Wireless Dongle or Card for Laptop - Recommendations Please.

Nesima

Hi,

My son wants to make his Laptop wireless, what is the best way to do this ?
I have had a look around this morning and there seems to be dongles available from about £15. Is all wireless the same, or do I need to buy a specific type ?

I would like to buy something of good quality that will work reliably, so cheap is not the primary requirement.

What type should I buy and from where ?

Thanks for your help.

ManAtHome

Haven't found any significant difference between laptop cards (PCMCIA) and USB dongles. Only real trap is if you only have USB1 - ok for t'web, but VERY slow if you want to transfer files between machines.

I prefer the cards only because it's one less bit of wire hanging out the back. You can get some dongles which are like memory sticks but they look a bit vulnerable to me - short card with big connector beats long stick with small connector... (sure they work just as well though).

Must admit I've only tried both as one router had a card bundled and another had a dongle.

Chippy_Minton

For a laptop, wireless USB adapter or PCMCIA/Cardbus adapter.

Look at the Wifi standard: 802.11g is 54 Mbit/s, 802.11b is older and slower at 11 Mbit/s. They are all compatible with wireless routers.

albertross_2

Assuming that the laptop doesn't have wireless built-in (many do), then I'd go for a pcmcia card, because they are less likely to get damaged than a usb dongle.. but usb dongles are more portable (can be used on desktops as well).

Do you have a wireless router/broadband?

Nesima

albertross wrote:

Do you have a wireless router/broadband?

No but 2 of my neighbours do ;-).

I got a Belkin 'Wireless G USB2 dongle', 54Mbps - paid £15, seemed to get 4 out of 5 ratings on several websites from a large number of buyers. I will let you know if it does the job.