PCMIA for old Toshiba laptop

[Astrovel]

Hi guys.
MDH is going in for surgery on his neck soon and I know he will go nuts in the hospital and rehab following after the initial pain wears off. I have an old Toshiba Satellite A15 S127 laptop that he could use to continue working on his book that he is writing.
The connections on the computer has only 2 USB slots, one of which is for a regular pc mouse instead of the tiny little square touch pad.
There is a slot for a pcmia connection.
Would he be able to use a wifi pcmia card on this old computer? I used the pcmia card for dialup about 10 yrs ago and it worked OK but what else would he need to make it work in his hospital room?
Thanks for your help

 

[strollin]

According to the specs I could find for that laptop, it uses PC card slots instead of PCMCIA slots so make sure you know which you actually have since they are different and not interchangeable.

You say the laptop has 2 USB ports, the specs I found say it has 1. Rather than a PC or PCMCIA card, I would get a USB wifi adapter similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/802-11g-WiFi-Wireless-Adapter-Antenna/dp/B002VX0GJY. If the laptop has only 1 USB port, then you can get a hub that will allow expansion of that single port into several. I would recommend a powered hub to ensure there would be adequate power for the wifi adapter. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Hi-Speed-4-Port-Powered-DUB-H4/dp/B00006B7DA/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1378482424&sr=1-9&keywords=powered+usb+hub

The USB adapters are "current" technology whereas the PCMCIA/PC cards are "old" technology. I would be concerned that the older adapters don't support modern wireless security protocols.

Another alternative is an ethernet to wifi adapter which would plug into the LAN port on the laptop to provide wifi. As an example: http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Universal-Ethernet-Adapter-GWU627/dp/B004UAKCS6.

Personally, I would choose the USB adapter.

 

[Astrovel]

Thanks for the heads up

Thanks for letting me know there is a difference. I hardly ever use this laptop and only keep it for a backup or if we go somewhere (which we hardly ever do). I hooked up an Ethernet cable to the slot in the back and was able to get on the internet but I don't know if hospital rooms have the jack to use a cable like that. That was my concern. Well, duh....I guess I could call the hospital and ask them but I wonder if they would charge out the get go for the use???? They charge $15 for an aspirin. Wouldn't surprise me.
I will check out these other options. Thanks again for your help.