The transfer rate was the same as when I access my desktop from my laptop, meaning I didn't think about it at all!

Some things might be easier over the cable, and of course the computer you are talking to has to be on, but copy/switch tabs/navigate to folder/paste worked with no lag for what I was doing.

P.S. I recommend asking your husband to help. At the least he can look up IP addresses and call them out to you, and at the best he will walk away thinking he did it himself.