I tried posting this last night and my ISP locked up.

If she is a grad student the first thing to do is check with the school.  Two reasons.  First is the school might be able to get a good deal on a laptop.  Second is some schools have very specific requirements.  I know of at least one that REQUIRES the student to purchase a laptop through the school.  That assures compatibility and licenses are all up to snuff.

Before investing in one that might be a problem, she needs to talk to the computer folks on campus.

As for the router,  find a geek.  I thought of this after I posted.  What you probably want to do is hard wire a wireless router to the desktop.  That actually makes sense once you understand.  It would be connected by a cable to your desktop computer, but she can walk in, set the laptop on the kitchen table and connect to it.  Then she can go through your computer to get to the printer without physically connecting to it.

The trick on wireless routers is to make sure all the letters are compatible.  I forget without asking, but 502.11a doesn't work with 502.11b, but another does ... I think it is a backward compatibility thing.  Definitely a find a geek thing.

That is my secret weapon. I have a son that writes software in Wisconsin and brother that is one of the back room wizards for a major company in Tennessee.  When I have problems a quick email to the "family help desk" gets answers quickly.

I just ordered a laptop from Dell.  I think I could have beaten the price, but for a couple applications Vista won't work, I have to have XP.  Nobody else would talk XP.  In fact, when I mentioned it I had two different sales reps tell me a lot of folks are buying laptops and putting XP on them, but doing so voids the warranty. I found that odd but had no reason to doubt them. Both told me my best choice for my use was get a Dell with XP from the factory.