Best Laptop Wireless Card???

[Techronious]

I'm in the market for a wireless card for my laptop and was wondering what the best one to get is. I've heard that the Orinoco ones are generally the best but if anyone has any other ideas please let me know. I'm not looking to spend too much, like 120 bucks and under. I guess the one with the best range and signal receiving abilities would be the best, right? Is the Orinoco Gold Card the best way to go? Anyway, I guess I kind of just said nothing here so just tell me what you think the best would be. Thanks.

 

[JackMDS]

ORINOCO GOLD PCCARD PCMCIA 802.11B CLIENT W/128 BIT ENCRYPTION.

 

[andrey]

I agree. I'm using Orinoco Gold on my IBM Thinkpad T23 and so far Orinoco Gold has been the most reliable and the most compatible 802.11b wireless card I had a chance to work with.

 

[Techronious]

Thanks for the quick replies. I also just found out about the Cisco Aironet 350 series of wireless cards and stuff. Supposedly they are really good too but much more expensive, like 125 bucks. Would that card be worth the money? Does anyone have any info on it?

 

[ktwebb]

It is a better card but probably not worth more than 10-15 bucks or so more than the Orinoco card for home use. If you were running a Radius Server for LEAP authentication and buying for the enterprise then yeah, it'd be worth it. It is slightly better in both range and throughput than the Orinoco, but the Cisco label and added security of LEAP and a few other features is why it is so much more expensive. Great cards and worth it in certain circumstances, but rarely if ever for the home consumer. Get the Orinoco unless you just have some money to burn and absolutely have to have the best 802.11b has to offer.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

5 words:
Linksys, Linksys, Linksys, Linksys, Linksys

I have installed so many wireless infrastructures I gives me a headache just trying to count the number. Many of them were the original Aironet stuff, you know before 3com bought them. They have high quality stuff, but I've been testing D-link, Linksys, and a few others and nothing compares to the ease of installation and quality of the Linksys equipment. The funny thing is Linksys has probably got the cheapest 802.11b wireless communications equipement around. I haven't had a single failure on any wireless device with the acception of broken antenae, and a t-storm knocked down a "rubber ducky"(unidirectional antenae ptp module). So I wouldn't worry about device failure from any major brand. I buy all my low end wireless equipement from newegg.com, because they are cheap and quick on delivery, but I do go strait to the source sometimes for high end technologies.

 

[ktwebb]

Many of them were the original Aironet stuff, you know before 3com bought them.

Cisco purchased Aironet, not 3Com.


Techchronious, while I don't have any personal experience with Linksys's client cards, they are almost universally panned as junk cards. The AP's are decent, but I would stay away from Linksys client cards. From my BBS observations, this poster's positive comments are the very first I have ever heard about Linksys client devices.

 

[Techronious]

I haven't heard anything good about Linksys cards either. I'm going to be using this card for wireless access on my campus which has added many wireless locations. I'm guessing that the signals can get quite weak in certain areas, especially with certain cards. I just want great range and speeds. I'm probably going to go with the Orinoco Gold. Thanks for the responses.

 

[cnwk64]

I am in market for 802.11b as well, after reading all users feedback, I think I am going for ORINOCO Gold.
but how about AP? any suggestions?
I don't need routing, switch, just a simple AP to connect to my LAN.

 

[dbwillis]

Im also looking to get wireless, think Ill go with Orinco, Ive a Linksys router now, maybe sell that and get the one with wireless..

 

[Nighthawk69]

Orinoco. I use them on all of my desktop machines and laptops too in Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Professional and Linux Red Hat 7.3. No problems at all. Very nice range.

 

[sonyyy]

Originally posted by: Nighthawk69
Orinoco. I use them on all of my desktop machines and laptops too in Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Professional and Linux Red Hat 7.3. No problems at all. Very nice range.

I remember that Dell offers Orinoco, but I can't find it on its Home division, does it have another name or brand on Dell's website? Can anyone post a link? Thanx!

 

[rw120555]

Somebody else said Dell's Truemobile cards were Orinoco, but I can't personally confirm that.

 

[Tallgeese]

Originally posted by: sonyyy
I remember that Dell offers Orinoco, but I can't find it on its Home division, does it have another name or brand on Dell's website? Can anyone post a link?

Dell Truemobile 1150. Thread in Hot Deals where this card can be had for as low as $58 delivered.

 

[sonyyy]

Originally posted by: TallGeese

Originally posted by: sonyyy
I remember that Dell offers Orinoco, but I can't find it on its Home division, does it have another name or brand on Dell's website? Can anyone post a link?

Dell Truemobile 1150. Thread in Hot Deals where this card can be had for as low as $58 delivered.

Thanx! Just got one! Waiting~~~

 

[knutp]

Why haven't anyone recomennded 3com? I really like their pcmcia cards with x-jack antennas!

And the Dell Truemobile 1150 also works great. I have been using a mini-pci version for some time and there haven't been a single problem. And it could be using orinoco (or lucent). Becuase of the client program is virtually identical to the orinoco client program.