For basic use on the internet (web, email etc) and basic word processing etc. you really donât need anything flash at all. Anything you can get new will do the job, spending money on the latest and greatest may well be a waste.
In order to get connected to the internet, there are two methods.
Firstly you can use your mobile phone, using either GSM dialup (slow) or GPRS (better, this is what CoffeeHolic uses). Youâll need some way of your phone talking to your laptop for this. There are 3 methods. Firstly Infra Red - this is bad as you have to keep the laptop still and pointed at the phone or it breaks. Secondly a cable between your serial port and the phone. Thirdly Bluetooth, which is wireless. For option2 you just need a 10quid cable and a suitable phone, for option3 you need a bluetooth compatible phone and a pcmcia bluetooth adapter.
Secondly you mention wireless, also known as âwi-fiâ. Places you can get wi-fi coverage are becoming more common, but most will cost you money. Chances are if itâs available this is the fastest way of getting internet though. To do this you need a laptop with 802.11b support, which can be done with either something with it built in (centrino?) or simply with a 15quid pcmcia card.
Cheapest way of doing it will be with a cheapish (possibly second hand) laptop, a cable to connect it to your phone, and a 15quid pcmcia wireless card. Thatâll give you the option of connecting with wireless if itâs available or your phone if it isnât/
Hope this helps (and doesnât just confuse you more)
Malc
have you thought of just getting a good PDA?(person digital assistant)
Some PDAâs can suff the internet(via your mobile phone bluetooth) down load your email you can have sat nav(saves the use of maps) and have all (all be it smaller) office programs installed! it fits in your top pocket and you can play movies on it as well as store a masive amount of music! it can even turn over the tele and anything else you have a remote for!
I got myself the latest PDA with satnav for ÂŁ444 it can do all what I have said so good I sold my laptop, because its so easy to use and very portable, i use mine in pubs and on mountain tops(well the Cleveland hills ) and the best thing is, its getting more advanced so you can do more with it!
as well as the 3 methods Repton mentions above there is also a PCMIA card that takes a SIM card and slots straight into the laptop, so no cables or IR connection which means it is neater and easier. That is what I use, itâs a Vodafone Mobile Connect card and you will find more details on their website. It also comes in 3G flavour which means faster connection speeds than with my GPRS version but coverage is limited at the moment, mainly to cities.
Donât get hung up on the Centrino thing, itâs not a connection method but just a name for one of Intelâs processors, although it does mean that Centrino powered laptops will come with built in Wi-Fi rather than adding it with a PCMIA card or dongle. I have a Wi-Fi card for the laptop that connects it to my home network and I cary it with me but have never yet managed to find a hotspot I can connect to while parked up in the truck.
As TC says a PDa is a good alternative, i would be lost without mine, however surfing the net on it isnât the most fun because of the small screen but for everything else it is excellent. I use my laptop a lot less on the road since I got my iPAQ, all my diary posts on here are written on it for example, but I still need the laptop.
Wheel Nut:
No seriously, I just had to decide which way to go. Centrino or Infra-Red / Bluetooth.
I didnt want to get the wrong bits, to find it wont work in France.
As CoffeeHolic has said heâs yet to find a working wireless hotspot I think you might as well forget that as an option then, which means using mobile phone technology. This means whether your laptop is centrino based or not is completely irrelevant, so you donât need to worry about that. Pretty much any laptop will do. The simplest way in many respects is the vodafone card for your laptop (go to http://www.vodafone.co.uk, click on âbusinessâ then âvodafone mobile connectâ). This is a PCMCIA card you slot into your laptop which has everything in it to connect you to the internet (it is, in a sense, a mobile phone in a card). If you would rather not go to this expense the other option (as I said above) is use your existing phone and connect it via a cable or bluetooth.
I have a wi-fi card in my laptop which means I can sit anywhere in the house and surf the net, or connect to my network server for file sharing.
I have only ever once found a wireless hotspot that I could access from the cab. This was in Woodall Services (I think it was there) where the lorry park is close to the main building. Thus I was close enought to get a signal from theirs. Shame it was a BT Openworld access point which you have to pay for
There are loads of free hotspots but chances of being able to park your wagon outside the buildings are slim. Here is a site you can find hotspots by postcode: http://www.consume.net/nodedb.php
Type the postcode in on the left-hand side where it says âjump to postcodeâ and it brings up hotspots within a certain radius. If you change the setting to âget node infoâ when you click on one you can then click on âdraw mapâ and it shows you a streetmap position of where it is.
Shame you need a web connection to find the hotspots though
) and the best thing is, its getting more advanced so you can do more with it!
