Aside from a few places where my phone would actually find a network, my laptop was all but useless.
We are home now, but we had a GREAT week in Berlin. Thank you for your input here!

We stayed in Kreuzberg at the DieFabrik hostel. Not bad, though by the 4th day, I was tired of two flights (make that 4 sets of stairs) up to sleep every day. Not a fan of hostels. That's my second stay in a hostel, my first was only a month ago. I do not like going down the hall for a shower, minimalist furnishings and questionable internet. I'm much more spoiled than that, generally. But I will give them credit for cleanliness, ease of entry at all hours and close to transportation. There was an attached café/restaurant, so even my late evening munchies were taken care of quickly. Maybe at age 50, I'm getting picky, or maybe I just think my princess self should have better. But I can definitely recommend it to those who are backpack oriented and those who wish clean, safe and quiet. My mom would be quite happy there, as would mom-in-law. They cope better than I do.

Most of our days, as kind of expected, we did the eat-every-few-hours-at-a-café deal.
One very lovely (and huge portions!) dinner at Aquila, but the total there was less than 30 Euro for both of us. We had a lot of hand-held food during the day, but in the evenings, I much prefer a restaurant. And there were indeed plenty!

Thank you for the links, and cph_flyer, if I'd been able to be online more than a few minutes at a time, I might have come back before now - but thank you. Thank you ALL for your assistance!