A myth circulating is that wireless is free everywhere. In the United States wireless is mostly a localized service. Some people equate the cellular network (cell phone) with Wi-Fi, but they are completely different.

WiFi as defined by Wikipedia as: IEEE 802.11 is a set of standards for wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication, developed by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802) in the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz public spectrum bands. This type of wireless service can be found in libraries, some cities, airports, some hotels, in people's homes, and many other places. You can find a list of Wi-Fi Hot spots at: http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/. It is estimated by Forward Concepts that by 2007 there would be 530,000 hotspots in the US.

In order to use a laptop with Wi-Fi you need an Internet Connection (internet service provider) and a laptop with a Wi-Fi PCMCIA card or an integrated (built-in) Wi-Fi chip. So, if you go to your neighborhood Starbucks they have set up a local Wi-Fi network that you can connect to with a 802.11 Wi-Fi card, if you have one in your laptop.

There are currently four types of 802.11 PCMCIA cards: 802.11a (oldest), 802.11b, 802.11g (most current) and 802.11n. The 802.11b and 802.11g work fine for most locations, such as your home Wi-Fi network and the local coffee shop or library. The newer 802.11n promises to deliver a fivefold increase in speed and double the range of 802.11g. The final version and agreement to this new standard isn't expected until 2008.

At the library, Starbucks and many other places this signal can be used free. At most airports and some hotels and many other places they charge $10 or more per day. Should you have DSL or cable at home and buy an 802.11 router and set up a Wi-Fi network the use of that network is free. You should also know that security is important and you should use a service like www.jiwire.com to make sure no one can see your data. Remember this is a signal transmitted via airwaves and others can intercept the signal if you do not have protection set up.

You can also connect to the cellular networks with your laptop by signing up for their service (paying a monthly fee). You need their specialized wireless card that installs in your laptop. As an example Verizon's monthly Internet and e-mail access charge is $59.99 per month. They have a $35 activation fee, require one-year minimum term, have a $175 fee for early termination and there might be a cost for the modem you need to connect to their network. Their network is not everywhere, so you have to check with them to find out if your intended usage areas has coverage.

If don't want to spend a fortune for the Microsoft Office suite there other alternatives. If you purchased a refurbished laptop for $300 or $400 why spend another couple hundred for Microsoft Office Suite?

Free is good, so you might check out the Google OnLine word processing and spreadsheet applications. Google Documents and Spreadsheets.

Zoho Writer is another free online word processor. www.zohowriter.dom.

Sun Microsystem's Open Office is free and has been around for years and and includes a very nice suite of applications. www.openoffice.org.

IBM announced in Sep 2007 that their Lotus Symphony Documents is available and FREE. IBM Lotus Symphony Documents

Other Office alternatives you can check out are:

ONE Special Edition for $50 ONE Special Edition

Celframe Office Pro starts at $99 Celframe Office Pro

ThinkFree Office is FREE ThinkFree Office

GoBeProductive is $50 GoBeProductive

Corel WordPerfect X3, which has been around for many years and starts at $99 WordPerfect.

So, consider the above and save a bundle. These applications all are compatible with the Microsoft applications as files can be saved in word and excel format.

People get hung upon what laptop is best, as the vendors push their features, but users should consider what they want to use the laptop for rather than trying to figure out which is the best one.

If you want to do word processing, browse the web and send e-mail and only use the laptops an hour or so every few days then that is quite different from a power user on the road that needs a long lasting battery and the latest and greatest with the fastest CPU and a huge display.

If you only send e-mails and browse the web and the laptop is always plugged in, then you can buy a refurbished laptops for $300. You can find one by typing "used laptops" or "refurbished laptops" into www.google.com and checking out the first few vendors that show up.

If you want a new laptop and are cost conscious type cheap laptops in www.google.com and check out the first few vendors that come up.

If you stick with HP, Dell, Acer, IBM, or Toshiba, who are the top five manufacturers of laptops, in order of who makes the most, then you can't go wrong. It is expected in 2007 that over 125 million laptop swill be manufacutered. Each company makes millions of laptops each year and they are all billion dollar companies with organizations in place to design, sell and support their products. Dell does the most marketing, so is the best known to consumers, but if you were to ask my techs, who have been servicing laptops for many years they are not the best made. IBM and Toshiba are the best made with HP next and are very well know and respected in the corporate world. However, this is relative as most parts are made by third parties and the laptops are often built by third parties.

When Microsoft introduced Windows XP it took them over three years to get it mostly bug free. So, the short answer is NO. I would wait until at least a year and several upgrades before considering it.

Microsoft has extended retail sales of XP for five more months until June 2008. The new end-of-availability pushed back to June 30, 2010. Shows what the market is demanding.

Sales of Vista have been lackluster, so maybe the buying public is making a statement? Only time will tell.

– Price. Very expensive. $399 new, or $299 for the upgrade to Windows Ultimate? The cheapest version, Basic ($199 full, $100 upgrade), isn't worth the trouble. The extra hardware needed is even more daunting. You need to check first which version you intend on upgrading to? You might need 2GB RAM, a very, very fast CPU and even an integrated graphics chip with it's own onboard RAM (not found in many laptops).

– Not much new. It looks pretty, but do you care about photo tagging and 3-D window flipping? Not me!

– It's annoying. Most Vista users have turned off User Account Control, which nags you with an "Are you sure?" prompt every time you try to do anything beyond run the calculator.

– Many, many missing drivers. Who wants their scanner or printer to stop working? Lots of software won't run on Vista, so one of your important applications might not run.

– It's confusing. Everything that XP could do, Vista can do… only it's buried under a different menu and it has a new name. Sigh!

– It's doesn't work that well. There are many bugs and flaws with the design of Vista and it needs a Service Pack. So, you should wait for one or maybe two.

On the other side I expect over time Microsoft with it's vast resources will fix the problems and you will get to the good stuff. AERO: Transparent windows, tasteful animation, elegant design. 2. SEARCH: Fast, smart, and you can create virtual search folders to revisit your searches with a single click. 3. NETWORK MAP: Finally, Microsoft gets networking right; it's a great way to get an overview of your network and its devices. 4. WIRELESS NETWORKING: Connecting to multiple wireless networks and hotspots is a simple affair. 5. SECURITY: You get a firewall with outbound filtering, a better browser, and a lot under the hood offering better protection. Maybe in 2008 or 2009 Vista will be something worth considering.

If you have decided to upgrade it is not simple a matter analizing your computing habits and then figuring out which of the seven versions of Vista meets your needs. Windows 9X, ME and 2000 cannot be upgraded without performing a clean installation. Various versions of XP can be only upgraded to various versions of Vista per the following article:

You should also note that Micrsoft has set up the Vista Upgrade to install only if your hard drive already has Windows XP or Windows 2000 already loaded. According to Microsoft, only the full retail license of Windows Vista can be transferred to new devices. OEM versions are ostensibly tied to motherboards, and upgrade versions are now technically tied to previous installations.

The first question to answer if you are student looking to purchase a laptop or a parent thinking about buying a laptop for your child is the budget. If there is no budget or you can spend $800 or $900+ consider buying a new laptop.

Once the budget is in hand then consider the intended use for the laptop.

For colleges and universities, visit the school's Web site for useful information. They will often provide a recommended minimum required laptop specification. However, don't be fooled they often will suggest much more than is needed. One final thought: students need a notebook that is small and light enough to lug back and forth across campus but rugged enough to withstand bouncing around in a backpack.

If it is to browse the web, instant messaging and type papers then a minimal laptop will work fine. Browsing the web only requires 128MB RAM. You can't type faster than a very old Pentium 90 laptop, so word processing runs fine on older laptops. If you have any specialized applications it is always a good idea to go to the software vendors website and check out the Minimum Systems Requirements to make sure the application will work. If you are a serious gamer all bets are off as you might need 2GB RAM, a fast CPU and even a specialized graphics chip and have to spend $2000.

Most college campuses these days have wireless networks. Older laptops can accept Wi-Fi cards, which cost $30, so they are easily to upgrade.

Older laptops often do not have working batteries and even on new ones after a year or two the battery may not work. It usually does not matter, as schools know students want to use their laptops everywhere and often provide many extra wall outlets, so they can be plugged in. New batteries often don't last more than 2-3 hours.