If you happen to shop for a notebook or just a plain wireless card to use Linux with, you should really take in mind that connecting to an access point doesn't really mean that your device is working properly.
You may have been blessed with at least one of the following issues:
- Crippling slow transfer rate. Forget about copying a 700MB file, or stream a movie to your PS3. It will be painful.
- Latency spikes. It's likely to affect you only if you're playing a fast paced
multiplayer game. The problem is that once in a while packages arrive
too slow, or get lost on their way, even with full signal strength.
Usually setting a higher fragmentation rate will alleviate this
problem, yet this is not the case.
- Failure to use encryption. I think this is what everyone gets sore about - can't use WEP or/and WPA encryption.
- Internet sharing. People can't connect directly to your wireless computer. Take in mind
that your hardware may simply not have this feature at all.
Having this said, I strongly believe that the best deal is to buy a
notebook with quality wireless Linux drivers. Over optimistic hardware
reviews are simply misleading and should really be read with a grain of
salt - I'm actually going to assume that you're googleing the
information.