Which of these is the best choice?

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Joeyboy

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Shopping around for my mum, she really only needs something basic as it's use is going to consist of browsing the internet and playing solitaire...:sweat:

For some reason she wants to buy from John Lewis, I assume because they give a *free* 5 yr warranty on laptops, though I did explain a *free* warranty means they'll bump prices up, but what ever/

So here are 3 links, their all pretty similar and I imagine it doesn't really matter which one I go with but....

Buy Toshiba Satellite Laptop, L500-1Z5, 2.2GHz with 15.6 Inch Display online at JohnLewis.com

Buy Compaq Presario Laptop, CQ61-421SA, 1.9GHz with 15.6 Inch Display online at JohnLewis.com

Buy Toshiba Satellite Laptop, L350-262, 1.8GHz with 17 Inch Display online at JohnLewis.com


the last one has the biggest scream, sacrificing 100mhz from the processor speed for it.

Middle one has 3GB ram and 320GB hard drive, unlike the other two with 2GB and a 250GB hard drive.

I'm just hoping this thing will work with our D-link router, last computer seem to have issues.

I guess I'll need to buy a wireless card or something for it too work, don't know anything about laptops...:big_smile:
 
Any of those laptops will do. Actually pretty much any laptop right now can browse the internet and play solitaire with ease. Just go for the least expensive.

Would she consider netbooks? They're basically designed with your mother's purposes in mind. Like this one:
Buy Acer Aspire One 531H-0BK LU.S750B.455 Netbook, 1.6GHz with 10.1 Inch Display, Black online at JohnLewis.com

ah thanks, as I thought then.

I'll ask about the netbook, but I think she'd probably like a bigger screen, hence I'm leaning to the one with the 17" screen.

Just to enquire, when they say they have built in wifi, what do I need to make this work then? I have the D-link DIR-615 router...basically what do I need to let one of these laptops connect to the internet?
 
Built in wifi means that the laptop already has an integrated wireless adapter to connect to the internet. So you do not need to purchase an additional wireless card/adapter.
 
As b1gapl said. You don't need a D-Link wireless card to connect to it. Any OS that comes with the netbook will have a driver for it.
 
As b1gapl said. You don't need a D-Link wireless card to connect to it. Any OS that comes with the netbook will have a driver for it.

ah right so...it should basically automatically find it, ask for the password ive set for the WPA2 security thing, and I SHOULD be ok?

We had a problem with our ancient PC, it had network card or what ever, found it, asked for the password then it wouldnt connect. I had to disable all security for it to work..which I didn't want to do as we have a load of students next door and I don't want them to be able to find an open network.
 
ah right so...it should basically automatically find it, ask for the password ive set for the WPA2 security thing, and I SHOULD be ok?
That's correct.

We had a problem with our ancient PC, it had network card or what ever, found it, asked for the password then it wouldnt connect. I had to disable all security for it to work..which I didn't want to do as we have a load of students next door and I don't want them to be able to find an open network.

A possible reason is that you mentioned setting up a WPA2 passkey on the router. Older computers most likely do not support WPA2, as WPA2 is the latest security. Unless you install a recent network card that can support WPA2.
 
That's correct.



A possible reason is that you mentioned setting up a WPA2 passkey on the router. Older computers most likely do not support WPA2, as WPA2 is the latest security. Unless you install a recent network card that can support WPA2.


ah see I did think it was probably it's age rather then router or me screwing it up! Doesn't matter now the monitor it had has died(and yes I've checked, I was kind of surprised it was the monitor and not something inside).

I assume any laptops coming out now SHOULD support WPA2?

I think I'll just recommend the one with the 17" screen(last link) simply because it is the biggest. 1.8ghz and 1.9ghz isn't a big difference and she's hardly going to fill up 250Gb of space considering she doesn't install anything...:thumbsup:
 
joeyboy said:
I assume any laptops coming out now SHOULD support WPA2?

I would say so. I purchased two laptops last year and both supported WPA2 fine. I also had a wireless adapter for a desktop that I had bought two years ago and it supported WPA2.
 
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