Hi Mikie, Thanks for your input. I have just purchased an Asus notebook and although it has the same built in scroll zone as I guess all of them do now, the tech told me it's easy to disable. I so loved the way my old Dell did the scroll, I was hoping that others had the same feature, but afraid this is the way it'll be from now on. I'm on this Spartan now, and every time I use the pad I have to be so careful since the very slightest touch sends the thing flying. Anyway, thanks again, Mikie, and I'm looking forward to my new machine. BarbB

Just curious does the hotel tell you that when you check in? We mostly stay at red roof a lot and I watch Netflix on my tablet or laptop all the time at their hotel with wifi and other hotels and never ran across that situation. Netflix is streaming only so you can't download from them to watch off line. Someone else will help you with downloading as I stream all my movies while traveling and staying in hotels. Mary

I used to take the battery out of my old toshiba and it lasted at least 4 yrs before I broke the laptop. I'd store it at slightly less than full charge when removed from the computer. New toshiba I replaced that broken laptop with the instructions say leave the battery inplace all the time as it only charges when its capacity is something like below 94% of charge. Its really rare that I see its charging light glowing. It's a year and a half old and still always shows and acts like it has full capacity as when new. I don't often use it on battery but when I do I try to let it run untill it warns me its low. The battery placement in the new laptop is located in a very cool to touch section of the laptop so heat certainly shouldn't be an issue degrading it by leaving it plugged in & the lith-ion type batteries do not self discharge and leak down as quickly as some types will. eBay usually has some new replacements at auction that if you inquire, usually they will have a date code that's about a year old but certainly less moneys.

You also need software to operate the FireWire port, to capture the video output from the camera. Software was not included with my camera, but I found several freeware/shareware programs that work nicely. When the software is installed, it will recognize the FireWire port and attached camera. In my case, I simply turn the camera on with it connected to the computer, and the capture software operates the camera in playback mode (with controls for play, pause, forward and reverse scan) to pull the video into the computer as a file, saved in a choice of formats. The file can then be processed through video editing software and burned to a CD or DVD. FireWire can also record a video signal back TO the camera/tape.