You modem need a modem, an ethernet card or a wireless card.
Most laptops computers include two Type 2 PCMCIA card slots. They accept PCMCIA devices, which are about the size of a credit card. Modems, ethernet and wifi cards all come in this format. You will need a device driver that allows your PCMCIA card to talk to your laptop. There should be either a CDROM or for older devices a Floppy Disk that contains the softare.
You need to have service with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). There are companies like AOL, Earthlink and your local telephone company. You will need an account with them an a CDROM to load their software on their laptop.
The third ingredient is either a telelphone line to connect the modem to the local telephone network, a cable modem or a DSL modem to connect the Ethernet card to the ISPs network. If you have wireless you need to connect a wireless router to your cable or DSL line. This will transmit a signal the the wifi card in the laptop.
The laptop is Internet Ready if you have all three: a device in the laptop with it's drive that allow communications, an ISP and a telelphone line or cable or DSL connect that gets you to the Internet.
Your speed on the Internet is dependent upon your connection to the Internet. Modem connections are ten times slower than DSL and cable connections and some cable connections and wireless connections are faster than DSL connections.
You can get the floppy disk version of the software that you want to install. This is usually available from the software company who created the application.
Purchase a LapLink's PCmover for around $50.00. You will also need a parallel $15 or USB cable to connect up two computers to move software from one to the other. Only works with Win 98 or older systems.
You can purchase an external portable CD-ROM Drive. They make PCMCIA and USB type drives.
The Sony SZ series starts at $2000. It has a built-in finger print reader, Intel's new dual core processor, weighs less than four pounds, two graphics systems, optical disk drive, 13.3" display, the battery lasts 3-4 hours and started shipping in the spring of 2006. It is a very nice laptop for those looking for a small package and decent computing power.
Regular laptops are usually the less expensive ones designed for consumers with a one year or 90 day warranty typically with a Celeron chip.
Business latops often have three year warranty and are more fully featured with Pentium chips. These laptops are often leased to corporations or are more expensive than the consumer models.
The gaming laptops are the most expensive with the fastest CPU, large display, graphics chip and lots and lots of RAM.
My suggestion would be to check out the latest tablet laptops.
With them you can sketch, design, take and organize notes, dictate ideas, watch movies, listen to music, write screenplays, surf the Internet, plan out your week in your own writing, and so on and so on. It is the tool for creative types. A good choice would be a Toshiba M200 or even some of the later, more powerful models.
Check out the article "Why Every Animator Should Own a Tablet PC" by an animator from November 2004.
