Starting from scratch!

dbone

Baseband Member
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I have just gotten out of the military and been out of the loop for some time now. Being around the world and not around a computer that often I am a tad confused.
I need a new laptop with wireless internet. can someone give me a quick breakdown of what I need in purchasing a new notebook and what kind of provider/service I will need to connect to the internet. I have common knowledge of pc's. I was actually quite handy 4 years ago, but as many of you know, 1 year can put you light years behind, so please feel free to talk to me like a beginner. Any help would be appreciated.
 
when buying a laptop always make sure its quite good, laptops are difficult and expensive to upgrade (believe me ive tried) go for at least 512 mb RAM if you find this at all offensive, im just trying to give "advice for dummies" (interesting fact there are over 4 million "...for dummies books") anyway, the ratings for battery life is always rubbish, i was told mine would last 2.5 hrs but i can only get 1.5. try to get as many USB ports as possible, it is really annoying to have to carry around a USB hub, ive got 4 and thats not enough. My desktop has 8 usb devices plugged in as we speak, there are some not plugged in. DVD-RW are useful but not essential.

if that was help, then thats good
if not then soz
 
also...if you're thinking of using wireless internet just to walk around the house with, dont bother with the 'intel centrino' rubbish...al you'd need is a router and a pcmcia card. can give you links if needed?
 
I disagree with the above, its best to get wireless networking intigrated, unless you like a buly accessory haning out the side of your laptop..

What exactky wil it be used for? home office and media use? or wil you be playing high spec games and stuff?
 
This will be mostly for around the home and for light travel. It will not be used for games (I have two girls, 2 weeks and 14 months, no time for games). What exactly will I be looking for when it comes to the wireless internet? The normal computer specs I can figure on my own, but when it comes to the wireless internet I'm lost. What kind of ISP will I need to look for?
Thanks for the help.
 
Dont be sucked in by buzwords, I bring this up because I just got somthing deliverd to me with them all over the packages.

When most system are labeld as "Wireless internet" and "wireless broaband" what they acctualy mean is you can network wirelessly, the network would sill nees to have access to the net.

Wireless Neworking comes in 2 speeds, 802.11B is 11mbps and is fine for net acess via a network, there is also the faster 802.11G which is 54mbps which may be well suited if your planning on doing a lot of file transfer from within your ntetwork. Both are compatable with each other so from the looks of it B would be fine for you, G is just an advantage.

Now to net access, in order to access the net via a wireless network adapter you need to be within a few 100 meters (if its a good network) of a wireless network before you can access it, you also need to find one that will let you in. In short you cant just access the net anywhere with one of these.

If you wish to acess the net anywhere you would need to buy an auditional GSM PCICMIA adapter which would be like a tiny cellphone you put in to your laptop and as with a cellphone you would need a network and service plan (bills). Ether that or get a laptop with (or an adapter) and connect via your current cellphone (if you have one and its bluetooth enabled) and access it that way.

EDIT: I also forgot to add since your not interested in high powerd apps dont get the latest and greatest video card and processors, these will drain the battery like mad and be a waste to you, it may be worth looking at the Centrino chipset as its designed to be low power and wireless. They are pricey sometimes though.
 
Agree with Delta on this one. If all you are doing is the net, a few apps like internet e.t.c. go for a loptop without a fancy graphics chip. Someone said not to go for a centrino, sorry, I beg to differ. I reckon a centrino would be ideal for you, low power usage, half decent processing power (the centrino is a stonker of a mobile chip, with the 2GHz Dothan core giving 3GHz P4's a run for their money!. The battery life is good to with most getting around 3 hours. AMD have just released their 64bit mobile CPU though, so try looking up about that as well - known as the Turion.
 
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