worlds dumbest laptop travel question - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**mermaidnz** · 08-16-2008, 11:23 AM

please dont laugh if this is something thats really obvious....

so, im going to take my laptop (a mac thingie) and apparently it is wifi enabled, do i need anything to make it work? like if i go to a starbucks or somehting with free wi fi will it just work?

second dumb question, some places may not have wifi, so, can i go an internet cafe and just plug my lappy into their internet and it will work?

**Diorama** · 08-16-2008, 11:38 AM

oh god that is such a question that i would ask! Don't worry...Well I just got a laptop and I have taken it to a few coffee shops that have wifi. I just automatically pick up the signal. Yes I was very surprised how easy it was lol. And yes most internet cafes have laptop stations...er..Im not very technical . All I know is that yes it will just magically work!

**c0urt** · 08-16-2008, 01:41 PM

starbucks tends to charge for wifi. but part of the reason people like macs. is the fact they are simple to use.

have you used it before or do you need like a guide

http://www.mrbass.org/mac/

**AKguacamole** · 08-16-2008, 01:58 PM

I don't think you need anything if it has wifi built in, but beware of viruses!!!
I took my laptop to a cafe in Costa Rica, and immediately got ruined with viruses of all kinds and had to spend a ton to fix it when I got home. This was probably because I didn't have good anti-virus software, so make sure your comp is protected well first and you should be good to go.

**mermaidnz** · 08-16-2008, 06:45 PM

cool, thanks heaps!!

ive been using my mac for a few months, but have never had to take it OS yet, or used the wifi.

now im worried about the viruses, i think macs have some sort of built in virus or something, so hopefully ill be right?!

**c0urt** · 08-16-2008, 09:05 PM

not exactly. viruses don't work the same way. don't worry about them dear.

what where you doing AKguacamole ?

**AKguacamole** · 08-16-2008, 11:35 PM

I was mainly uploading pictures to my computer, which shouldn't have been a problem, but I was also emailing and interneting - that must have done it. I wasn't doing anything bad or naughty I swear! hehe

**mbo108** · 08-18-2008, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mermaidnz

second dumb question, some places may not have wifi, so, can i go an internet cafe and just plug my lappy into their internet and it will work?

Hhmmm...i dont know that places will let you plug into their network with your own computer. They usually like their systems which track how much time you spend on there and what-not. I would just keep searching until you found a place with WiFi.

Sites like this will help you (plan in advance obviously...)
http://www.hotspot-locations.com
http://www.wififreespot.com/

**MeTurk** · 08-19-2008, 03:28 AM

WiFi will connect up to any network going automatically. Which is a kind of a bad thing really, you can change it so it asks before connecting to anything. As long as your antivirus is up to date you'll be fairly safe. I don't know much about mac but I'd assume it's fairly secure by default.