• Wireless Laptops - What to Look For


    10 November 2008

    There are 2 different types of wireless laptops now:

    1. Wi-Fi
    2. Mobile Wireless

    Laptops with Wi-Fi

    A laptop with 'wi-fi' lets you connect to a nearby wireless router. This can be at home, at work, in a cafe, hotel, or in any number of places with public 'hot spots'.

    Almost all modern laptops come with built-in wifi. This can be called "built-in wireless", "wi-fi", or often referred to by its specific standard number. The most common Wi-Fi standards are:

    • 802.11b
    • 802.11g
    • 802.11n (also called 'Draft N')

    802.11n is by far the fastest, with the best signal range. 802.11g is more than acceptable though.

    Backward Compatible

    The good news is that a laptop with 802.11n (or 802.11g) wireless will be able to connect to older systems. They are built to be 'backward-compatible'.

    Laptops with Mobile Wireless

    Laptops with built-in mobile wireless (also called mobile broadband) can connect directly to a mobile phone network. The advantage of this is you don't need to be anywhere near a wireless hotspot to access the internet.

    The disadvantage is that you also need a mobile contract. These can still be quite expensive for transferring internet data, but prices are coming down all the time.

    Most laptops with mobile wireless will also come with built-in wifi. It's important to know the difference and, usually, costs you less to connect to 'wifi' and keep the mobile connection for situations where you're out of range of a hotspot and really need it.


     

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