Stupid me.

I was buying this new notebook for my mom. She rarely uses any CD or DVD (her previous Dell only got to burn DVD and that's it). However, I was not careful enough that I left the assesory external DVD rom out of my order.

Now this beautiful notebook (1280x800, why is that?) does not have an optical drive.

I can download the antivirus from Comcast or BOA (both are offering free antivirus softwares).

I can download winRAR/realplayer/Amazondownloader/others from the internet.

But where would I be able to download Microsoft word?

I do have an authentic MS Office 3-user pk in an DVD at home with valid CD keys. Would I be able to somehow copy the whole disc to an external harddrive and install it from there?

You could potentially rip the DVD to an ISO using imgburn and then mount the ISO using and image mounting program you can find. Daemon Tools is what I use, but there's plenty of others out there.

If you have a dvd drive just lying around, you could also purchase a usb case for it for a cheap and dirty external drive.

Yep, just get an external USB drive for the few times that you need to install software.

OTOH, if she wants to watch movies, you might want to consider adding an internal drive. You should be able to purchase one.

external slim 8X DVD burners cost around $50 on newegg.

such as:

samsung http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827151182



LG http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827136158


The LG one has a promo for free 100 pack DVD media


thanks miranda

Your links both go to the Samsung.

Here's the LG: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827136158

Yes, you can copy the contents of an MS Office CD/DVD to an external hard drive (or USB flash drive) and install Office that way. There's nothing special about the disc it's on. In fact, many times when installing Office I'll copy the contents of the disc to the hard drive then perform the installation. I started doing it this way for several reasons - the main reason being that many times the original media is lost over time and if Office ever needs to be re-installed I just look for the folder I created. I create a text file with the license key and place it in the folder too

If you have a valid serial key and its office 2007 pro you could just download to the computer from microsoft and use the valid key instead of the trial key it furnishes

It's not the pro version. I remember it was the home and student.

Here is the list of things I would have to do this weekend on the computer:
1, partition the harddisc
2, download and install antivirus from Comcast or BOA
3, download and install winRAR
4, install office (somehow)
5, remove junk pre-installs (what would they be since this is an HP?)
6, install everything else
...
...
n+1 install a few good PC games since it has a great video card
n+2 tell mom I am still testing her new computer so she won't be seeing it before November, wait, December...

like alan has already said,

you don't need dvd drive (external or internal) to install office.

If you can copy office onto a flash drive, and then copy it over to you new notebook, you can install it from your notebook.


What antivirus is comcast or BOA (bank of america???) offering?


I would recommend either avast free or avira free

avast: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

avira: http://www.free-av.com/

Here is the list of things I would have to do this weekend on the computer:
1, partition the harddisc
Why? I know why I do it, but what's the reason for your folks?
2, download and install antivirus from Comcast or BOA
Always good to have antivirus. Be sure to uninstall what already came loaded on the system. Check out Microsoft Security Essentials also.
3, download and install winRAR
What are your folks doing that they need winrar? Oh wait, it's probably for you
4, install office (somehow)
Copy disc contents to flash drive or external hard drive.
Also, the system may have a trial version already installed. See if you can use your license key to activate it.
5, remove junk pre-installs (what would they be since this is an HP?)
PC Decrapifier
Could be a whole lot of stuff. It changes depending on agreements w/ publichers.
6, install everything else
Have fun. Don't forget to install all Windows updates

Here is another free tool that you can use to mount ISO images:

Slysoft Virtual Clonedrive

Guys: Thanks for all the great suggestions.

I am deviding the harddisc because my mom is an avid photographer and the thousands of photographs she took jammed up the harddisc pretty quickly. At least I could ask her not to put them all in "my pictures" folder.

The strange thing is now I am ready to see that new notebook, yet the FedEx tracking# HP provided is still not working after 2days it supposed to be shipped.

Two more questions here:

1, the screen is 1280x800 instead of that 1366x768. Does that mean this is not as wide as the other 13.3"s?
2, I am an outdated cheapo and I got her the wirelessG instead of wirelessN card. She does not play online games. Is this enough?

1. That's a resolution, not physical dimensions. It speaks to the geometry of the screen and density of the pixels.
2. If it's just for internet, and uploading some small files, not a problem.

don't worry about the tracking #. It just means it hasn't reached a shipping hub yet, so it wasn't scanned yet.

1: screen resoultion only indicates pixel density. Physically, all 13.3" LCDs are the same size. She'll just have less horizontal pixels but more vertical pixels. (I think vertical pixels are more important anyway)

2: You don't need wireless N. Wifi G is more than enough.

Oh, please get your mom an external HD to backup her photos. If her HD crashes, she's going to lose her photos.

For Internet access the bottleneck is typically the Internet connection itself. Wireless G transmits up to 54Mbps and typical Internet download speeds are anywhere from 1.5Mbps - 12Mbps (upload from 300Kbps - 2Mbps) depending on service (dsl/cable) and the speed being paid for.

That being said, the further the netbook is away from the source (the wireless router) and if there are obstacles in the way (walls & floors) the slower the speed. So, in some instances the wireless connection could be the bottleneck. Also, in order for Wireless N to operate at peak performance you'll need a Wireless N router. If just accessing the Internet and the distance between the computer and router isn't that great (plus there aren't many environmental obstacles) wireless G will be fine.


What's the difference bewteen putting the data in the My Pictures folder or another hard drive partition? Storing data on a hard drive doesn't jam it up (that's part of its purpose). However, a hard drive with alot of fragmented data can slow down a PC.

didnt read all posts, but another thing you could do is share a optical drive from another computer to your new laptop and read the contents that way.