryption a neighbor or a bad guy can access your internet connection and you could get blamed for the damage they do since it came from your connection.

Dell and HP and others often offer refurbished machine at a good price. They come with the factory warranty. I bought 2 Dell laptops a year ago off of E-bay, they were about 3 years old but were/are in great shape. I saved a lot of money that way.

What to look for, in any computer;

1gb of memory, more is always better.
40gb of disk space, " "
A Pentium 4 CPU @ 2ghz or better. The M model for a laptop. You can go with the dual core models but they raise the price a fair bit.
A video card with it's own memory, not shared.
I'm still saying Windows XP. Vista is too new, MS still needs to work out the kinks and bugs.
Several USB slots. A built in card reader is a nice addition.
10/100 network interface card (NIC) usually has a modem too. 10/100/1000 is better if your router can handle it.

For a laptop;
What screen size? I think 15" should be minimum.
Check battery life. A new fully charged battery should be able to last 2 hours minimum.

Be careful if buying off of E-bay, the sellers rarely guarantee the battery.

An internal wireless card that does 802.11g, this is the most common standard of wireless currently available. DON'T pay a premium for N. That standard hasn't been settled yet and is out by several companies with NO guarantee that their version will meet the final standards. Plus it costs a fair penny more right now.

If the machine you buy doesn't have a wireless card built in there are 2 options, buy an internal card or a card that fits your PC card slot, make sure you have a card slot... Some newer machines don't.

Want to know more? e-mail or PM me.

 

[safetymom]

There are also wireless adapters for laptops that go in the USB slot.