Best choice for wireless adapters?

[tomcraig]

Hey all. I'm currently building a PC with a non-wifi enabled mobo that has one PCI x16 expansion slot. I have this PCI card: http://tinyurl.com/2b6o3c5 (which is Mini PCI Express) from a previous project. I believe I can make the card fit by buying one or two adapters, but I'm leaning towards buying a cheap USB wifi adapter stick instead, like this one: http://tinyurl.com/2dflybx. How well would one of these sticks work? I find it dubious that they only cosy $5-10... I'll probably only be watching online videos with the computer anyway, so let me know what ya think.

[x88x]

It depends on the chipset used more than the price of anything. I have one USB wifi dongle, a Hawking HWUG1, that is a phenomenal little dongle (and has Linux drivers that will do just about anything you'd ever want it to). Unfortunately, it costs ~$30. I picked up a clone off dealextreme for $12 and it works just as well. Build quality isn't on par with the Hawking and the solder joints are obviously sweathouse work but it has the same chipset, so it does everything just as well.

[Lothair]

Find the product on Amazon or Newegg. Read the reviews.

[DrkSide]

I carry and recommend TP-Link for most situations. I know its not linksys or netgear as most people have heard of but I have quite a few of these installed and have never had one complaint about them. I use their routers, access points, wireless adapters, switches (managed and unmanaged), and some of the antennas for larger networks.

x88x is right about the chipset. It can cost $80 or $5 and if both have the same chip they should work the same. The problem you can run into is quality of antenna or if they are removable or not.

While I do like reading reviews I do not buy something just based off of reviews. You can't trust people to accurately describe technical knowledge.

[Lothair]

I carry and recommend TP-Link for most situations.

...

While I do like reading reviews I do not buy something just based off of reviews. You can't trust people to accurately describe technical knowledge.

It depends on the person, really. If you don't need something for some intricate or complex reason, basic reviews work fairly well. If you need a product for more advanced purposes, you might do well to read both user reviews as well as professional ones. It's always worked very well for me. Honestly, I can't even remember the last time I was disappointed with a purchase following this method. However it doesn't work for everyone. Mostly because some people don't know how to "read the reviews" even when they do read them. I can't quite explain why because I don't understand, but some people just end up buying poor products even when they do read the reviews and/or take the time to educate themselves on the product. These people are mostly people who aren't very tech savvy in my experience.

Read the reviews, both user based as well as professional if available. Exercise personal intelligence and make your best educated decision. What more can you possibly do?

[DrkSide]

Touche lothair. Leave it to me to tell him not to trust me.

I guess what I was trying to say is to take reviews on sites such as amazon, newegg, and the like with a grain of salt. I always look for a professional website such as anandtech and others for in depth reviews.

Some good newegg reviews:
Power Supply, I forget the brand
Tech Level: High

Pros: Fits many cases/setups (because the fan is inside).

Cons: Burned out after only two months (while the computer was turned OFF ?!). Some components carbonized completely. Really noisy for the power it delivers and on top of that it doesn't even run cool. It doesn't have all the screwholes necessary for matx psu compatibility, I had to drill a hole in my Ahanix D5 case to make this thing attach properly.

Other Thoughts: I don't think this PSU has a fuse at all (it shouldn't even be allowed to sell) or any protection circuitry whatsoever.


And Another
G.Skill 4GB DDR3
Tech Level:High

Pros: Nice price, nice package. Ripjaws look aggressive. I'd like to say more Pro, but that's the end for me.

Cons: Won't fit. Can't work on my board. I just HATE (this means you Mr. NewEgg) when that happens.

Other Thoughts: Assuming, and there are dangers, DDR2 and DDR3 are backwards compatible, I'm either obviously wrong, OR I've got a weird set of ram

[Lothair]

That's definitely where being tech savvy or not comes into play, as well as exercising personal intelligence. If you know your stuff you almost unconsciously omit such submissions by just scrolling right past them after you realize they have about as much intelligence as the average youtube video comment. There are always a few duds lingering around here and there, but for the most part it doesn't affect the overall score of the product on said website unless it only has a few ratings, which in that case I personally wouldn't be looking at anyways. For Newegg I usually skip past any product that doesn't have at least 30 reviews or more, unless something catches my eye and causes me to do otherwise. I guess it sort of fits the whole "tried and true" mentality. Products that achieve higher success among customers are more likely to be a satisfying purchase for the individual at hand.

In this case where the OP is looking for a USB WiFi Adapter, I'd say he doesn't have much to worry about as it's not a very technical or easily mistakable product. Just look for high review counts and then sort through those listings at your own discretion.

That power supply "review" made me laugh. I wonder how on earth that person managed to pull such a thing off? The absurdity of pretty much everything that person said makes me want to bang my head against a wall. lol

And who would just simply assume backwards compatibility? A simple google search would tell you almost instantly that there is no backwards compatibility between DDR2 and DDR3. This is where that whole exercising intelligence thing I was talking about comes in. I guess some people simply don't have any intelligence to exercise in the first place. ><

[tomcraig]

Thanks for the info guys, I'm pretty good at reading reviews so I think I'll be good, and this doesn't really seem like a complicated product so I should be able to find a good one. I'm with you guys though, it astonishes me how many people don't know how to spend 2 minutes and answer a question with google, as well as the number of people who have no idea what they're talking about and blame the products they buy. Thanks again .

[x88x]

this doesn't really seem like a complicated product so I should be able to find a good one.

Yup. Unless you're trying to do something unusual with it (like I was when I bought my HWUG1), pretty much any dongle will do. The biggest difference is going to be the chipset (for normal use only a problem if there's not a good driver available for your OS) and the antenna. External antennas are more bulky, but you'll get better reception, and if it has a standard hookup you can then connect any antenna you want.

[tomcraig]

Yea, it'll be near my router and its a HTPC so it'll only be streaming.