[Clueless]

My screen name absolutely sums me up. I am SO clueless about computers!!! I need your help! I am going to be spending a month in England starting at the end of August. Right now all I have is a Dell desktop and I use the internet to check my email and little more. I really want to buy one of the mini laptops for my trip (the <$300 HP or Dell versions). But I have so many questions... Some may seem stupid and obvious, but bear with me. I truely am clueless

If I buy such a laptop, will it be internet equipped? If I were to walk into a Wi-Fi hot spot, would I have internet or do I have to pay somewhere separately to activate that on the laptop so that it will work?

I have several friends who have the Verizon Wireless internet cards that get internet on their laptops wherever Verizon has cell service. Would that work in England? I'm wondering if it would work the same way since for me to get cell service in England I would have to buy some sort of international service to be able to use the signal over there...? Or am I misunderstanding?

Finally, what about Skype? I have heard great things about it and after looking into it, it seems like a great value and a great idea. It would be wonderful if I could buy this little laptop and it serve as my connection to the internet and my temporary cell phone while I'm gone.

So basically, I'm wishing that I can buy this cheap little laptop and automatically have internet and phone service (via wireless and skype). But surely it's not that simple.? Can anyone help me??? Thanks so much!

[SocialWarfare]

Look into get the Samsung NC10 or Lenovo S10 for a netbook

Alot of places in the UK have free Wi-Fi hot spots, but you should wait for somebody from the UK to properly answer that one

Skype is a great idea, the cost of the call are only a faction of that from a cell

Maybe when you are in the UK you could pick up one of the 3G pay as you go internet adapters so that you would have interwebz where ever you went

[philthomas]

Yep ..... the small Netbooks will do the job nicely, just make sure the one you buy has XP installed, as some come pre-installed with Linux.

I have a PAYG Vodafone USB Modem Stick. It's £39, which includes 1gb of usage .... after that it's £15 for a 1gb top-up. This works in most major towns and wherever a Vodafone cell signal is available, so unless you are out in the sticks, it should work fine. The good part with Vodafone is the TopUps dont run out at the end of the month (like most), so if you dont use it, you dont lose it. The only thing I would say is ... these are great for everyday surfing/emails etc., but are are not good if you are going to use the Internet a lot. Having said that, according to Vodafone, they say 1gb is good for - 30 hours surfing, 650 emails and dozens of downloads.
Check out Vodafones deal here .... you can pick up this dongle in any Vodafone High Street shop, in the UK, but it wont work outside the UK.

As for Skype/Voip check out their websites ..... I use Voip, when I'm in the US and it saves me a fortune ..... 1p a min approx to phone the UK. If you decide to go for this, it's best to pick up a USB Phone handset, as messing with headphones and mic is a bit of a pain.

As mentioned some places provide free WiFi, such as McDonalds and certain pubs etc., but we lag a long way behind the US and these facilities are a bit patchy and in many places, not free. Hotels/Travelodge rip you off big time .

HTH