Needless wireless laptop advice

[firsttimemommy]

My DH wants a wireless laptop. I don't even know where to start and how these work exactly. I know there is a modem you can buy that has the program in it (so you dont have to pay a service fee monthly to a provider) or something like that....also I read something about it needing a chip? See how clueless I am? It's almost embarassing!

So does anyone have any guidance on what to buy, where to go? He will be using this computer for mainly web surfing, and not sure he/we will do much else on it (although my desktop seems so slow lately with photoshop elements, microsoft excel etc so maybe we DO need something with a lot of RAM?). I dont want to spend a ton of money..

We do have an old laptop we were given but it is prob 5 years old and not sure it is even upgradable to work in the wireless fashion...

Thanks!

Ronda
Proud Mommy to 2 adorable munchkins - 1/03 and 4/04

"Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes........that way you are a mile away and you have their shoes."

[LD92599]

Go w/ a refurb iBook or Powerbook from apple.com! Be sure it comes with airport extreme (I think most do these days). From there you need to have wireless set up w/ your home internet connection.

It's a start.

Laura
mom to William

LKibala @ optonline.net
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[annasmom]

I would recommend checking with your local internet service to find out what you will need before you buy. We have two wireless laptops, and both are configured a bit differently. One of our computers has an internal card, which I believe is now the norm if you are buying a new computer. Our other, older computer has a card that you stick in the side of the computer. Both work fine.

Our local cable company has a special router for wireless setups, so I didn't have to buy one. It is a router/modem combination. This is a bit different than our old cable company which provided you with the modem, but you needed to have your own router.

[DebbieJ]

I think most all laptops on the market today have the wireless card built in. So look for that. On a PC, it's usually named something like an "integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking card." Not sure what they call it on a Mac.

Then you need some sort of wirelss set up at home--a router of some sort. Like a PP, ours is provided by our cable company and we can also hardwire our desktop to it (although both DH and I used wireless laptops exclusively).

Then you get to figure out what size screen and keyboard you want, how much memory, etc...

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

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