You also might consider just going wireless. After doing so, I won't go back. $69 for the PC Card and $129 for the base station, all from Best Buy about 2 weeks ago. SOHOWARE is the brand. Pricewatch has similar pricing....
Wired NICs on a laptop are a pain - whenever I'd watch TV and network at the same time, the cabling would always eventually come loose or fall off altogether. And even with the best dongles, it's still yet another thing to break.
Wireless - no worries!