Raspberry Pi connection to laptop

Question

I would like to connect the Pi (Raspberry pi 3 model b) to my laptop but because of the following problems, I could not achieve it.

1. I don't have a router (and naturally, internet connection)
2. My laptop does not have an Ethernet jack.

All the tutorials about the connection use either internet (router) or Ethernet, I could not find a suitable solution to my problem.

How can I connect to my Pi without ethernet?

Answer 1

Per my comments below the question, if you would like to create a network between your Raspberry Pi 3 and a laptop which has no ethernet socket you can try:

1. Set up a wireless hotspot using the laptop's WiFi adapter. Connect to the hotspot using the Raspberry Pi's built-in WiFi adapter. This approach should also work in reverse (with the Pi acting as host), but I suspect you'll see better performance hosting the network on the more capable machine.
2. Buy a USB ethernet adapter to connect to the laptop.

The achievable data rates between the machines should be governed by the maximum throughput of the Pi (Pi end is almost certainly less capable then the laptop end).

The specifics of achieving either of these approaches varies depending on the make, model and operating system of the laptop. In either case, once you've created the network connection you can use SSH to communicate with the connected Pi.

Answer 2

There are several ways, with varying levels of difficulty and cost. I'm assuming your "laptop" is actually a "netbook" which is similar but with fewer features. Here are some ideas:

1. Acquire a Wifi router. They can be used for a lot of different things, so you aren't just limited to using it to connect a single laptop with a single Pi. This really is the easiest method, so I had to list it.
2. Acquire an Ethernet "crossover" cable. These cables are designed to connect two Ethernet devices together without a router or hub between them. They tend to cost about the same as a regular Ethernet patch cable because the only difference is two wires are swapped. You will have to set up static IP addresses on both machines, or setup one as a DHCP server. You've specified that your laptop has no Ethernet port, so you would need a USB to Ethernet network adapter too.
3. Use a smartphone's Wifi hotspot feature. If you have one handy, you can set up your smartphone to share it's Internet connection via Wifi. Your phone cannot be connected to a Wifi hotspot at the same time, which shouldn't be a problem because you've said you don't have one.
4. Connect the two devices together using a Bluetooth PAN. There are several tutorials around the Internet, but this assumes your laptop has Bluetooth capability.

Best of luck!