Question I'm a bit behind the times. What can laptops do now?

[Melissa2008B]

I have a small home based business, and bought a laptop years ago. It's a Asus 1001P EEE PC Notebook, with 1.67 GHz, 32 bit, 10 inch screen, Windows 7 Starter, 1 GB RAM, 315 GB HD.

Now I'm thinking that I could actually use something like this, out in the field, if it could do certain things that this one can't.

With this one, I have to plug a wifi dongle into a USB port, to get online. That's fine around the house, but I have the big PC anyway, which is why I haven't used this much.

But out in the car, or in a restaurant, I'd rather not use unsecured wifi to check my company emails and reply to them. I sometimes lose jobs because of that, because someone emails me for fees and I don't reply right away, until I get back to my home office.

So here's one big question: Can modern laptops connect via my mobile phone account, instead, and check emails that way? Without having to pay for an extra line fee?

I also recall that this Asus doesn't have a DVD drive, but who uses them much anymore, anyway, huh?

If they could do that, and I could get instant email notifications on the laptop, that would be worth getting one.

Sidebar: YES, I Have the mobile phone, and can READ emails that way, but I HATE texting on the phone, and have a 1 page Fees and Terms macro that I send to people when they request fees, so I usually wait to reply, until I get back, and then lose a job maybe every few months, because they find someone else in the interim.

I just checked and see that they have more modern laptops, refurbished, for under $300, so that's not bad.

But what can a modern one do, that this old Asus cant?

 

[hang-the-9]

Not really sure what you are asking, a laptop can do anything that any other computer can do. You can use hotspots or tethering with your phone when traveling if that is what you want to do, but of course your cell phone plan and actual phone has to support that. Or get a laptop with a SIM card slot and get a data plan from your service provider and just connect without any other devices.

Your title is not really what you are asking, all you seem to want to know is if you can use cell data plans with a laptop, yes you can, in several different ways.

 

[Melissa2008B]

I'm just trying to figure the lowest cost way that this could be done with a laptop.

For example, if I'm sitting in my car in a parking lot, and want to check my email and reply, using the keyboard on the laptop, are you saying there's a way of linking it into my phone, and doing that? I'm not familiar with the very latest tech on that.

 

[coolboy_tron16]

It can run a bit faster, it has higher compatability, but for the most part nothing. I do recommend you upgrade the ram. 1GB ram is very slow in todays standards... so just get that upgraded to maybe 4-16 gb ram.

 

[Melissa2008B]

I thought 8gb was the minimum for running Windows, but don't know about laptops. But there are refurbished laptops for around $250 that can be done with 8-16gb of RAM.
Example: https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Think...48879011&rnid=1248877011&s=electronics&sr=1-4

But once I get it, is that how I do the mobile emails? By bluetoothing it into the phone when I'm mobile?

 

[hang-the-9]

I'm just trying to figure the lowest cost way that this could be done with a laptop.

For example, if I'm sitting in my car in a parking lot, and want to check my email and reply, using the keyboard on the laptop, are you saying there's a way of linking it into my phone, and doing that? I'm not familiar with the very latest tech on that.

Don't know about latest tech, you could connect a cell phone to a laptop with USB for many years to get a data connection on it and mobile hotspots with wifi have also been around for a while. Just look up how to do a hotspot with your phone, you turn it on, then you will see your phone listed in the WiFi signals, connect to it with the provided password and you are online using your cell data plan.