Wireless pcmcia notebook cards w. non-protruding antenna

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com hath wroth:

Does what exist? Oh, you must mean the other part of your question that you left in the subject line where I can't see it. Hang on, I'll try to retrieve it.... "Wireless pcmcia notebook cards w. non-protruding antenna". Got it.

There are some with fairly tiny antennas. However, they all protrude as it would be a rather bad idea for most of the RF to be radiated inside the laptop instead of outside to the access point. There are some PCMCIA cards that have antenna connectors, that are flush with the outside of the case, but you'll still have a dangling coax cable, which is not what you want.

If your unspecified tablet computah has provisions for a MiniPCI wireless devices, it's antennas are always internal.

As Jeff suggests, the antenna has to be OUTSIDE the case of the computer in order for it to work. The case is usually engineered to keep RF signals inside of it. Otherwise the RF noise would potentially disrupt things.

So you're going to have an external antenna unless the device already has a mini-PCI slot and a provision for an internal antenna. Check with the manufacturer for more info. A tip to this is if they offer their own internal wireless option.

There are various external choices. Firm part of the card, flexible stalk, flimsy pivoting cheap thing or support for a connector.

Then there's also power consumption, some cards are worse than others for how the impact battery life.

Just curious...why does it bother other users so much?

I can understand how a small antenna sticking up from a plug-in card that sits right near the front of your laptop where the outside of your wrists keep hitting it.

I have used a 3Com 3CRPAG175 with "XJACK[R]" retractable antenna - 11a/b/g - satisfactorily for about 4 years in my Panasonic CF-R1N. (I downloaded various 3Com software updates for the card over that time.) The XJACK antenna is a spring-loaded pop-out antenna, so for transport(which was my concern) it is very close to flush with the laptop's chassis. There is also a similar 11g/b-only 3CRXJK10075.

"B Campbell" hath wroth:

Good idea, but those didn't work well for me. I had several problems with Xjack cards.

1. The Xjack connector or antenna would pop out when the laptop was inside the carrying bag and eventually break in transit.
2. I would forget to retract the jack when storing the laptop. The jack would eventually break in transit.
3. Repair was difficult as it required prying off the metal shields from the PCMCIA card.

Xjack works, but one has to be very careful. However, it does have one big advantage. It's one of the few wireless cards that has a genuinely flat antenna. This allows me to insert an additional PCMCIA card in the adjacent slot at the same time.