Wireless Networking Options?

[Nick]

[HEADING=1]The following is an email I wrote awhile back to Parts-People, the Dell Laptop Experts who usually respond quickly but haven’t this time, so I’d like the feedback of those on PCHF.[/HEADING]
Hi Parts People!
I want to bring wireless networking capability to my Dell Inspiron 8000 in the form of a Mini PCI card. You guys are selling this model right here: Intel 2200 LAN MiniPCI 802.11b/g Wireless Card H8162 and I think I can use this antenna with it: http://www.ecrater.com/p/13249927/wi...d=102398745379 , correct? While I would like to do that because it’s equipment that the Dell Inspiron 8000 was shipped with if the buyer chose to have it installed, I found this TP-Link Mini PCI wireless card: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5018-_-Product that advertises faster speeds and includes a driver for the OS I’m using. The only thing that I kind of don’t like about the TP-Link card is that it doesn’t have an antenna or antenna connection so I feel like the connection could be kind of interesting. I know if I bought that I wouldn’t be supporting Parts People, but I trust you guys to be truthful and tell me what the best option is/what the downsides and upsides to each option would be.

[plodr]

That is a 17 year old laptop with an 850-MHz Intel Pentium III processor. Truthfully, I wouldn’t waste money on it.

An 850MHz processor is NEVER going to give you a decent speed.

It came with 128 MB of memory. It is so old that Crucial doesn’t list that model on its site so I have no idea what the maximum amount of RAM might be.

Some site sells a 256 MB stick
http://www.memorystock.com/orderitem...74&Passfrm=lnk

It had a 20GB hard drive.

It also came with Windows 2000. I still have one Windows 2K computer in the house but it never goes on the internet because it has been unsupported since July 13 2010.

Are you running linux on it?

At another forum, there are two models of USB wifi dongles that posters say work well. I’m trying to find the thread but so far have come up empty.

[Nick]

That is a 17 year old laptop with an 850-MHz Intel Pentium III processor. Truthfully, I wouldn’t waste money on it.

An 850MHz processor is NEVER going to give you a decent speed.

It came with 128 MB of memory. It is so old that Crucial doesn’t list that model on its site so I have no idea what the maximum amount of RAM might be.

Some site sells a 256 MB stick
http://www.memorystock.com/orderitem...74&Passfrm=lnk

It had a 20GB hard drive.

It also came with Windows 2000. I still have one Windows 2K computer in the house but it never goes on the internet because it has been unsupported since July 13 2010.

Are you running linux on it?

At another forum, there are two models of USB wifi dongles that posters say work well. I’m trying to find the thread but so far have come up empty.

Mine has 512mb of RAM and a 32gb SSD. I would waste money on it because it’s a favorite, and it runs Windows XP so you can still surf the internet fine. I know because I’ve been using my Ethernet to usb thing.

[veeg]

Any updates for us?

[Nick]

Any updates for us?

I’ll probably go for the TP-Link adapter. If I don’t like it, I can return it anyway…