Connect 4 Laptops without internet

Hey guys, I'm getting ready to head to Detroit on a trip with some friends. We are wanting to be able to connect to each other and LAN during part of the trip when we won't have internet. We are all running windows XP, with current hardware. What is the best way of going about connecting us all and still being able to LAN game with each other at the same time?

 

Get a router and create a network that way?

 

1) Switch
2) 4 LAN cables

Set all 4 laptops' IP settings for the same subnet.

 

I would just get a four port router with a DHCP server and just use the LAN ports and leave the WAN port empty. If you get a wireless router with DHCP, I think that mort routers have DHCP you will be fine.

 

Will something like this work?
I already had this lying around from when I used to host LAN parties with XBOX.
It only has a 10mbps transfer though, so will that be enough to play a game of Wc3 comfortably between 4 people? Or do I need something with more features?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124181

 

Zellio that only has 2 ports. He needs 4.
Bob has the correct answer.
All he needs is a router with 4 ports. 30 bucks or less. And 4 ethernet cables. No need to mess with IP configurations or subnets. Just plug the computers into the router and you're good to go for local gaming.

 

Yup. That's just a 4-port 10Mb hub. Should work as long as you're not looking for fast transfer speeds. Should work fine for WarCraft III.

 

Any hub or switch with at least 4 ports will worl.

As for transfer speed? Haven't you ever played online games on less than a 10MBit internet connection?

Anything down to 50Kb/s or so will work fine. (Especially because your latency is almost nonexistent on a LAN)

 

I believe you can also create an ad-hoc wireless network with Windows pc's. I haven't tried though. That would eliminate the need for the cables and hub, at the expense of a bit higher latency and possibly setup issues.

 

Only 2 computers can be on an ad hoc wireless network. It's very similiar to a crossover cable in the hardwired world.

 

Man, isn't Windows nice? I'd just install hostapd on my Linux machine and everything would work... Sorry, I'd recommend you go for the switch then if you don't want to run Linux.

 

OK. So you're emulating an access point then.

 

Which would mean everyone could connect to my computer wirelessly, thus solving the problem. You could also consider some kind of mesh routing. Not sure if it works, or what is going on with it, but it seems like it may be an option.

 

Have they solved the problems with XP machines refusing to connect with hostapd?