Merry Christmas to me!
I ordered my Christmas presents today! I FINALLY have a laptop to add to my l33t network. Well, it is ordeder at least. I went with a "budget" mainstream laptop, because I don't have thousands to spend on a desktop replacement.
I went with an Acer Travelmate. The other options I looked at were the Toshiba satellite, Dell 1150, and Gateway M520. The Acer Travelmate 4000 had the best features for the price at http://www.newegg.com and shipping was lower too; only 6 bucks and no tax! Acer laptops have gotten good reviews in PC Magazine.
The features include an Intel Pentium M 710 1.4Ghz, 15" LCD, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW, 56K Modem, 10/100 LAN, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire (1392), VGA, S-Video out, and it is half a pound lighter than the others I looked at. Also, reports say the battery life is around 5 hours.
Check this bad puppy out: http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm4000.htm#
Some people wonder how a "slower" processor like this 1.4Ghz is better, but Ghz are not all that determines performance. The new Pentium M processors have a much greater onboard cache than standard Pentium IV processors. They had 256 or 512Kb I think, and the M processors have a full 2MB. What this means is that frequently used information can be stored in very fast memory right on the chip and not have to be retrieved from RAM. This gives greater performance, and allows the processor to run an a lower temperature and use less power, giving longer battery life. They amount of RAM is a little low at 256MB, but it is easy to upgrade. I am looking at getting another 512MB stick, which http://www.crucial.com has for $96.
Also, I got a Proxim Orinoco Gold 802.11b wireless card. Although the laptop has a built in wireless b/g card, I got the Orinoco card because of its extended range and connection point for an external antenna. The card has a max range indoor of 115M (377 ft) and outdoor of 550M (1804 ft). Info on the card is here:
http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/client/11bpccard/index.html
And if that wasn't enough range, I got a Hawking Technology Hi-Gain Omni-Directional Wireless Antenna to plug into the Orinoco wireless card. It gives a pretty good 6db gain. Its here: http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodSpec.php?ProdID=145
And WHY would I need all the network equipment?
Oh, let's just say there is some info here: http://www.webpronews.com/it/security/wpn-23-20040818WhatIsWardrivingAndHowCanYouPreventIt.html
And: http://www.wifimaps.com/modules.php?name=FAQ&myfaq=yes&id_cat=2&categories=Wardriving+FAQ
I went with an Acer Travelmate. The other options I looked at were the Toshiba satellite, Dell 1150, and Gateway M520. The Acer Travelmate 4000 had the best features for the price at http://www.newegg.com and shipping was lower too; only 6 bucks and no tax! Acer laptops have gotten good reviews in PC Magazine.
The features include an Intel Pentium M 710 1.4Ghz, 15" LCD, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW, 56K Modem, 10/100 LAN, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire (1392), VGA, S-Video out, and it is half a pound lighter than the others I looked at. Also, reports say the battery life is around 5 hours.
Check this bad puppy out: http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm4000.htm#
Some people wonder how a "slower" processor like this 1.4Ghz is better, but Ghz are not all that determines performance. The new Pentium M processors have a much greater onboard cache than standard Pentium IV processors. They had 256 or 512Kb I think, and the M processors have a full 2MB. What this means is that frequently used information can be stored in very fast memory right on the chip and not have to be retrieved from RAM. This gives greater performance, and allows the processor to run an a lower temperature and use less power, giving longer battery life. They amount of RAM is a little low at 256MB, but it is easy to upgrade. I am looking at getting another 512MB stick, which http://www.crucial.com has for $96.
Also, I got a Proxim Orinoco Gold 802.11b wireless card. Although the laptop has a built in wireless b/g card, I got the Orinoco card because of its extended range and connection point for an external antenna. The card has a max range indoor of 115M (377 ft) and outdoor of 550M (1804 ft). Info on the card is here:
http://www.proxim.com/products/wifi/client/11bpccard/index.html
And if that wasn't enough range, I got a Hawking Technology Hi-Gain Omni-Directional Wireless Antenna to plug into the Orinoco wireless card. It gives a pretty good 6db gain. Its here: http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodSpec.php?ProdID=145
And WHY would I need all the network equipment?
Oh, let's just say there is some info here: http://www.webpronews.com/it/security/wpn-23-20040818WhatIsWardrivingAndHowCanYouPreventIt.html
And: http://www.wifimaps.com/modules.php?name=FAQ&myfaq=yes&id_cat=2&categories=Wardriving+FAQ