802.11G Adapter...PCMCIA or USB?

blueswitch · 04-12-05, 06:30 PM

Hey guys I was thinking of getting a cheep Wireless adaptor for my older laptop incase I wanted to take it to a coffee shop or something...Im seeing adaptors for $15 and under so I figure why not? Then I saw the USB network adaptors....and though well if I pull a signal from someone at my apartment it be nice to use it on a tower and piggy back their signal

.....how well do these USB wireless pogs work?

jajmon · 04-12-05, 07:44 PM

My only experience with a USB wifi adapter is w/my great nephew. I think it is a dlink 11/b and it has a ~6' cable attached which allows for positioning it to obtain a better signal. It works just fine for his casual browsing. (he is 8) And if he has been misbehaving, his parents can 'revoke' his Internet privilege by simply removing the USB adapter. (he has a desktop pc) The other adapters I've seen are similar in design to a pen/jump drive and would lack the positioning capability for better signal (short of moving the laptop) You should get better performance w/pcmcia than USB. If you plan on performing regular file transfers on a LAN, (your home network) I would suggest the PCMCIA over the USB.

Flamed_Chip · 04-13-05, 04:09 AM

PCMCIA will offer better performance and is easier to move about as it will probably be much smaller.

blueswitch · 04-13-05, 11:50 AM

yeah the more I thought about it I figured id get better range with the PCMCIA card....also my lappy is older and only has one USB port so if I used a USB NIC I couldn't use for example my jump drive....so that made the decision for me...I just thought it would be cool to have a wireless pog I could move to a desktop if I wanted

Fightingpiper · 04-13-05, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flamed_Chip

PCMCIA will offer better performance and is easier to move about as it will probably be much smaller.

Hugh? a USB wireless adaptor is the same size as a USB pen drive so no a pcmcia is not a lot smaller.

I have a D-Link DWL-122 USB adaptor and it works great. Like jajmon said I have a 5 ft USB cord attached to it so I can position it for the best signal. Even without the cord it gets a better signal than my PCI wireless card.

HERE IS A THREAD that hey560 started on adding a reflector to an USB wireless thumb drive to achieve some greater signal strength. I havn't tried it yet but it looks very promising.

Flamed_Chip · 04-13-05, 12:09 PM

A lot of the USB wireless cards I have seen are bigger than a PCMCIA card. I have a Linksys WUSB54G USB wireless card someone gave me and its quite big. I'd sooner have a PCMCIA one for portability and performance. Admitidly the little thumb drive style ones are smaller but I don't imagine the range they achieve is great.

bchur83 · 04-13-05, 12:25 PM

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1099392876384

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1099384455411

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1108125259674

There are a few that are the size of a USB Pen Drive. I would question their range though.

Fightingpiper · 04-13-05, 01:08 PM

The range of my little pen drive is quit good and gets a much better signal strength than my PCI wireless card which has an antennae. I have tested it on the same machine connecting to my neighbors connection and the USB drive gets a better signal.

Just my experience.

four4875 · 04-13-05, 01:13 PM

at a friends house, his downstairs comp has the Dlink USB adapter that roadrunner gave them... its on the table via the USB cabl, and with my laptop sitting on the table beside it i had around twice the signal strength on my orinoco gold classic. so my reccomendation goes to the pcmcia cards.

04-12-05, 06:30 PM	Thread Starter #1
blueswitch Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Denver, CO	802.11G Adapter...PCMCIA or USB? Hey guys I was thinking of getting a cheep Wireless adaptor for my older laptop incase I wanted to take it to a coffee shop or something...Im seeing adaptors for $15 and under so I figure why not? Then I saw the USB network adaptors....and though well if I pull a signal from someone at my apartment it be nice to use it on a tower and piggy back their signal .....how well do these USB wireless pogs work? __________________ Fold for Team 32! _________________________________________ MSI MS-1029 Turion MT-37, Lancaster 2ghz X700, 128mb 2gb OCZ PC3200 My Heatware
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04-12-05, 07:44 PM	#2
jajmon Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Burnsville, Minnesota	My only experience with a USB wifi adapter is w/my great nephew. I think it is a dlink 11/b and it has a ~6' cable attached which allows for positioning it to obtain a better signal. It works just fine for his casual browsing. (he is 8) And if he has been misbehaving, his parents can 'revoke' his Internet privilege by simply removing the USB adapter. (he has a desktop pc) The other adapters I've seen are similar in design to a pen/jump drive and would lack the positioning capability for better signal (short of moving the laptop) You should get better performance w/pcmcia than USB. If you plan on performing regular file transfers on a LAN, (your home network) I would suggest the PCMCIA over the USB. Last edited by jajmon; 04-12-05 at 08:01 PM.
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04-13-05, 04:09 AM	#3
Flamed_Chip Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Yorkshire, UK	PCMCIA will offer better performance and is easier to move about as it will probably be much smaller. __________________ Herb: 2 x Intel PIII-S 1.4 GHz - GIGABYTE GA-6VTXDR - 1024MB PC133 - 2 x Tt Volcano 7+ - PCI nVIDIA GeForce fx5500 128MB - 60GB Samsung 7200RPM - 200GB Seagate Barracuda - 500W PSU - Debian GNU/Linux Wyatt: XP 1800+ @ 1725 (150x11.5) 1.85 vcore - Asus A7V266-E - 512MB DDR PC2100 - SK6 modded for Delta 80mm "SHE" - nVIDIA GF2 MX 400 64MB DDR - 40GB WD 7200RPM - 20GB WD 7200RPM - Generic 300W PSU - Load Temp: 45C (Ambiant 22C) - Debian GNU/Linux Moon: Intel PIII 1GHz - Generic Intel motherboard - 512MB PC133 - 7GB HDD - Generic PSU - FreeBSD Kaya (laptop): Sony Vaio PCG-GRT815M - P4 2.8Ghz - 512MB DDR - 80GB 5400RPM - nVIDIA GF FX5600 64MB - Ubuntu GNU/Linux / Windows XP
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04-13-05, 11:50 AM	Thread Starter #4
blueswitch Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Denver, CO	yeah the more I thought about it I figured id get better range with the PCMCIA card....also my lappy is older and only has one USB port so if I used a USB NIC I couldn't use for example my jump drive....so that made the decision for me...I just thought it would be cool to have a wireless pog I could move to a desktop if I wanted __________________ Fold for Team 32! _________________________________________ MSI MS-1029 Turion MT-37, Lancaster 2ghz X700, 128mb 2gb OCZ PC3200 My Heatware
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04-13-05, 12:09 PM	#6
Flamed_Chip Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Yorkshire, UK	A lot of the USB wireless cards I have seen are bigger than a PCMCIA card. I have a Linksys WUSB54G USB wireless card someone gave me and its quite big. I'd sooner have a PCMCIA one for portability and performance. Admitidly the little thumb drive style ones are smaller but I don't imagine the range they achieve is great. __________________ Herb: 2 x Intel PIII-S 1.4 GHz - GIGABYTE GA-6VTXDR - 1024MB PC133 - 2 x Tt Volcano 7+ - PCI nVIDIA GeForce fx5500 128MB - 60GB Samsung 7200RPM - 200GB Seagate Barracuda - 500W PSU - Debian GNU/Linux Wyatt: XP 1800+ @ 1725 (150x11.5) 1.85 vcore - Asus A7V266-E - 512MB DDR PC2100 - SK6 modded for Delta 80mm "SHE" - nVIDIA GF2 MX 400 64MB DDR - 40GB WD 7200RPM - 20GB WD 7200RPM - Generic 300W PSU - Load Temp: 45C (Ambiant 22C) - Debian GNU/Linux Moon: Intel PIII 1GHz - Generic Intel motherboard - 512MB PC133 - 7GB HDD - Generic PSU - FreeBSD Kaya (laptop): Sony Vaio PCG-GRT815M - P4 2.8Ghz - 512MB DDR - 80GB 5400RPM - nVIDIA GF FX5600 64MB - Ubuntu GNU/Linux / Windows XP
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04-13-05, 12:25 PM	#7
bchur83 Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Land of 10,000 Lakes	http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1099392876384 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1099384455411 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1108125259674 There are a few that are the size of a USB Pen Drive. I would question their range though. __________________ Main Rig: Asus P8Z68 Pro Gen3 * Core i7 2600K @ 4.4Ghz * 8GB (2x 4GB) Mushkin Blackline PC3-1600 * GeForce GTX 560TI 448 1280MB * 6TB Storage * LG BD/RW * Lian-Li PC-V2000B * Dell 24" 2407FPW & Asus 24" VS248H Backup Rig: Gigabyte EP45-UD3P * C2Q Q9400 @ 3.2Ghz * 4GB (2x 2GB) G-Skill PC2-8000 * Sapphire Radeon 4870 512MB * 320GB Storage * Samsung SH-S203N DVD+/-RW * Apex Full Tower Case * 2x Dell 19" LCD HTPC: Abit IP35PRO * C2D E6600 @ Stock * 2GB G-Skill PC6400 * Geforce 8600GT 256MB * 640GB Storage * Lite On 16x DVD-ROM * 55" Samsung 1080p 3D LED LCD via HDMI Media Server: DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D * A64 3800+ X2 * 1GB PC3200 * Powercolor X800XL * 14TB Storage * Lite On 16x DVD-RW Heatware
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04-13-05, 01:08 PM	#8
Fightingpiper Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: St. Paul, MN	The range of my little pen drive is quit good and gets a much better signal strength than my PCI wireless card which has an antennae. I have tested it on the same machine connecting to my neighbors connection and the USB drive gets a better signal. Just my experience. __________________ Isn't having a smoking section in a restaurant like having a peeing section in a swimming pool? MY HEATWARE
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04-13-05, 01:13 PM	#9
four4875 Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: I can see walmart, 44906	at a friends house, his downstairs comp has the Dlink USB adapter that roadrunner gave them... its on the table via the USB cabl, and with my laptop sitting on the table beside it i had around twice the signal strength on my orinoco gold classic. so my reccomendation goes to the pcmcia cards. __________________ Student of Electronic Engineering as of September 20, 2010
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