Laptop knucklehead

Thats what I am..I know very little about computers ,and next to nothing about laptops . Im going out on the road soon and Im interested in getting a laptop to stay in touch with my lady,watch dvd,s etc . I want a good one . Im not real sure what makes it work..I know you have to have some kind of a card? does that enable you to have internet acsess? perhaps some one can break it down for me so a knucklehead can understand it?..what kind should I get and what do I need with it?.....Snuggs

 

I have a HP dv9600 laptop and I use a verizon internet card,it works great

 

That depends on what you plan to use it for.

Most computers have a wireless networking card on board to access wifi networks.

To get mobile internet, you have to get a wireless cellular card which plugs into a slot on the machine.

This also requires a plan from the cel phone company.

 

Forget what all these other people have posted.
BEST laptop: DELL. You can purchase a good one for less than $1000. Customer Support is second to none.

Internet access? Sprint Broadband is by FAR THE BEST. Truly UNLIMITED $60. per month.

FORGET WiFi, there are No reliable WiFi services on the road. SLOW speeds, FREQUENT disconnects, EXPENSIVE service compared to (Sprint) Broadband, insecure for things like banking

 

thanks for the info everyone ...Roadkill,thats what Im looking for...Snuggs

 

Forget what all these other people have posted.
BEST laptop: DELL. You can purchase a good one for less than $1000. Customer Support is second to none.

What possible good can come from doing that? Ford, Chevy, Ford, Chevy it is just a preference nothing more! Plenty of good products out there, all are susceptible to problems. Dell doesn't have any better a product than several other companies.

Actually, I grimace thinking about Dells customer service, nothing worse than getting your phone called transferred to India and trying to talk to one of these sickeningly sweet extra nice people. Last time I did this we literally spent ten minutes (language issues) just verifying my email address UGGGGHHHHHH!

OP, look into Dell, HP, Gateway, Toshiba and Acer. All are main stream computer companies that run Windows, and each makes a great product. I would suggest buying a "New" off the shelf out of the box computer. If you have minimal computer skills the last thing you want right now is a used problem child computer.

 

Dell Canada offers Canadian support IN CANADA. If you ever have an issue with language, you can ask to be transferred to an English as a first language person. This is what I was told last year by Dell Canada and I have found it to be true. Any time I call the Dell Canada customer service number, I get someone in Canada who is very fluent in English. Don't know if they offer that to USA or not.

I've had a couple Dell laptops in the past and they last forever, never quit or break or need service. Only time I ever called customer service was to ask them how to set up my wireless air card 'cause I'd never done it before. Had it done in 10 minutes.

 

I've been out of the cutting edge techno loop for a few years, but based on my now antiquated experience, Dell used to make a decent machine. Unless HP has gotten better, I'd steer clear of them. They used to put the OS install cabs and system drivers on the primary drives second partition. Its smarter to have these resources on CD.

 

I have a compaq laptop (made by hp) and it came with two install disks.

One os install disk and one for system drivers.

Almost 3 years old now and still runs strong.