Other > Reviews and recommendations
Wireless laptop conections
DaveLembke:
Definitely get the one with 8GB RAM as for 4GB is not enough at times for some systems that I have that are running Windows 10 64-bit. Lots of paging goes on with 4GB. I upgraded one system that could take 8GB maximum to 8GB from 4GB and it behaves so much better. Drastic difference with less paging going on.
As per DVD Writers in laptops, they are being phased out of most models. You can still find them but you might find yourself liking a bunch of laptop models and then the lack of a DVD-RW drive being a bummer for them not having it.
A friend of mine had a tight budget of $400 and wanted a DVD-RW drive, yet he wanted a i5 or i7 processor laptop. I ended up finding him a refurbished laptop that is a HP Core i7 5th generation with DVD-RW drive with 16GB RAM and 240GB SSD with Windows 10 for $399.99 and he loves how fast it is and it has everything he needs. Only drawback to buying used is that the warranty on them is usually shorter than a new laptop. He has a 1 year warranty with his new used laptop purchase.
So you can find higher end hardware on the cheap by buying used. Just be careful who you buy from that it has a warranty and they have good feedback to know they will stand behind what they sell you vs stiffing you.
DaveLembke:
95 Toshiba XP laptop... so it came originally with Windows 95 and you upgraded it to XP at some point and its a Pentium II Processor?
I had a Toshiba Portege with Pentium II 266Mhz that i got XP to install to but it maxed out at 192MB RAM so it wasnt the fastest with XP. My Portege I sold about 13 years ago, but it came with Windows 98 when i bought it as a refurb from Tiger Direct for $249.99
If its running Windows XP you can plug a USB Wireless Adapter into USB port and get it connected to the internet that way. Just have to be careful to buy a USB Network Adapter that clearly states that it supports Windows XP.
I had a USB Wireless Network Adapter on my Pentium III 500Mhz Dell with 384MB RAM running Windows XP SP2 and it had no problems with wireless connectivity to B,G, and N networks. the wireless adapter cost me $15 on newegg and plugged into the 1 and only USB port which was USB 1.1
jbubb:
Thanks for the info Dave, my Toshiba is a 966Mhz with 256 ram, Pentium III SP3. I guess I need to look for another adapter like you said. The wireless card that came with it is a Zonet lEEE802.11G. The computer sees the card when it's plugged in but it won't connect. I need to look for the USB Netgear one, sometimes it would work when the card wouldn't. It seems like neither works at motels anymore. They were connecting to my Linksys but not tonight.
strollin:
Just to let you know, if a system supports 802.11n, then it is also backward compatible with a, b, c & g. Each new iteration maintains compatibility with the previous.
camerongray:
Nowadays the WiFi that comes with any new laptop will be sufficient for most uses. It's much more important to look at the other specs, I'd go with 8gb of RAM as a minimum nowadays, a relatively decent CPU and ideally an SSD over a hard drive. What are you planning on using the machine for as this will be the most important thing in deciding what machine is more suitable. Is there any reason you're tied to those two machines? Would also be useful if you could link them here.
Loads of modern laptops won't include DVD drives due to the space they take up inside the machine, you can always use a USB one for when you need DVDs so I wouldn't discount a laptop without one unless you need to use DVDs all the time.
As for WiFi, as strollin said, they are backwards compatible so you don't need to worry about that. Most decent laptops will support the latest "802.11ac" standard which is the latest "mainstream" standard replacing N. A laptop that only supports 802.11n will work but I'd be concerned that it's an older/bottom of the range model since AC is pretty much the standard on all new machines.
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