Edimax EW-7811UN Wireless 802.11b/g/n 150Mbps Nano USB Adaptor
Posted by Notcot on Apr 30, 2012 in Home Cinema & Video |
nMAX 150M 1T2R
- Complies with wireless 802.11b/g/n standards with data rate up to 150Mbps
- Green Power Saving : supports smart transmit power control and auto-idle state adjustment
- Increases wireless coverage 3 times further
- Includes multi-language EZmax setup wizard
- Supports 64/128-bit WEP, WPA , WPA2 encryption and WPS-compatible
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A teenie tiny wonder,
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Having suffered from an internal WiFi card failure on my HP laptop (a common problem on some models), I’ve been looking to get a economical and reliable alternative, that’d quickly and effectively get me reconnected to the online world.
My issue had been that the ‘profile’ of plug-in WiFi ‘dongles’, that all seemed to be about the same size (think about half the size of a mobile broadband dongle, and you’re about there). Easily pocket size, but a larger profile meant that, realistically, they needed to be removed before moving a laptop about or packing it away.
THIS tiny lil’ item takes all the worries away. I honestly can’t imagine a WiFi adaptor getting that much smaller, as it only ‘just’ protrudes from my laptop’s USB port. It’s ‘just enough’ to be able to get a hold it on the rare occassions where I may need to remove it. I’ve not caught it on anything yet, so I’m more than happy to just leave it in situ’.
I’ve not tested connectivity away from my home hub yet, but so far everything has checked out to be just fine. Initialisation of the dongle, connection are responsive, signal strength and speed meters run right at the upper scale and are stable.
The packaging contains a basic set of (paper) installation instructions, the dongle, the (3″) installation CD; and as mentioed in another review, that may cause a problem for owners of slot-loading drives.
I didn’t have any issues, with the ‘tray’ drive on my laptop, with the installation taking only a couple of minutes; to request the disc, find the driver and complete the installation. It really was just a case of accepting a few installation steps and sitting back to let the laptop sort itself out.
There are cheaper, and probably just as effective, solutions, but I can’t fault the quality or the easy of use of this great lil’ item and won’t hestitate in recommending this.
Just as a footnote, I’ve tested the installation against Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista Professional and Windows 7 Professional; and had no problems getting this installed and running.
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|Best bit of kit I’ve bought in years,
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I purchased this for an old laptop that had no wireless connectivity built in. The laptop is pretty old and runs an old version of Windows XP (it hadn’t been connected to the internet for a couple of years so therefore was not up to date with the latest Microsoft updates). My network is modern and uses WPA2 encryption.
This network adapter is very, very tiny, protruding probably about 7mm from the socket. Installation was faultless and the only thing I needed to do was enter the network key, after which it has performed brilliantly.
I’ve configured and used several different types of network adapters in the past and they all seem very flakey in the way they install and work, usually giving sporadic problems and patchy coverage. This is not the case however with this adapter which seems to work faultlessly – it’s so refreshing to have technology that works well!
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|Nearly perfect,
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Can’t imagine wireless adaptors geting any smaller; just make sure you don’t lose it! Connectivity is fine: signal strength and speed meters run at or near 100%.
The only reason I’m witholding a star from the rating is for the software side of the package. Windows cannot handle installation of the device, and the included driver must be used. This is provided on a mini-CD, which for owners of slot-loading drives will be an issue.
Incidentally, the CD didn’t Auto-run the Setup Wizard as it should have done (possibly Windows 7’s fault more than the product’s). After trying to run Setup manually and failing to connect, I double-clicked the disk icon and the Wizard ran. The adaptor then installed effortlessly. From a user comment on the manufacturer’s website it appears I’m not the first to experience this problem.
Hopefully my comments will help other purchasers. This one caveat aside, I have no reservations about recommending this product.
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