Reviews
SMC Wireless Flash Drive
Having
an 802.11b wireless LAN connection on your mobile gear has become
pretty much mandatory these days. Sure, you can still use a landline
LAN connection, but wireless is where it's at. Most new notebooks
come with 802.11b or 802.11g wireless circuitry these days, but
if yours doesn't, or you need to quickly get a wireless connection
for your desktop, there's a terrific solution. That would be the
Wireless Flash Drive from SMC Networks.
What makes it so special? For starters, I prefer USB-based products
to peripherals in PC or CF card format. USB ports are everywhere
and they are completely standardized whereas expansion slots are
not. So rather than shlepping along a bunch of adapters and hope
to find the proper slot, I choose USB. Second, as the name implies,
this little gizmo is not a one trick pony. In addition to being
a wireless adapter, it is also a USB Flash Drive. True, it's "only"
32MB (remember circa 1982 when the original IBM PC XT's 10MB hard
drive was considered a technological tour-de-force of epic proportions?)
but that still holds a lot of data. This way, you can store whatever
it is you hold dear on a USB key and carry around 802.11b wireless
in your pocket.
But
there's another advantage to combining a wireless adapter with
a Flash Drive. While Windows will automatically recognize and
install the Flash Drive, the wireless portion requires a driver
that Windows does not have. The driver is on the CD that comes
with the device, but not all notebooks have a CD drive. No problem.
The driver is on the key and you can install it as soon as the
Flash Drive itself is recognized. Pretty smart.
SMC also adds a "laptop clip" and a USB cable in case you you'd
rather mount the thing than stick it into an USB port.
With a list price of US$64.99 the SMC Wireless Flash Drive costs
barely more than a standard wireless PC Card adapter. Now if we
could only get 802.11g and a larger Flash Drive...
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