Fast and smooth (Xircom realport ethernet card)

Member Name: psr21

Product:	Xircom realport ethernet card
Date:	18/05/01 (715 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple to use, No cable-hassle, Excellent manfacturer and quality

Disadvantages: Not cheap, Takes up both cardbus slots

A worthy addition to any notebook out there is the ability to connect it to a network.

Some of the higher spec and priced notebooks will have a network connector built in, but many don't. The manufacturers allow you the option of adding a number of peripheral devices through the CardBus slots (formerly known as PCMCIA slots) in the side of the laptop.

Most laptops will have two of the small type II slots available. In these you could have devices such as an extra hard drive, or a portable storage device such as the Zip-click, or a modem (if your computer didn't have one built in), or a multitude of other possibilities.

However the most common use for the slots are for network cards. Whether this network is at home, or office or university the card provides the interface to get you on to the system.

Until recently most network cards were of the small type II size. Which meant that the card required a specific cable dangling off the side of the laptop for the, in comparison, overly large network cable to fit into.

This regularly resulted in the losing of the right cables, which are expensive to replace (and sometimes damn hard to find if the card is not the most recent), or damage to the card if the cable gets tugged or otherwise snagged. If the card gets damaged it's even more expensive. The most common fault with these cards is that the connection between the cable and the card gets damaged and the whole lot can need replacing.

So Xircom came up with a solution, build a bigger card. Now the Realport fits into your cardbus slots, but it takes up BOTH of the type II's meaning that you can't put anything else in the side as well. Since most people only ever use one slot it's not too much of a disadvantage. Anyway most peripherals you can want these days can be attached via a USB port which is just as easy.

This card no longer needs it's own specific cable because the network rj45
cable plugs straight into it. So no more messing around with endless amounts of wires. Simply use the existing network cable and patch your laptop right in.

There are a couple of alternatives to this card that also plug the cable straight in, and they are worth a quick mention.
1) 3-com - they made an "x-jack" connector that slides out of a type II slot (hence it fills only one of the slots) and fits a standard cable. However I had one of these briefly, the cable comes in vertically and it looks as if one knock and the whole card connection would break-off. It might be worth a look though if you desperatly want to keep the extra slot free.
2) Intel, 3-com and a number of other manufacturers are now also making these double size cards that can plug right in. But it has to be said Xircom is the original and best of the bunch. Then again, search around for the best deal for you, the products are now almost exactly the same.

I bought one of these Xircom Realport cards about a month ago and the performance is great. It was no problem to install. I bought the card second hand and even though I wasn't given the drivers/software they were easily downloaded from the Xircom support site and installed in minutes.

In fact the only troubling part is that no matter how techno-savvy you are the IT department will still have to configure your network settings because for some reason, and there always is one, no network is quite the same as the one THEY've got and god forbid you mess up their highly intelligent micros**t system.

Once running the card is totally self-sufficient. It automatically switches between the 10mbps and 100mbps modes dependent on your network. It has a couple of small LED's on the side to let you know it's status and it's very light on your battery, always a bonus for laptops.

All in all a very good addition to a laptop's functionality. If you never see yourself using more
than one of the Cardbus slots and want a network card then get a hold of this one. It's just about idiot proof, and saves a lot of wiring-hell.

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