I have a nice compact Dell Latitude C400 with 12" screen.

My plan was to bring it with me to BKK in December when I will be staying for 6 weeks. The

hotel where I will be staying has wireless internet access.

My Dell doesnt have Wi-Fi so have bought a Netgear wireless USB 2 adaptor.

Ive now discovered my Dell only has USB 1

Is there anything I can do to make it USB 2 ?

It should work just fine plugged into USB 1, you'll be limited in speed to 6Mb or so, but if you're surfing the net then there will be no problem

If you have a CardBus/PCMCIA slot you can get a USB 2 card to plug in there if you really need the speed

USB 1 = 6 Mbps

USB 1.1 = 12 Mbps max.

For WiFi you may need 54 Mbps! If you've a PCMCIA slot, buy and USB 2 PCMCIA Card, or use the Ethernet connector for to connect the WiFi if you use an external. But you can also use a PCMCIA WiFi Card for connection to an Access Point or Hot Spot!

Thanks

I think I will buy a NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless PC Card WPN511

Cheers

Good advice is to check if your notebook can use a NETGEAR RangeMax WPN511, most of the time if a notebook has only USB 1 it also has only PCMCIA Rel.1. And it is clear PCMCIA Rel. 1 is not a PC Card, ther difference is about the same as a ISA and a PCI interface in a desktop PC

Richard is right. Most modern PCMCIA cards are "cardbus" type (they have a gold connector) which is 32-bit and can't be used in older PCMCIA 16-bit slots. Checking with some google, the Dell C400 does have a type II cardbus-compliant PCMCIA slot, so it can use 32-bit cards. Go ahead and buy a cardbus wi-fi adapter.

I'd just like to tell that my experience of using USB 2 devices on USB 1 ports proved to be disasterous.

It wasn't a notebook but a desk top (about 3 years old). There were only 2 USB ports and they were at the back of the computer and quite difficult to access. I had a USB mouse, modem, digital camera, mobile telephone and thumb drive so I decided to buy a USB hub and have on top of my computer so that at least the detachable devices could be attached more easily.

Everything worked fine at first but then I started to get many error messages and fatal errors. My computer crashed constantly with error warnings about missing or damaged graphic drivers. I updated the drivers several times and nothing helped. One day my monitor just fizzed out. It was unrepairable so I invested in a new flat screen. After a few days I started to get the same messages and my new LCD screen froze and made lots of fizzing noises (like short circuiting). In desperation I performed a completely new installation (including new partioning of hard disk) and hoped that would help. A few days later I started to get the same messages. I remembered seeing a little message everytime that I was connecting a USB2 device to a USB1 port and that "the device may not function properly".

I then invested in a USB2 Card and since that day have had no problems at all. That is maybe 6 months ago now.

My advice therefore is to add the USB2 card and avoid any problems.