Okay, and now for the “Dumbest Question of the Week”…
I am away from home for work and staying in a hotel. The next time I go home, I was thinking of bringing one of my PC’s with me, because it is more powerful than my laptop.
My goal is to be able to access the Internet from my “Dev PC”, but where I’m staying, they only offer wireless, and that PC only has a regular Ethernet card thingy where you must plug in a Cat-5 cable to connect to the Internet.
So, is there an easy way to take a traditional PC, and be able to hook up to a Wireless Hotel Network?
(BTW, I have another “mini” PC that is similar in size to an ASUS Eee - or whatever they are called - and would like to do the same thing, but there is absolutely no way to add a PCI card since the “PC” isn’t much bigger than a laptop. I’m definitely not sure what to do with that one?!)
1- About the same.
2- It’ll need drivers and will also come with software that you don’t really need.
3- It’ll work fine with XP.
4- You’ll need to do research here - google “X reviews” where X is the brand and model number of the device in question.
5- 801.11g will be compatible with most anything.
Sorry but I have to disagree here, a card is far better than a USB stick, at least in my experience, a USB stick has it’s merits, and may well work just fine for many, but how much better one performs than a card depends on it’s surroundings, I think it’s fair to say that a card has a much better range\signal than a USB stick, and this is most noticeable in a weak signal spot, or in a place where the surroundings have an impact on the signal.
Don’t get me wrong, a USB stick could well be fine and do all thats needed, but planning for possible future use is always a wise move, no point just getting something that works in xp for now, and then have to replace it if you upgrade down the road, it would be far wiser to get the best solution now (without going crazy anyway), so my best advice would be get a card that can run on xp through to Windows 7 64bit, drivers are the issue with such parts, so check out what you go for has drivers available for all the newer OS’s, then when you do upgrade, you can simply switch the card over to the new system.
I dare say there are better makes than others in these things, and I agree with the above, research the item that you are looking to get, my best advice is stick with the big names here for this, they will have the most support, the cheap no name makes could leave you hanging for support, so go with one that people can help with if needed.
A great site for such research is Toms Hardware, great independent tests, and comparisons against similar products, obviously they can’t cover everything, but that said I couldn’t find much to help in this area, although you may find something, but it’s a great starting point, hope this helps a bit.
I am staying in a hotel away from home and living off my laptop. I have a couple of PC’s that I would like to use here where I am staying, but they are old enough that they do not have wireless built into them.
I would like a way that I could access the Internet and have as strong of a connection as I currently have on my MacBook, however I do not want to have to buy and install a PCI card because one computer is the size of a book and can’t be extended like that and the other PC is old enough that a PCI card might not work.
(Even if such a card would work, I’m not in the mood to play “PC Technician” in a hotel room?!)
If I could get something that plugs into - say a USB port - then that would be easy enough to convert my PC to having wireless access.
I know that sometimes the wireless signal where I am staying can be on the weaker side or there can be issues with too many on the hotel’s internet, so whatever solution I go with, it needs to work as well of my MacBook with its built-in wireless modem.
I am open to brands - I just want something that works and which is affordable.
The card is the better solution, and would take no more PC tech playing than a USB stick in the room, but I understand you’re reservations due to the age of the system, and the small one is impossible as you say.
The best solution for you is probably a USB stick in this instance, I would still stick with the better names though, not unless you can get something for such a low price it wouldn’t hurt if it failed to do what you need, but the better names to my knowledge are D-Link and Belkin to name a couple, Here is one sites reviews on numerous adaptors, hopefully it will help you in choosing, no one can tell you clearly what is the best, because there is rarely a clear answer in this field, as so many external factors can come into play and could affect what the best is in that situation, but with any luck whatever you get will be just fine, I’m just trying to make you aware of the sorts of things that can come into play here, hope this helps.
