USB Wifi Adapter For Laptop

Hello Fellow NBR Members!

I had a few questions about a USB Wifi Adapter which are:

1) I'm purchasing a laptop with a bad internal wifi card and am looking to make the problem obsolete by purchasing a USB wifi adapter. Will the USB Wifi Adapter work stand-alone and not rely on the internal card? Additionally, will I ever have to worry about the internal wifi card?

2) What are some pros/cons of a external USB wifi Adapter?

3) Can you recommend me some thin and light external USB Wifi Adapters that will achieve great upload/download speeds?

Before commentating for me to purchase a brand new card, I refuse to because I'm terrified of opening up my laptop so replacing the internal WIFI card is not an option.

Also, if it helps, I'm on Verizon and they gave me a Ultraline Series3 Model 9100EM and my laptop does have 1 USB 3.0 port and 1 USB 2.0 port

 

1. It will work fine.
2. Cons: It sticks out. Pro: you can get those with gigantic antenna .
3. Usually you would want a dual band one(pretty huge) nowadays but seem like the router you have is 2.4ghz only. A small one would be airlink.
Which laptop you plan on getting? I mean some wifi card is as easy to change as adding ram.

It would help if you tell what internet speed you have and if you are going to do any stream/LAN work.

 

The laptop is a Samsung Series 9 13.3" 900X3A-A03. Everyone complains about a faulty/bad internal network card which is why I'm preparing myself for the worst but hoping for the best.

My internet habits is watching videos on youtube, I do play internet games such as Minecraft and soon to be playing Guild Wars 2, and browse the forums here at NBR

On my HP Laptop my internet speed is currently:

Ping: 22ms
Download speed: 26.83mbps
Upload Speed: 5.28mbps

*EDIT* Found two on Amazon I liked:

1) Amazon.com: Medialink - Wireless N USB Adapter - 802.11n - 150Mbps - 2.4ghz - Windows 2000 / 2003 / XP 32-Bit and 64-Bit / Vista 32-Bit and 64-Bit / Windows 7 32-Bit and 64-Bit Compatible: Computers & Accessories

2) Amazon.com: TP-Link TL-WN722N 150Mbps High Gain Wireless USB Adapter: Electronics

 

I have used a Linksys WUSB600N without any problems for a while a couple of years ago. It didn't interfere with the NIC in the laptop in any way. I just put the switch on the off position for the NIC and used the external adapter. I'm partial towards Cisco (Linksys) and Netgear products because they never gave me problems, i tend to avoid D-Link due to bad experience. As for TP-Link, never tried them myself, but i hear they're very good when it comes to bang for the buck.

 

Thank you for your input, it seems a bit pricey though for me. However, can someone comment on running off an external USB WiFi permanently? I have run off a external USB WiFi permanently on a desktop but never on a laptop that I will be taking with me from class to class.

 

The only real issue i can think of is the size and it taking one USB port that you can't use for other devices, that's about it. The size of the antennas in the adapter do matter after all, unless you're going to be very close to an AP all the time. What is your budget for the adapter by the way?

If you want dual band, it'll likely be 40$ and up for one, less for a 2.4GHz only adapter.

 

Well, my router was given to me for free when I signed up for Verizon (router name is in my first post) so I don't think it would matter whether I have dual band or not.

However, I'd like to stay under $20

Additionally, the only other use I could see my USB port needed for is a mouse or external hard drive so I'm fine giving up one USB port.

 

NETGEAR - N300 Wireless-N USB Adapter - WNA3100-100ENS

this is the one my family uses. 2 desktops in different rooms while the wireless modem is located in my room. every single computer gets max speed of 20+mbps and sufficient signal. its fairly priced too, i believe theres another for a couple bucks cheaper but this is the one were using and has not had a problem. would highly recommend.

btw, my sister was the one who bought/installed this on both computers..shes not tech savvy whatsoever loll. hope that said something.

 

Thanks but I think cheaper alternatives are available.

Can anyone recommend a small USB WiFi adapter that is light and thin but will get me great internet surfing speeds to go alongside my SSD

 

Also, is it necessarily true that a smaller USB WiFi adapter is inferior to a larger one such as this one?

Amazon.com: TP-Link TL-WN722N 150Mbps High Gain Wireless USB Adapter: Electronics

 

In terms of range and signal strength fading with distance, yes. Does it matter in your situation, it depends on how far you will be from an AP. I'm taking a guess here, but it's likely that TP-Link adapter also has a better chip in it on top of the better antenna. Again, this might not matter that much depending on your situation, but it's something worth considering. Personally, i'd wait until i get the laptop and try the NIC, it might not be the best one, but that doesn't mean it won't et the job done. If it doesn't, then you can get the USB adapter.

 

Well, it's as bad as an Air basically - pretty much the same occasional flakiness / lack of range in my use, and the lack of Applezombie magic fairy dust self-delusion is likely causing a lot of people to complain - reasonably justifiably, since Windows laptops usually do better - about the relatively poor wireless.

I guess it depends on what you think about that.

I'd also add 'probably additional power drain' into the list of cons.

 

Anti-Apple right here

additional power drain? How so?

 

My kitchen (which has the worst - comparatively speaking - wireless coverage in my home) is a good casual test for example, and the only notebooks to fail the test recently by failing to stream video continuously over wireless in there are Apple notebooks and the S9A. What I said is that the Apple-aid drinking brigade probably don't even notice this, and blame either the router, or if they're using an Apple router, buy another (Apple) router as a repeater.

As for power, I would imagine that there's a slight power penalty to be had by attaching the wireless over USB instead of MiniPCI.

 

Perhaps. However, I'm thinking about turning off the battery completely through BIOS or an alternate way so it doesn't charge and it stays fresh for when I need it for school in which case I will turn the battery charging on the night before class. Is this possible and can it be done? If so, how?

Additionally, when I'm in class taking notes I don't need WiFi or any other application with the exception of Microsoft Office Word so I will unplug the external USB adapter which should solve any "power penalty" am I correct in assuming that?

 

The S9A has - if I remember correctly - a battery care facility which doesn't charge it fully. Turning off battery charging in BIOS? Huh?

Important on the S9A - turn off Fast Boot since it drains the battery.

Yes to the latter.

And you really should have held out for the S9B The S9A was one of my least favourite laptops from last year-ish - I passed it on to a minion pretty much as soon as I was done evaluating it for my use. The S9B is on the other hand one of my favourites this year, and the only reason it doesn't get more use is because of the Sony Z's - The improvements are myriad, and major which adds up to a hugely improved machine IMO.

 

You can turn off battery charging in BIOS on most computers.

I have not purchased the S9A but for the $500 more on the S9B, I think I'll pass.

I'd love to type with you more over Skype so if you got a Skype privately message me your skype name so we can discuss further

 

Nope, don't do IM, don't do Skype, don't do anything except for PM - and I ignore that most of the time