newbie laptop questions

I'm totally a newbie regarding laptops. I'm thinking of buying one to take
on an extended tour to the Mid East. I'm wavering between buying a new one
for maybe $475 or so, and one on Ebay for half that.

My questions involve the huge volume of laptops for sale on Ebay. If it
doesn't say its wireless equipped, does that mean it probably isn't?

With wireless equpped laptops, is it as simple as turning the laptop on and
then connecting to the internet, if I'm in an area with wireless hot spot
coverage?

What about the cards I read about that some seem to require? How do I know
what kinds and how many I need?

If it has a built in wireless device, you turn it on, in a hot spot and it
finds the signal. In my opinion, if you were experienced with laptops, it
may make sense to buy a used one, but in your case, you'd probably wind up
with someone else's headache



"rb" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cJTAh.5989$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm totally a newbie regarding laptops. I'm thinking of buying one to
> take on an extended tour to the Mid East. I'm wavering between buying a
> new one for maybe $475 or so, and one on Ebay for half that.
>
> My questions involve the huge volume of laptops for sale on Ebay. If it
> doesn't say its wireless equipped, does that mean it probably isn't?
>
> With wireless equpped laptops, is it as simple as turning the laptop on
> and then connecting to the internet, if I'm in an area with wireless hot
> spot coverage?
>
> What about the cards I read about that some seem to require? How do I
> know what kinds and how many I need?
>

rb says...

> I'm totally a newbie regarding laptops. I'm thinking of
> buying one to take on an extended tour to the Mid East.
> I'm wavering between buying a new one for maybe $475 or
> so, and one on Ebay for half that.

> My questions involve the huge volume of laptops for sale
> on Ebay. If it doesn't say its wireless equipped, does
> that mean it probably isn't?

> With wireless equpped laptops, is it as simple as
> turning the laptop on and then connecting to the
> internet, if I'm in an area with wireless hot spot
> coverage?

> What about the cards I read about that some seem to
> require? How do I know what kinds and how many I need?

You might also want to ask about this in:

alt.marketing.online.ebay

I haven't participated there in some time, but remember
seeing among the top-10 rules someone posted: "Don't buy a
laptop on Ebay." Apparently laptops were thought to be a
favorite item for scams and frauds. I don't know if that
was a valid comment then, or is now. But the guys there may
know about the specific seller you're looking at, and have
suggestions for protecting yourself.

rb wrote:
> I'm totally a newbie regarding laptops. I'm thinking of buying one to take
> on an extended tour to the Mid East. I'm wavering between buying a new one
> for maybe $475 or so, and one on Ebay for half that.

A new laptop for only $475 will most likely have an outdated slow as
molasses Semperon CPU and only 256 Meg of RAM. Internet Exploder will take
at least 30 seconds to load. It will be a very frustrating computer to use.

IMHO, you should have at least an Athelon CPU with 512 Meg of RAM to save
your sanity.

Another thing to consider is the used battery. You have no idea how many
charge and discharge cycles its been through. It may only run for five
minutes. A new battery will cost you $100 to $200 (rough estimate off the
top of my head).

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:04:24 +0000, DTC wrote:


> A new laptop for only $475 will most likely have an outdated slow as
> molasses Semperon CPU and only 256 Meg of RAM. Internet Exploder will take
> at least 30 seconds to load. It will be a very frustrating computer to
> use.

Yes but only if you load Winblows on that thing. Any linux distro will
run sweetly on such an "outdated" machine, without all the attendant
viruses, malware, worms etc...

"rb" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cJTAh.5989$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm totally a newbie regarding laptops. I'm thinking of buying one to
> take on an extended tour to the Mid East. I'm wavering between buying a
> new one for maybe $475 or so, and one on Ebay for half that.
>
E-bay considerations
- does it work properly
- was it stolen
- reputation of seller
- technological age of unit


> My questions involve the huge volume of laptops for sale on Ebay. If it
> doesn't say its wireless equipped, does that mean it probably isn't?
>
Most laptops in the last few years have wireless built in, but it may be the
older B or G technology


> With wireless equpped laptops, is it as simple as turning the laptop on
> and then connecting to the internet, if I'm in an area with wireless hot
> spot coverage?
If here is adequate signal stenegth, and if the network is not secured, yes
However, I would be reluctant to allow my laptop to connect to a network
that is not secured, unless I had paranoid level security in operation on it

>
> What about the cards I read about that some seem to require? How do I
> know what kinds and how many I need?
I have a wireless pcmcia network card here, I needed it for my 1999 Compaq
To repeat, if the laptop you buy does not have built in woreless, it is
probably too old to serve you well.

Stuart

"rb" <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>I'm totally a newbie regarding laptops.

Think of them as a portable desktop.

>I'm thinking of buying one to take
>on an extended tour to the Mid East.

Make sure it can handle Hebrew or Farsi depending on which side of the
wall you plan to visit.

>I'm wavering between buying a new one
>for maybe $475 or so, and one on Ebay for half that.

You won't find anything new for $475 that's worth buying. It's
difficult to a generalized recommendation, but I don't think you can
buy anything new I would consider reasonable for less than about $800
(including wireless).

>My questions involve the huge volume of laptops for sale on Ebay. If it
>doesn't say its wireless equipped, does that mean it probably isn't?

Wireless can easily be added to any laptop with a USB or PCMCIA
wireless card. Some laptops have a MiniPCI slot inside that can
handle *EITHER* a modem card, ethernet card, or wireless card. For
wireless, make sure the manufacturer offered wireless as an option or
it might not work.

I've bought laptops on eBay without difficulties. However, I simply
assume that the included battery will be almost dead and need
replacement. That's about $150 depending on source and vintage. For
hard disks that are over 5 years old, assume that is also dead. In
most cases, RAM may also need to be added to run the latest bloatware.

>With wireless equpped laptops, is it as simple as turning the laptop on and
>then connecting to the internet, if I'm in an area with wireless hot spot
>coverage?

Nothing is that simple. There's a "view available connections" ordeal
followed by encryption passwords. Most hot spots have a legal
disclaimer that you must approve. Some charge money and want an
account name and password. It's difficult to tell what you will run
into in the "mid east".

Also, be advised that difference countries have different wireless
frequency and power regulations which must be accomidated in your
wireless configurations.

Most laptops have universal power supplies that will run on anything
from 90-250 VAC at either 50/60Hz. However, you will need a power
plug adapter.

>What about the cards I read about that some seem to require? How do I know
>what kinds and how many I need?

Nope, I don't know without first knowing the make and model of laptop.
In general, if it doesn't have wireless built in, a PCMCIA wireless
card will work on all but the most recent laptops which have a
different slot. There are also 16 bit PCMCIA and 32 bit Card Bus
slots, which also depend on the laptop.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:42:34 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>I've bought laptops on eBay without difficulties. However, I simply
>assume that the included battery will be almost dead and need
>replacement.

Likewise.

>That's about $150 depending on source and vintage.

I get even OEM batteries for quite a bit less than that, and very good
non-OEM batteries for much less ($40-50 for ThinkPad T-series).

>For
>hard disks that are over 5 years old, assume that is also dead.

I disagree -- the hard disk is likely to outlast the rest of the laptop
if not abused. The usual reason for replacement is to increase
capacity.

>In
>most cases, RAM may also need to be added to run the latest bloatware.

Often, but RAM is cheap.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

mr.b wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:04:24 +0000, DTC wrote:
>
>
>> A new laptop for only $475 will most likely have an outdated slow as
>> molasses Semperon CPU and only 256 Meg of RAM. Internet Exploder will take
>> at least 30 seconds to load. It will be a very frustrating computer to
>> use.
>
> Yes but only if you load Winblows on that thing. Any linux distro will
> run sweetly on such an "outdated" machine, without all the attendant
> viruses, malware, worms etc...

Very true...but how many people are up to installing Fedore 6, or any
distribution for that matter...or anything OTHER THAN Windoze.

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 20:27:47 GMT, DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob>
wrote in <7n3Bh.1827$(E-Mail Removed). net>:

>mr.b wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:04:24 +0000, DTC wrote:
>>
>>> A new laptop for only $475 will most likely have an outdated slow as
>>> molasses Semperon CPU and only 256 Meg of RAM. Internet Exploder will take
>>> at least 30 seconds to load. It will be a very frustrating computer to
>>> use.
>>
>> Yes but only if you load Winblows on that thing. Any linux distro will
>> run sweetly on such an "outdated" machine, without all the attendant
>> viruses, malware, worms etc...
>
>Very true...but how many people are up to installing Fedore 6, or any
>distribution for that matter...or anything OTHER THAN Windoze.

Preconfigured "live CD" can be run directly, or installed pretty much
automatically.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>