USB vs. PCIMIA

SAAER45

New Member
Which do you think would be a better wireless adapter for a laptop, a USB adapter or a PCMCIA adapter?
 
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USB is greatly overused... 1.1 is particually bad...2.0's good, but I still prefer other methods of connecting peripherals.

For me, definetly PCMCIA. However, since we moved my room around, I've been connecting using a usb wifi card on my desktop and it's been just fine. I guess one good thing, though, about PCMCIA is that more is inside your laptop than say a USB doongle
 
dont know if you have heard of this, but some laptops have a mini pci slot on the bottom, similar to the ram slots. a mini pci card looks like:
33-158-115-01.JPG

of course this would definitely take up less space than a pcmcia card or a usb, cuz pcmcia network adapters usually stick out the side of your notebook an inch or two.
one bad thing is that you need an antena inside your lappy to be able to use one. im not sure if they come with one, but i will check if you are interested.
 
The_Other_One said:
Usally if they have a miniPCI slot it's already being used by such a card ;)

mine has a slot, but its empty. you are probably right in most cases, but you might want to check it out and see. i did and i will probably go this route when i get my other comp built and get a router.

i think the reason mine has an empty slot is because i could have chosen to get built in wireless when i ordered it, but i declined.
 
i havent tried a USB wifi but i was using a PCMCIA wifi card on my old laptop and never had any problems. one of the good things about the PCMCIA is that it can take more of a hit or knock than USB with out breaking the device or the laptop.... definatly good to think about if your going to use the laptop on something other than a table
 
basically the only reason to go with usb over pcmcia is if you have some other component that needs to use the pcmcia, toherwise it is definitely the better option, though both should work
 
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