This is what we have to look forward to in a DRM’ed world:

The HP BIOS for most models of laptop now have a whitelist of allowed Mini-PCI cards that can be installed in the laptop. If your new WiFi card isn’t on the (very small) list of allowed cards for that specific model of laptop, then your laptop won’t boot.

And before anyone starts getting too smug, IBM is guilty, too.

My Dell Laptop may be a complete piece of crap (the touchpoint mouse is psychotic, and while it suspends beautifully, it has serious problems with waking up), but at least it’s broken-ness is accidental. What benefit does limiting the list of MiniPCI cards provide?

Also, does this violate the licensing terms for the use of the MiniPCI trademark? Usually, when you state that you support a standard, you’re on the hook to support all compliant hardware.

*sigh*

yes, I know, I’m not being helpful, but did you ever think of buying an Apple? ;)

You can even get MS Office for the box!