Unplugged and ready to go
By Erica Hill
CNN Headline News
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(CNN) -- If the thought of being shackled to your desk doesn't do it for you, you've logged on to the right page. We're going wireless in "Hot Wired" ... which makes this week's edition "Hot Wiredless," of course.
Summer is the perfect time to throw off the shackles of wired computing. We trade shoes for flip-flops, pants for shorts, why not wires for ether? It's a trend that's gaining speed, and not because there are fewer wires to trip over. We're doing more, and doing it faster.
"One of the things that's driving it is the growth of broadband connections in the home," Janice Chen, CNET.com's reviews editor told me. "Also, more PCs are being added and when you have more than one PC, networking is a very useful thing. It's a much easier way of connecting PCs within the house." It also expands your access far beyond the point where your broadband connection -- be it DSL or cable -- enters the house.
If you think wireless is popping up more outside the home, you're right. "Hotspots" seem to be everywhere -- from airports to McDonald's to Starbucks, all you need is a laptop to get surfin'. Why the push for mobile computing? For one thing, Intel is throwing its marketing power behind the movement to promote its new Centrino chips. Many portable PCs now come with built-in wireless connectivity, but you can also "supe" up a machine on your own.
"You can very inexpensively buy add-ons, often for less than $100, to add a wireless adaptor to your desktop or a wireless card to your laptop," says Chen. If you're looking to set up a home network, she says a hub can be had for about $100, making a complete setup $200.
If you are in the market for a new machine, however, Chen gave us three picks, reviewed by the folks at CNET. In the "thin and light" category, they recommend the Dell Insprion 600m. It starts at $1,299 and weighs 5.6 pounds. The 14.1-inch screen offers good visibility, according to CNET, and a base model comes with a 1.3GHz Pentium M, 256MB RAM, 30GB hard drive, 8x DVD drive, and built in WiFi and Bluetooth support.
In the "ultralight" category, Chen picked the IBM ThinkPad X31. This model weighs 3.6 pounds, and you lose a little screen with that weight -- the display is 12.1 inches.
The base model starts at $1,449 and comes with a 1GHz Pentium M, 256MB RAM, and 20GB hard drive. To incorporate your drives you'll need the snap-on base station which adds speakers, a battery charger, and a swappable drive bay. The base is an additional $199, and a combo DVD/CD-RW drive for the bay is $299.
Finally, if you're ready to make the move to a tablet PC, Chen says the Motion Computing M1300 Tablet PC is a good bet. This model starts at $2,099, weighs in at 3.3 pounds and has a 12.1-inch screen. It also comes with a desktop stand and keyboard. For an additional $230, you can add a "FlexDock" that will allow you to use the tablet like a desktop, rotate the screen from portrait to landscape and includes all standard ports. AN external DVD/CD-RW drive will set you back $330. Chen says when it comes to battery life, this is one of the best tablets CNET has tested -- it gets just less than four hours for one battery.
