How do I tell if my computer is capable of having a wired internet connection?

Question:

Is the Acer Aspire 1ZG netbook capable of having a wired internet connection?
Or what might it need to have one?

In this excerpt from
Answercast #17, I suggest looking for an ethernet cord connection on an
older machine. It’s probably there.

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Connection for older computer

I actually did a little bit of research for this particular model and I couldn’t find out. Apparently, it’s a fairly old one, so I don’t have an answer for this specific model.

Look for a socket

I can tell you that if it has… if it’s capable of a wired internet connection, then it has an Ethernet plug somewhere.

Look for a socket for a wired internet cable. If it’s got that socket, somewhere (probably in the back or maybe off to the side of the machine) then absolutely! It’s good to go. You’re ready for wired Ethernet connection.

External connection

If, for some reason, it doesn’t – if for some reason it is a wireless only device – then if it has a USB port or multiple US ports, I do believe that there are USB Ethernet adapters.

That means you would go out and get a USB Ethernet adapter. Plug it into one of these USB ports and into that adapter you should be able to plug in your Ethernet cable and your wired internet.

Older machines typically had connectors

The bottom line is, like I said, especially for a machine that’s old enough to not be findable any more through simple research, my guess is that there’s an Ethernet socket in the back of that thing and you should be good to go.

Next from Answercast #17 – Is there an easy way to share photos with my family that’s free?

3 comments on “How do I tell if my computer is capable of having a wired internet connection?”

On a client’s HP netbook I finally found the Ethernet port behind a very non-obvious door / plug. It’s possible this netbook has the same thing.

If there isn’t an ethernet connection on the computer there are quite a few internal ethernet cards but I don’t know if there’s any for netbooks.

@Snert
A USB to Ethernet adapter should work on any Netbook as I believe all Netbooks have USB ports. My modem/router/wi-fi box has a USB port which can be used with computers which have USB but no Ethernet. So that might be another option to check out.