i'm thinking of getting a wireless adapter.i already have a wireless card on laptop.should i use it on desktop

Question

i have a wireless card installed in laptop..picks up signals ok..not great...i was looking at getting a linksys wmp54gxieee802.11b/g PC wireless-G adapter..if i hook it up to desktop..will my laptop pick it up..or should i just put the card in laptop?...also if i put it in laptop...do i just cut off my wireless switch on it?...any help will be appreciated...also any installing tips will help as well..thanks

Answer 1

The WMP54G is a PCI card that should work fine for your desktop, I have 2 and they work well. You wouldn't use these in the laptop, you would use the PCMCIA cards for your laptop, so if you don't like the wireless your laptop has now (integrated wireless or otherwise) you would use the WPC54G. Back to the WMP54G installation, it's simple enough, make sure you're static safe, open the chassis, install the card in an open PCI slot, close the chassis. Follow the instructions that came with the card, it will also have a CDROM to install the drivers for it.

Now assuming you already have a wireless access point running, both your desktop and laptop will work fine, just set them both up on the same wireless network. If you do not have a wireless network in place yet, and you want to have the desktop and laptop talk to each other on an ad-hoc wireless lan, that would work fine too.

Answer 2

Based on your question, I am assuming you already have a wireless router/access point at your home/office, the reason why your laptop is able to pick up the signal. If that's the case, desktops don't need a wireless card. Your desktop should have an ethernet card. Just plug in the desktop with the router creating a wired connection. It will save you money by not needing to buy the wireless card for your desktop. Alternatively, you can buy the wireless card for the desktop, and then both your laptop and the desktop will pick up the signal coming out of your wireless router.
Hope this helps!