Have both machines got ether net cards/ports? If they have it will only cost you the price of a cable (few quid). If as in my case the laptop did but the pc didn't all you need to do is stick in an ether net card. I think I bough mine for £8 then plug it in, fire up the connection wizard and away you go. If the laptop needs an upgrade, pass, but I'm sure somone on here can advise.
Other than that, see if anyone you know has an external CD burner that you can use, just a thought.