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General discussion

High Speed USB Port

Jan 30, 2006 10:44PM PST

My HP ze4300 Laptop doesn't have a high speed USB port but want to buy a scanner that requires one. What are my options?

Discussion is locked

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Check...
Jan 30, 2006 11:06PM PST

Visit http://www.usbman.com and check there for any product or leads fo such. Overall, provided your laptop is capable to accept whatever product is found, it maybe an expensive item to consider. Laptops are pretty much locked-in to thier abilities and rarely step away from them, thus I always recommend buy a laptop that fits your needs for the long haul whenever possible besides cost.

tada -----Willy Happy

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PCMCIA Cards
Jan 31, 2006 4:05AM PST

Adaptec and a number of other vendors offer pcmcia cards that support USB2 and or Firewire for laptops that don't have support for those ports built in. One word of caution if you are planning on attaching a device that is depending on the USB port to supply it's power many of these adapters will be unable to provide an adequate level of power for things like external HDs. Some of the adapters allow you to plug an external power supply into them so they can power such device OK sitting at a desk but not so great away from the AC power. I found out about the power issue when I tried to take my old laptop HD put it in an external USB2.0 case and use it with the Adaptec adapter. At first I thought the adapter was defective. The exteral HD encloser worked fine with a desktop system but not with the notebook. More reading revealed the power issue. Since the item you want to connect is a scanner that low power shouldn't be an issue for you, the scanner has it's own power supply. One last word of warning if you also use a PCMCIA wireless adapter you won't be able to use both the NIC and the USB adapter at the same time.

Good luck