Laptop Computers & Wireless internet

[PM_Mama00]

I have a few questions.

What is the best laptop to get? I'll just have the regular programs that a normal computer has, nothing special.

Also, does anyone have wireless internet in their house? How exactly does it work... where are other places you can use it... and how do you like it?

[Munchkin03]

I just bought a new laptop about two weeks ago. If you're just going to do the basic things (internet, word processing, music stuff), I'd say you'd be fine with a Windows-based computer. Because I'm an architecture student, I bought a Mac...it's especially good for graphic editing, and it weighed the least of any fully loaded laptop out there.

I got the wireless internet card, the coolest thing about it is that my computer will automatically detect any wireless setting. You can go literally anywhere on most college campuses. It's great.

[Cluey]

Interesting that you ask about this, because I just installed a wireless network last weekend. Now that the cable modem is back up and running, I LOVE IT!

I actually have three laptops in my house -- a sony vaio, a compaq presario and a dell inspiron. All three of them work well with our wireless network. I can go almost anywhere in my house and get reception, the lone exception being my parents' end of the house. Eventually, I'm going to put an access point in that end of the house and one outside, too.

I went with the Linksys Wireless G router and network cards and I really liked how easy they were to install, particularly with Windows XP.

[LeslieAGD]

Cluey, about how much did your wireless equipment cost you?

[Cluey]

It was expensive, but that's why I went ahead and got the Wireless G type. It's suposed to become the more widely available type in the future.

All together, with network cards for 5 computers and a wireless G router, it was around 500 dollars. The good news is that we'll get 50 dollars back in rebates. Rather than spending 300 now and having to upgrade in a few years, I went ahead and got the more expensive type.

I hope that makes sense

[Munchkin03]

Ours was considerably less than that, probably because my father's company does telecom and did it for us. I don't think that it would have been that expensive anyway--it depends on what part of the country you're doing it in, I guess.

I had my wireless card factory-installed in the Mac, and that was only $99. When I was looking at Dells and Sonys, the cards were more like $79.

[Meliahna]

My dad the computer geek installed wireless in our house last fall. It's wonderful. We have a 50ft range from our box, and that seems to cover the entire house, driveway and part of the yard. We haven't had any reception problems at all, but we've only got 2 laptops, the rest are desktops. He got the cable tv/internet deal. It's about $50 a month, which is actually about $20 a month cheaper than having a dial up (w/separate phone line), internet and satellite.

My laptop came with a wireless card because my school is wireless and they give every student a laptop. We can have 32 machines hooked up to our internet through the wireless connection and up to 4 through cables. So far, it's been pretty sufficient for the 4 of us living here.

[PM_Mama00]

Ok.... can I get the wireless hookup in my house for my laptop, and still use AOL dial up for the regular computer? We're still keeping AOL cuz I like its mail features and other stuff, and my mom will NOT be touching my laptop.

[PandaOnProzac]

Dells are what we use at work. I'm too low in the food chain to get a company discount.

[Cluey]

Ours was more expensive because we had more computers that we wanted hooked-up. The cards were each like 80 dollars a piece and the router was 125, I think.

I installed everything myself, so we didn't have to ay any of that.

[Buttonz]

I just got wireless about two months ago and I love it. We have 3 desktops, all at diffrent ends of the house. I have a Toshiba laptop also, but I haven't put a wireless internet card in it because I am not really going to be using the laptop much. It is possible to keep AOL, you just go on the Briny Your Own internet plan..My AOL account and my mom's (which she shares with my sis) are all on it. I hope this helps

[sigmanuzk]

For any students looking for new computers, Dell, HP, Compaq, and Apple offer discounts to students, usually 10 percent.

[ZetaLuvBunny]

My mom bought me a new laptop a month ago. I LOVE it. It's an HP Pavillion ze4400 from Best Buy with CD/DVD burner, and the works. It was very expensive ($1750.00 including all accessories), but with the prices of electronics going down every year, it wasn't much more than my regular PC that I got two years ago after I graduated from high school (it was an LCD screen & such).

Make sure you get a really good case for it with plenty of padding, a warranty, a good locking device to tie it down, etc. I can't remember the price of the WLAN card, but it was less than $100 I believe. I'm still trying to figure out how to hook up to the campus ethernet with it, but I know you can sit almost anywhere outside or inside on campus and access the ethernet from your notebook if you're a student (you have to get a special password & such for it).

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by sigmanuzk
For any students looking for new computers, Dell, HP, Compaq, and Apple offer discounts to students, usually 10 percent.

Apple is well-known for its educational discounts--you get one discount for being a student, then another larger one by being allied with certain universities. I saved over $300 on my PowerBook (which would have been over $1,900) by being a student. I was able to use that savings to upgrade everything (yay DVD burner!) and get a new printer. It was less expensive (and lighter!) than a PC with the same features.

The cool thing about wireless internet on an Apple is that the settings can be detected automatically, without having to log into a system.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I have an iBook and wireless internet, both of which I really like.