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General discussion

Whats the difference between USB and Wireless Card?

by thechaostheory891 Jan 26, 2006 9:17PM PST

Whats the difference between USB and Wireless Card for laptop??

Whats the advantage of these two? Good strength? Pick up more other routers? Good speed?

We have D-Link Wireless USB Adapter, man its suck.... We want to buy a notebook wireless card, any suggestion?

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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mini-PCI or PC-card?
by linkit Jan 27, 2006 12:37AM PST

If you mean an internal mini-PCI wireless network adapter that is found in many notebooks, go for it! I like them better than external wireless network adapters (USB, PC-card/PCMCIA). Range is good, no hardware to lose, keeps USB ports free.

Check with your notebook mfg to see what mini-PCI card they recommend. NewEgg.com sells them, too.

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Wireless adapter came in different type
by Melati Hitam Jan 27, 2006 12:46AM PST

1. Internal (usually PCI)
2. External (usually USB and/or firewire)
3. PCMCIA

for a laptop, you certainly can not use PCI card.

The external USB adapter, mean one more thing to carry around.

So PCMCIA card have the advantage.

Now its up to you, which connection you want, and there are so many brand out there... D-link, Linksys, Netgear, Belkin, Motorola, 3com and many other.

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don't forget mini-PCI
by linkit Jan 27, 2006 1:25AM PST
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Make surre the system has an antenna to connect to that card
by Dutchmants Jan 30, 2006 12:04AM PST

I have seen systems with the mini PCI slot that could accep an internal adapter but don't have an antenna built in to connect that card to. I own a several year old HP like that.

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A lot
by gctoinfinity Jan 27, 2006 4:21PM PST

With a card for your laptop, the antenna is confined to a very small space and thus will not get very good reception. With a USB adapter, designers are free to add an external antenna and make it as effective as possible. I have gone through both adapters and by far the usb adapter is the best. I have much fewer dropped connections and it really makes my life easier. Hope this helps

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