As far as I know, a laptop and a notebook are essentially the same thing. Some companies may have a difference, but the industry uses the terms interchangeably.
There are tons of reasons. Most common are secured wireless is enabled, MAC table is enabled, your wireless adapter is not compatible with your wireless router, wireless router does not work properly...
For file sharing Buy a Double Ended USB Cord http://www.amazon.com/USB-2-0-High-Speed-Extension-Cable/dp/B000F9CXOM For LAN connection, Ethernet to Ethernet...
There is a program already installed on most computer that is called Windows Easy Transfer.To transfer files.If you want to connect the screens then you can't do that on laptops.