802.11b is the first (or second, depending on your point of view) standard wireless Ethernet technology standard and had a max throughput of about 11 Mbps (bits per second), with 6.5 Mbps speeds more typical, 802.11g was the second and had a max throughput of 54 Mbps with typical speeds of 25 Mbps, and 802.11n is the latest-n-greatest with a throughput of up to 500 Mbps - supposedly with typical speeds of about 200 Mbps.

The 802.11n standard was finalized only this past summer. My personal experience with the 802.11 family of standards would make me want to wait on buying the 802.11n gear, because problems will be found and new software will be issued and new hardware will be likely in the pipeline later this year.

Now, the increased bandwidth of 802.11n comes at the expense of "path gain" -- ie, distance. You can reach perhaps a hundred meters or more with an 802.11b/g setup, but the 802.11n specs are calling for path distances in the 50 meter range. This is not a fault of 802.11n devices, this is just one of those "laws of the universe" -- we EE's call this "bandwidth times gain equals a constant." You can have a long distance signal, or you can have a fat bandwidth signal. You can't get both -- you trade one for the other.

On the plus side, 802.11n is supposed to allow 11n devices to use either the 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz unlicensed bands. If you have lots of people with 2.4 Gig wireless phones, baby monitors, etc, you might want to think about 11n devices to avoid the interference.

My overall recommendation would be to go with 802.11g devices. They're backwards compatible with 802.11b devices, they're now proven and shaken out, and they offer more bandwidth between your three PC's than you're likely to ever use. Most people simply don't have PC applications that are about to pump more than 35 to 50 Mbps on a continuous basis between PC's. I'm a hard core propeller head and my home LAN is still 10 Mbps Ethernet and 802.11g devices. I have no need for anything faster, but then again, I don't play networked games, rip audio or video off the 'net or do many of these other bandwidth-intensive media things.