Networking for dummies like me

[sammyman]

I just got a second addition to our home. I currently have a 12" powerbook, and just got the 17" imac G5. Sweet machine. Now that I have these two computers, I am thinking about setting up a small network between them, and maybe this printer that is network ready.

But first, why would I do this? This is the dummy part of the question. What are some reasons to have a network, pros and cons maybe.... Is it hard to set up? What do I need. I have two computers, and a wireless router. Thanks!

 

[EricNau]

I just got a second addition to our home. I currently have a 12" powerbook, and just got the 17" imac G5. Sweet machine. Now that I have these two computers, I am thinking about setting up a small network between them, and maybe this printer that is network ready.

But first, why would I do this? This is the dummy part of the question. What are some reasons to have a network, pros and cons maybe.... Is it hard to set up? What do I need. I have two computers, and a wireless router. Thanks!

If you have two computers and a wireless router, your all set.
You might want to do this to share an Internet connection between computers, and then you could have wireless internet on your Powerbook (assuming you have Airport built it).
I can't really think of any cons at the moment, except sometimes they are somewhat hard to set up if you haven't done it before.

 

[~Shard~]

For starters, although it is technically for Windows and Mac networking you can check out this FAQ. It at least covers what has to be done on the Mac side.

In general though, networking between Macs is very easy. As for why you would want to do it? A number of reasons. So you can easily file share between machines, so your machines can share the same resources (i.e. your printer), so you can share your Internet connection, the list goes on and on...