Shopping for new laptop, wireless g or wireless N?

I'm shopping for a new laptop to replace a 2 year old Dell Inspiron 1300 I dropped in January 2008 and damaged it's monitor. My old Dell came with a wireless g card, there's a new card out now called wireless N. Should I switch to a wireless N card in any new laptop or stay with wireless g? Will my Linksys router model #WRT54G work with wireless N or will I have to buy a new router to work with any new computer having wireless N? Finally what does WPA and WPA2 stand for?

 

WPA and WPA2 are encrypted security protocols used by Routers to secure your network if you so desire. WEP is the other one more commonly used.

While you can use your old Router with an N or multi-standard wireless adapter, you won't get the speed, and you'll need to set your Router to Mixed Mode rather than G if it has that setting. I can't remember since it's been so long since I've used one of those - I've got a WRT600N Dual-Band router these days.

You're better off getting an N router if you're going to get an multi-standard adapter (like an AGN adapter). Your current router can only muster 54mbps - N devices operate above 100 routinely. My own network connection averages around 140mbps on the 5ghz band. The signal and range is a lot better as well.

If you decide to look, stay away from the WRT610 - it had problems in a recent test. The 300N, 330N, and 600N are all top Linksys N units.

 

Get the 11n card. If they offer a dual band (agn) get it. I will allow you to move away from the crowded 2.4ghz bandwidth and give you more options.