>I'm getting a Dell Inspiron 1705. A collegue was asking what happens if I go to a client and want to connect to their network. What's the downfall of not being able to join the domain?

Ok... you CAN join a domain. Microsoft and everyone else is going to say you can't, but I assure you that you can - I've done this myself.
Even if you don't (or can't) join a domain, you can still connect to their network - you just won't log into the domain. The downfall (if any) will depend upon how their network/domain is setup. Basicly you won't get all the rights & stuff off the domain, and if you connect to another machine on the network you'll prolly have to enter a username/password for it..., but like I said - doesn't really matter because if you spend a few minutes tinkering (one time) - you CAN join domains. I think I put this link in another post but here it is again: http://extended64.com/blogs/rafael/articles/404.aspx ...and their are other ways to acomplish the same thing.

Once you get your MCE machine up and going - you should check into this fun little toy too: www.orb.com



>>It will attach to a network with no problem, it's logging into the domain that *might* require some tweaking - do you want to join a domain with it?
>>Also... what type of laptop are you getting? I've had 2 and still have 1 MCE laptop myself....
>>
>>>Can you share some of the other ways. I'm getting a laptop later this week with MCE 2005. I was planning on doing a dual boot for when I need to attach to the network. But if you have a better idea......
>>>
>>>>>Is the XP Media Center Editing XP Pro on steroids or XP Home on steroids?
>>>>>What I really need to know is, if I can install IIS on a PC running XP Media Center Edition or not?
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks,
>>>>>Einar
>>>>
>>>>Good news for you then. XP Media Center is indeed XP Pro.
>>>>
>>>>The only weird thing is if you want to join it to a domain. Micro$oft disabled the ability to join a domain with it because of the ability to use the "Media Center Extenders". More good news is that there is a couple of very simple work arounds for that problem. One way is to do a clean install and join the domain as you do the fresh install, and there are other simple ways to do it even if you don't do a clean install.