Laptop and wireless 'hotspots' advice please.

[mark387mw]

I've been looking for a budget laptop to take travelling with and also to use when my desktop is in use.
I'm wireless enabled at home but for travelling my first Question is; Can you just connect to any wireless 'hotspots' whilst out and about and are they plentiful in Europe.
Second Question; Looking around to buy a laptop I've found at Toys R Us the following spec:
Intel Centrino 1.6GHz, 2MB cache, 533MHz FSB.
1024MB Fast Dual Channel DDRII RAM (2 x 512MB).
Graphics Media Accelerator 900.
80GB Hard Drive.
56K Modem, Built in Wireless LAN 802.11G
DVD and CD re-writer.
15" XGA TFT screen.
TV Tuner to receive Freeview channels.
Integrated Bluetooth.
2.8Kg including battery.
Software includes XP home, Worksuite 2005, Nero 6 etc.
Bundled with a Lexmark X1180 printer.

Its a Medion brand and costs £799. (6 mths 0% if required).

Is this a good purchase or have I missed something and should look elsewhere?

Thanks in advance,

Mark.

[JonRB]

mark387mw said:

Can you just connect to any wireless 'hotspots' whilst out and about and are they plentiful in Europe.

Like so many things, it depends. It depends mainly on whether the hotspot is private (locked down with encryption) or open. And even if it is open, it may be billable. For example, most branches of Starbuck's have T-Mobile Hotspots, but they aren't free.

Having said that, I recently holidayed near a marina and was pleasantly surprised to find that Square One were offering free 512kbit wireless broadband for free with the option to upgrade to 2mbit for a monthly subsciption. So that was me sorted - 512kb is entirely acceptable for email and general surfing.

You also sometimes get open nodes as a courtesy in places like VIP lounges at airports etc.

So very much an "it depends".

Edit: The above is from my experiences in the UK. I would imagine it would be a similar situation in the rest of europe.

>> Edited by JonRB on Tuesday 26th July 13:12

[PhantomPH]

Here is a handy little reference site :

www.hotspotter.co.uk/default.asp

At the to of the page, you can put in a selected location and get a list of hotspots in the area.

P~

[JonRB]

Useful little site. Thanks for that.

[_dobbo_]

I remember my first experience of a wireless hotspot a couple of years ago in New York, 20th floor of my hotel, picked up a hotspot from the local Park about half a block away.

Seems in New York most of the parks have a wireless hotspot!

[Podie]

You can buy hotspot "sniffers" - cheapo one from Trust will be about £15-£20 which spots they are about, but not any strength or encryption details... more than that will be about £70.

[rumbletumble]

I recently bought a similar spec Centrino laptop from Acer for about £800. Its a 15.4 widescreen so not the best for travelling as its a bit heavier and you need a bigger case. However the battery life is really good, and the wireless works first time every time without (hardly) ever dropping the connection.

[agent006]

Podie said:

You can buy hotspot "sniffers" - cheapo one from Trust will be about £15-£20 which spots they are about, but not any strength or encryption details... more than that will be about £70.

Or a copy of netstumbler would do teh same thing for £15-20 less.