View Full Version : Advice on wireless laptop please!
Kazuya Mishima
23-07-2003, 1:58 AM
I am considering buying a laptop PC - I already have a desktop PC. I want the laptop PC to be wireless, for using around the house, and be able to connect to internet (only via dial-up modem at the moment), print documents, file share (word documents, jpegs etc), and receive e-mail.
Note that I am completely clueless and having done a couple of searches I am still none the wiser!
I saw a couple of ads on TV and in magazines for the Samsung X10 notebook (1500/1600?), with Intel Centrino technology.
Is this the kind of thing I should be going for? What other hardware would I need to connect to my desktop PC?
Thanks in anticipation,
Kazuya.
Kramer
23-07-2003, 2:40 AM
Any notebook/laptop can go "wireless" with a wireless PCMCIA card.
Better to get a laptop with built-in wifi IMO - no "sticky out" card to worry about.
Just add a WAP (wireless access point) connected to your main PC & then they should start talking.
The main PC (one that directly connects to the net) must be set as the host with an IP of 192.168.0.1 for ICS (internet connection sharing) to work.
Best of luck with it.
:smoke:
Althought having built in sounds handy, i was warned that for compatibility sakes, you are beeter off with the sticky out card matching your router...... not that its dont me much good mind you
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Kazuya Mishima
23-07-2003, 7:52 AM
Thanks for your replies.
Is it just as easy to connect a wireless laptop to its own internet connection eg a spare phonepoint in an adjacent room? Does this require one small gadget that plugs into the phone socket?
File sharing, and internet connection sharing, would not always be necessary (I am soon moving house from a broadband area to a non-broadband area so will be using dial-up - but I am hopeful it will become broadband soon so when that happens I will have only one internet connection...)
it should be easy to connect to a phone point, certainly the only reason you couldnt would be because the machine was so advanced they leave out the modem, but i think every laptop i considered had a modem as standard which is what i presume you are meaning.
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Kazuya Mishima
23-07-2003, 10:07 PM
But could it still be a wireless connection to a phonepoint?
eg sitting in garden, phonepoint in kitchen.....
:blush:
Thanks!
oh..... yeah it is possible. I guess you would need an external model which you connect to a wireless router..... im assuming thats the case as opposed to knowing.
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MonkeyDonkey
23-07-2003, 10:24 PM
No you couldn't connect a modem to a phone socket using wireless, it isn't meant for this purpose.
Edit - oh you don't mean a direct connection. Ignore the above then. Can't say I've ever seen a standard dialup router/wap though.
You could get a GPRS card from one of the mobile companies (i know vodafone do them, I think orange do too) and use their connections, at extortionate prices of course.
Or a cheaper way assuming you have a desktop connected to the phone line stick a wireless card/wireless usb adapter into that and one in the laptop and use ICS.
RecordablDVDfan
01-11-2004, 8:02 PM
Get a Belkin wireless router, these are such a dodle to setup. It took me less than 5 mins to get it working. Now always use the PDA and laptop around the house and garden.
Don't be fooled by cheapish laptops with specs like 2.8Ghz etc these are NOT centrino laptops and so you won't get the 4hrs plus battery life and the wireless option you get with any centrino...