Wireless Adapter: Usb vs. Built-In

[1etherer]

Like I said, all depends on the make/ model.. USB wifi has come along way now. Only reason I use PCI is because I can stick it inside my PC.. but on some of my laptops I use USB cards as its much better performance than any inbuilt wifi card (for laptops)

 

[PP Mguire]

Like I said, all depends on the make/ model.. USB wifi has come along way now. Only reason I use PCI is because I can stick it inside my PC.. but on some of my laptops I use USB cards as its much better performance than any inbuilt wifi card (for laptops)

Laptops are a different story because the shell can sometimes hamper performance greatly depending on the material used.

 

[Yami]

Since USB sticks don't come with high gain antennas that are usually stuffed between a steel box and a wall and are powered by a 5v bus vs a 12v bus that also lacks the bandwidth compared to PCI-E?

I guarantee you that if you buy a 12 dollar USB **** stick vs a 12 dollar card the range and speed will definitely be better on the card. The only exception is the very few USB3 sticks that are out there, or the expensive MIMO USB sticks that exist. The only ones I could find were wireless G anyways.

My experience is mostly with Alfa USB cards, which have far better range than any add-in card for about $40-50, with a standard screw-in antenna port to let you use whatever type or size you want. USB3's bandwidth is 5Gb/s, USB2's bandwidth is 480Mb/s, neither of which are limiting in any way.

 

[PP Mguire]

My experience is mostly with Alfa USB cards, which have far better range than any add-in card for about $40-50, with a standard screw-in antenna port to let you use whatever type or size you want. USB3's bandwidth is 5Gb/s, USB2's bandwidth is 480Mb/s, neither of which are limiting in any way.

Depends highly on the chip being used. Much like cheap usb 2 flash drives a cheap usb wifi will cap out around 2MB/s. For the same price with an add in card you have better performance and range. I mean I stole net for years from 500ft away using a 20 dollar card and a Pringles can.

 

[1etherer]

Depends highly on the chip being used. Much like cheap usb 2 flash drives a cheap usb wifi will cap out around 2MB/s. For the same price with an add in card you have better performance and range. I mean I stole net for years from 500ft away using a 20 dollar card and a Pringles can.

Of course, but we are talking about mainly Alfa and the realtek chipset... I got my Alfa for £30 - £40 if I remember correctly and thats cheap and performance is great.

 

[Yami]

For the same price with an add in card you have better performance and range.

I'll agree there, but we weren't specifically discussing bottom-end cards.

 

[PP Mguire]

And we're talking about a computer OP posted that's only worth about 300 (IMO), and we want to toss a 60 dollar USB stick on there that a 20 dollar PCI card can do??

Be realistic guys.