My employer is in the process of getting ready to sell off a JVC CD 200-count network "Jukebox" they decided didn't really suit their needs.

I guess it's a 600-count. JVC model MC-2600.

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I have DirecTv and I've been relatively pleased with them. Customer service has the potential to suck, but doesn't always. Someone came in (from Albuquerque!) to do my installation, so it was completely painless. The only time I've had problems with reception was when my dish was literally filled with snow. I picked up the DirecTivo version recently and, of course, love that. Could have done with more space, though, so I probably would have bought the HD version if I had it to do again. Menu's good, selection's good. They just dropped Trio, which sucks, but not sure about their future anyway. We're out in the middle of nowhere, so we get NY/LA locals, instead of ABQ. On the whole, we like them.

ION, I'm about to buy a replacement laptop for the office. Our HP/Compaq crapass laptop is about to croak. I've learned my lesson and will be buying probably either Toshiba or Sony. Aiming for the best refurb I can find around $800. Any recommendations?

Also, what exactly is Centrino, and why are laptops with half the processor speed twice the price? I was an AMD girl, so I haven't been paying attention.

Shopping for the wireless card has been a pain. I should have just bitten the bullet and gotten it online. In fact, I'm going to go look for one now.

ita, did you ever find anything? I'm curious because I got a Tivo yesterday and the phone jack is nowhere near the TV.

I got this, Stephanie, from off this list. Shipped annoying quickly too, since I forgot my mail stop on the address, and emailed customer service right away and it was too late.

Also, what exactly is Centrino, and why are laptops with half the processor speed twice the price? I was an AMD girl, so I haven't been paying attention.

Centrino is an Intel marketing term for the combination of a Pentium-M and their wireless chip. If you don't care about having an Intel wireless chip, a "plain" Pentium-M based laptop would be just as good.

As for processor speed, the Pentium-M is more efficient (does more work, consumes less power) than any other Intel Pentium.

I'm curious because I got a Tivo yesterday and the phone jack is nowhere near the TV.

I got the DWL-120 wireless card from newegg. More expensive than ita's ($35) but I can confirm that it works great -- it gets a really strong signal. Unfortunately, newegg doesn't have it anymore. Just a refurbished version for $30 which I wouldn't recommend (too risky).

Mine is refurbished too -- 1 month parts, 1 labour. I'm hoping it'll fritz early if it fritzes at all.

As for processor speed, the Pentium-M is more efficient (does more work, consumes less power) than any other Intel Pentium.

Okay, but, sufficiently more efficient to justify buying 1.7ghz vs 2.8 for Pentium 4? I saw the nifty details like, it cycles power based on what processes are running and such, but I couldn't work out if there was a comparable level of performance against older cards with faster run speeds.

It's moot now, 'cause I bought this Toshiba. I still really wanted the Vaio, but couldn't justify the extra cost for lesser specs. My really big waffling was over this Toshiba over this one, which doesn't have the widescreen, but is a 3.2 and has a DVD burner, but for $100 more.

In the end I went with the cheaper one, but I still feel waffly about it.

The 1.7GHz Pentium M is probably a lot faster than a 2.8GHz P4. Seriously.

The P4 was specifically engineered to simply have a fast clock, because that's what the marketing department wanted. The engineers ended up with a chip with a very fast clock speed, but one that doesn't get much work done per clock cycle. It also, incidentally, puts out a huge amount of heat.

The Pentium M, on the other hand, was correctly engineered, so the tradeoffs between clock speed, heat, power consumption and throughput were all taken into account.

Not coincidentally, the P4 is a dead end. All of Intel's future chips, both desktop and mobile, will be based on the Pentium M architecture.

Okay, that's what I wanted to know. I just didn't know where the economies of proper engineering crossed.

It doesn't matter, anyway, 'cause I can't afford the M's, but still. For the future.