New Laptop

[ready1]

Just after a bit of advice, my dad wants to get a laptop to use wireless internet around the house, whats the typical range and will I have to have doors open etc. Also as for the laptop all he wants to do is download stuff (ares, bittorent), burn cd's and use the net, should I just go for the cheapest laptopt I can find with a burner and wireles capabilities? The desktop is always here if he ever needs to use it for some reason so i'm not really worried about the procesing speed or graphics etc.
Basically I just want to know what I can expect trying to share the internet around the house and what exactly I should be looking for in the way of specs.

[abu_has_the_power]

that would depend on ur router. most of them will cover a normal house.


as for downloading, i download using bittornado on my 300 mhz celeron laptop. works fine

[ready1]

my router atm isn't wireless, thats why I wanted to know about the different wireless options seeing as I have to buy a new wireless router.

[ready1]

bump

[clocker]

Typical range for the (few) Linksys wireless routers I've dealt with is 250-300 feet and no, you don't have to leave doors open.

I dislike laptops in general and cheap ones in particular...if your Dad has experience on a half decent desktop PC he'll be mortified by the crappy performance of a low end laptop.

[ready1]

Nah he's not a computer person at all, when i say all he wants to do is download, use the net a little and burn cd's, I mean that is ALL he wants to do. I agree with you in that i'm not a laptop fan but I do like the idea of being able to use the net around the house. Thanks for replying btw.

[clocker]

Nah he's not a computer person at all

Oh yeah, I hear that all the time.

Even the rawest n00b with the lowest expectations gets fed up real fast with a machine that takes ten minutes to boot to the desktop.
Or gets so hot after an hour that you can't keep it on your lap at all.

[ready1]

Alright well what should I look for then, bearing in mind he can always use the desktop at any time. I mean if it was a desktop I could build it in a second but laptops I really don't have a sense of what to look for and what to avoid, at the same time trying to keep the costs down.

[Virtualbody1234]

I think it comes down to how much are you willing to spend.

[bigdawgfoxx]

Yeah my friends dad who doesnt know much about computer bought a laptop for around $700...Its a celeron at 2.4Ghz with 256MB of ram...it sucks. He doesnt notice but its so fucking slow I hate it lol...so his son is having me build him one