(MONEY Magazine) – If you live in one of America's 20 million multicomputer homes, creating your own local area network makes a lot of sense. Your family can share one color printer and high-speed modem, exchange files without floppies or even play games against each other from two rooms. Here's what you need to make the connection.

For an all-PC household: Intel's AnyPoint Home Network, available at www.compusa.com for $85 a unit, is a top option because it's so easy to use. Once you load the software on each machine and plug one device into each PC and a nearby phone jack, you can network at a relatively fast 1MBPS. You must buy a separate $85 unit for each PC.

For a Mac family: If you can't get enough of Apple's new iMacs, iBooks and G4s, spend a few hundred dollars more to link them all. You'll need one $299 AirPort from Apple plus a $99 AirPort card for each Mac. While connecting the AirPort may not be as easy as Apple promises, the payoff is worth the trouble-- Internet access, sans phone lines, from any Mac within 150 feet of the base. Even better, the AirPort is cable- and DSL-ready if you opt for a high-speed Internet connection. Right now, however, you can't use the AirPort if America Online is your Internet service provider.

For a house divided: As you might expect, connecting a Mac and a PC is a bit more complicated. The best solution we found is the PC MacLAN 7.2 for Windows 95/98 ($159 at www.pcmall.com), but it's suitable only for the hardware-savvy since you have to install a $20 to $100 network interface card in the PC box. (Most new Macs come with pre-installed Ethernet cards). Once that's done, stringing the phone lines between the computers will be a snap.

--BRIAN L. CLARK