Well howdy ho - my wheel house. I'm stupidly on top of all things computer (0k, it's my job). Anyhow, I need more information. I have no idea what 'no network hardware' means or why it would mean you need a new laptop.
However, if you think you do need new hardware, I need to know if you want a laptop or desktop and what your budget is. If you are going laptop, do you want it be very portable? Do you have a screen size requirement -= 13" 15"17"?
So let me know: Budget, Laptop/Desktop, Screen size (if laptop), Portability requirements (if laptop)
ALL so far is very helpful, including the "buy anything" thoughts which aren't too far afield from what I did the last two times. I posted because once my brain was swirling
on its own with thoughts of Chromebook, Lenovo, Toshiba, touchscreen, Surface/tablet hybrid, Airbook, solid state, 8gb RAM, TigerDirect closeout, W7/8.1 . . . I knew I need MORE SWIRLING VOICES.
The "No network hardware" message went away after I pushed a wireless icon button to the right of the f12 key. Go figure . . . and a shoutout to PS, who rents an extra bedroom. This was much easier than dealing w/a "You need a driver, so download one" message when I had no way of downloading. (Download how???) So I'm back in business right now.
I got the media server idea because most of my dwindling HD is taken up by iTunes (exceeding iPod Classic capacity) & photos, The various ways that I've sent TuneIn, Google Music, Pandora and the like to several adequate-enough Bluetooth speakers & receivers makes me think that front porch, back patio, kitchen, laundry room, basement, dining room and den can all be handled this way on a rotating basis.
DISCLOSURE: I have a500gb external HD that I received when I digtized VHS/8mm home movies into DVD, but I feel too stupid to just move the iTunes library there. That would be the subject of another OT: Tech Help Wanted post, and probably the simplest get-it-done-today idea. Maybe even simpler than just getting a new, cheap computer and migrating apps & data. A better Plan B?
If so: HELP WANTED.
Anyway, because I continually fund a Tech savings account, so I was taking the HD maxing out and the connectivity disappearance as a 'sign' that maybe I might get a new computer that sometimes leaves the house, but primarily does the simple tasks I outlined. That's the long way of saying that I have no true 'need,' and might just be procrastinating on a bank holiday from dry-vacuuming the basement, cooking roma tomatoes from the garden, reloading a newly refinished desk, and otherwise continuing with my extended move into a new home life.
Chromebook might actually be 'enough,' though I was thinking of another 'poor man's desktop replacement' as I review the adequateness of what I've used for the last 6 years: Dell Inspiron & HP ProBook, both 15, the first w/XP after Vista was available and the second w/W7 as W8 was imminent. But then I started wondering if maybe this is my 'last laptop.' (Hah!)
To answer your questions jleves, I've not been too thrilled w/the feel of the (full) HP keyboard vs the prior Dell, but I do have a wireless external keyboard if the need arises, and I also have an external 20 inch monitor, neither of which I've ever set up in the year since I moved from Fairfield to New Haven County. So portable laptop, without premium price for super portable. Maybe the current computer's optical drive is sufficient. Actually the W7 machine is still operable; I'd just have to wipe clean corrupted software/drivers/something & reload OS and that could be a media server.
That's enough babbling. Besides, I'm interested in more new messages that have arrived. And, yes, I read Dogmania & Champs & other long posts.