Mrs wants a lap top so she don't have to spend loads a time in office away from rest of us, ( I know, maybe I should not let her have a laptop )

Any how, is it just as simple as buying a router thingy signal wotsit placing it in office and bob's your uncle ? Or is there more to it, we are on BT broadband, would we have to load it onto the laptop or just tell it to find the signal ?

Best laptop ? needs to do nothing more than use the web, don't have to be all singing and dancing as long as its set up for Wi Fi.

Asus EEPC ( or what ever they are called ).

I think they are wireless. and cheap ( £100 ish ? )

Wifi.

Very easy to setup.

I am going to assume you have a broadband modem/router plugged into one computer at the moment.

You can either buy a wireless modem/router and use this to connect to BT and provide your wireless.

Or you can buy a wireless access point, plug the cable from your current broadband modem into the router and it will allow wireless access to the network.

I would say the first option is going to be easiest and it will still allow a wired connection to the net. It could be worth ringing your service provider first though for their advice. Orange (urgh) sent me a Livebox wireless router for free. It comes preloaded with all the settings. This meant it couldn't have been easier. Plug in to power, phone line... Connection.

once wireless is set up then the laptop should see the signal and you're away

Best bet is an ADSL Modem Router - it is the modem and wireless router all in one and will replace your current wired router. Put that somewhere near a phone line and/or the best location in the house for the signal to get everywhere.

It can link via network cable to your desktop or wirelessly if the desktop has that. You will need to set up the router to your ISP and password etc. The instructions and a setup wizard will come with it along with guidance on security settings. Any wireless enabled laptop will then be able to find it and connect (if they know the password). Once set up it will connect automatically everytime.

Something like this Netgear would be ideal.

A very cheap option (if you normally have your office computer on) is to get a cheap wifi USB dongle from Ebay and use that computer as a server (you just need to activate internet sharing).

If you want to be able to use the broadband connection with the office desktop off you'll need either a wifi router or a wifi router modem.

The EEPC are very nice bits of kit (especially the newer ones with bigger screens) but the cheapo ones run Linux as standard which she may / may not be so keen on. They can run XP but with their limited resources (for the base spec small screen model) but its not going to be scintilating perfomance-wise. By the time you get the bigger screen more powerful version you're getting into cheap laptop territory.

Don't get me wrong, they're lovely bits of kit but by the time you get a moderately capable one you're paying quite a bit for the fact they're tiny....

Hi mate,

The best way has been commented above, and that's the wifi and modem built into one.

But if you want to save a bit of money and keep what you already have then I think I may have a Wireless router that you can have for nowt!

I'm 99% sure it's still in the loft somewhere, so let me know if you want it or not and I'll stick it in the post for you...

Steve

Not necessarily the best laptop, but blooming cheap

http://www.elonexone.co.uk/

Everybody is jumping in here

You are on BT --- do you have a BT Home hub ? if you have you already have a wireless/wired router. Only snag is they they have a weak wifi signal and don't work well in old houses but the new ones are much better.