Laptop needs wireless card.
 

I bought a laptop second hand from a coworker of mine, and it needs a wireless card. Thing is, I have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to what to get, being a newbie to both laptops and wireless networking.

So what should I get? Any suggestions? Please help me.

EDIT: Also I need a way to update the graphics card. It says it's an ATI Mobility but when I go to ATI's site their utility for updating the driver doesn't support the laptop manufacturer (HP) so I'm kinda at a loss here. I plan to ask if the girl I bought it from has an update CD for it tomorrow, but until then I'm open to suggestions.

Get a card that matches the speed of your wireless network, unless you have Wireless B hardware then go G. :/ Linksys or D-Link brands are good.

Right...

Well I don't really have a wireless network at home (I'm fine using wires here) the card would mostly be for when I'm out of the house (at work, etc.)

Linksys or D-Link Wireless G, then.

i would go with Buffalo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162112

good card, external antenna jack for boosting signal (not many cards have this)

as for the drivers look up your model on HP support site at hp.com, the earlier mobilities are not capable of a unified driver set as differences exist with each brand on how they decided to integrate it.

Thanks Yuki, I checked again at HP's website and found what I needed.

EDIT: New problem. I am trying to use my USB 2.0 external hard drive with the laptop's 1.1 ports, and it's not working so good. It's not that it's slow (that I can handle) but it won't even recognize the drive. I think it tries to, but this causes the system to hang and so nothing happens. Is there any sort of workaround for this, or am I boned?

I think you're pretty much boned here. Not all USB 2.0 devices are designed for compatibility with 1.1, unfortunately. It should be mandated, but I guess they decided to cut some cost corners with that one.
There are of course is another way to get the drive working, like pulling the hard drive out of the enclosure, and using it with another empty enclosure that does support both standards.