Adding a Wireless Laptop to a Wired Network?

Righty My flatmate is buying a laptop over the next couple of days and its going to be impossible to wire his room downstairs to the wired network upstairs which is...

[8meg BB]
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[Asus Router]
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[6 port Switch]
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[My PC] [Spare PC] [Other Flatmates Laptop]

Now i know i could go for the wireless router option and replace everything but we cant afford that yet so i was just thinking for just a temp solution could i buy a wireless access point and plug it into the switch? If so what costs am i looking at? (The laptop hes getting will have wifi) or anyone got any other suggestions?

Thanks
Leon / Dooms

Quick look at ebuyer suggests that it'll be cheaper to go for a modem/wireless router than a standalone access point. Most will have ethernet ports anyway; so you won't need to upgrade your other systems yet.

could you get a PCI Wireless NIC and stick it in the spare PC and set it up as an access point?

Alternatively look for a 11b access point on eBay as they go cheap and if its just for surfing then the speeds won't really matter

Hmmm never thought about the PCI Wireless Nic idea... Anyone got any recommendations for a cheap card? Also how would one go about making it secure? is the anyway to only allow his IP to connect to it?

Cheers
Leon / Dooms