Hi All,

I'm looking for various bits of advice about buying my first laptop. I
currently live in Berlin, Germany, where a desktop PC serves my needs
perfectly. However I'm going to be looking for some work in London, UK, and
will need a machine to work on there. I will be staying at a friend's
place - he has a desktop with a broadband connection.

Here are some of the issues I thought the NG could help me with (it's a
mixture of reasonably intelligent and stupid-laptop-newbie questions):


1 European guarantee?
While I may well end up just leaving the laptop in the UK for future work
visits, it would be nice to have the option to bring it back to Berlin and
still get it serviced here if things go wrong. Does that mean I am limited
(because of the guarantee) to one of the big manufacturers like Dell? Is it
normal to get international guarantees with laptops?

I was told that laptop guarantees, more than with desktops, are with the
manufacturer directly, not with the shop where you bought it. Is this true
at all?



2 Wireless connectivity?
I will need to plug in somehow to my friend's broadband connection, and it
would be good if this could be done wirelessly. My hardware knowledge is
not great, and I am somewhat confused by reading about 802.11, Wi-Fi, etc.
Can anyone explain in simple words what the wireless options are, what
devices I would need to buy for the laptop itself, and what other hardware
might be needed (eg a special modem / router etc).



3 Connecting a laptop to a normal monitor/keyboard/mouse
Is it easy to connect a laptop to a destop's monitor/keyboard/mouse? What
connections do you need for this, and are these connections standard on new
laptops? If you connect to an external mouse, can you normally switch off
the built-in mousepad (or can you at least cover it with a piece of paper to
deactivate it)?



4 Buying a laptop in the UK or in Germany?
Are there any reasons to favour buying a laptop in the UK compared to buying
it in Germany, or vice versa?



5 Any notebook manufacturer / model recommendations?
I'm a reasonably heavy user of a pc for my work - I usually have 5/6
applications open at the same time. Performance is more important to me
than portability, as I would mostly be using the notebook at home ie not
using the battery. The priorities are processor, RAM and HDD (I need at
least 40GB), plus a decent screen (my desktop runs on 1152x864, which is
perfect), a CD-RW/DVD, and a good keyboard. Games-playing ability is a
bonus but *not* essential. I am guessing I'll need to spend up to £1,000 /
?1500 (excluding VAT / ohne MwSt) to get this (correct?).

Give the above, does anyone have any personal recommendations of and/or
warnings against particular models / manufacturers? (BTW, this is NOT an
invitation for dealers to try and sell me a laptop, I want my fellow
NG-users' personal opinions!).

Also, does anyone know any good laptop-review websites?



Thanks for any help,

PP

PS de.comp.sys.notebooks: Entschuldige, ich hatte keine Zeit, das Ganze ins
Deutsche zu übersetzen!

You might consider getting a laptop with a built-in wireless card so that
you could connect through your friend's broadband.

This assumes that he has a wireless router on his desktop. And it also
assumes that you will be using the laptop pretty much exclusively within 100
feet of the desktop.


"Peter Parker" <pparker@gmx.net.NOSPAMPLEASE> wrote in message
news:bk2ems$931$1@online.de...

Hi Ray,

I already have an old, bog-standard, non-wireless router. Is there some
fancy card you can stuff into the back to turn it into a wireless one, or am
I looking at buying a new router? (my friend doesn't have one).

I reckon I can probably beat the 100 foot mark, but does house construction
/ number of intervening walls make a difference? (The flat is a conversion
of a London Victorian terraced house, ie big thick walls everywhere). Does
the performance drop off analoguely, or suddenly disappear when you get too
far away? Is there any way of testing this in advance?

Thanks for the help,

PP

PS What *is* the difference between 8011 (or whatever) and Wi-Fi?

You could link a wired-router from your laptop to the desktop, but of course
you'd have to use a cable.

As for distance, probably walls wouldn't make that much difference.

I have a Linksys wireless router at my desktop, and I have no proble
connecting with wireless cards in laptops in two different rooms. One of the
rooms has to go through two walls, but it manages. I can even pick up the
signal outside the house. The router costs about $100, the cards about $50
each, at the discount houses.

You might want to explore wireless setups by going to

www.linksys.com

"Peter Parker" <pparker@gmx.net.NOSPAMPLEASE> wrote in message
news:bk489a$kme$1@online.de...

Ray Jenkins wrote:

wireless router




--
Patrick

Xbox Gamertag: Trendy Uncle
Mac OS 10.2.6, Thunderbird 0.2

Hi,

I had a look on amazon.co.uk under "wireless access point" and found:
"Linksys Instant Wireless Network Access Point WAP11" for £76.

I then had a look under "wireless router" and found:
"Linksys EtherFast Wireless Cable/DSL Router BEFW11S4" for £60.

If all a "wireless access point" does is convert a non-wireless router into
a wireless router, is there any point buying one if you can just buy a
wireless router direct for even less money? Or am I missing something here?

The other thing I found out on Amazon was that these wireless routers
require an ADSL modem with an *Ethernet* connection, whereas my friend's
broadband is via a *USB* modem. Is there any way of using a router with a
USB modem, or is an Ethernet modem now also on my shopping list?

Thanks for all the help!

PP

Peter Parker wrote:

If you already have a real router - then adding a WAP can add wireless
easily ... however as you have seen - all in one units are dropping in price


ok, my personal advice is ditch the usb modem and get a real all-in-one
adsl modem/router/WAP. A poster on uk.adverts.computer has been praising
this one from eBuyer

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=48452

although I note it only has one ethernet port meaning you'd need a
switch of you wanted to add more than one "hard-wired" pc to the network


Patrick

Thanks Patrick, that seems like a really good tip.

Last question - apart from ebuyer, what are the best places to buy this kind
of stuff in the UK?

Cheers,

PP

I have a laptop from a german company called TARGA even through I live in
the UK I bought it from LIDI and it is excellant value, I would buy from
TARGA direct if I wanted another, and it comes with everything, 2 year
warrently and 6mths on batteries, have a look at their website

marion


"Peter Parker" <pparker@gmx.net.NOSPAMPLEASE> wrote in message
news:bk2ems$931$1@online.de...