Buffalo Technology 54G Wireless USB2.0 Keychain Adapter
Pros
- Plug & Play, Easy install
Cons
- Drains battery life, large
Bottom Line
A simple and effective way to add wireless access to your notebook
-
Price
$ 79.00 (AUD)
Wireless internet connectivity has the potential to dramatically change both the way we work and also where we work, offering users the convenience relatively fast speeds at while on the move. While the vast majority of today's notebooks ship with wireless cards, some of the older models do not and here is where the Buffalo Keychain Adapter can help.
Small and white, roughly the size of a cigarette lighter, the Wireless Keychain Adapter is designed to be plugged into a USB port on your notebook, thus giving you the ability to access wireless 802.11 b/g networks in the area without having to purchase a separate wireless network card.
We plugged in the unit to our PC and in under a minute, the drivers and software proceeded to install themselves. In addition to the drivers, Buffalo Client Manager 2 was also installed. This little application is used to manage and connect to available wireless networks. There are three tabs on this application - Status, Survey and Profiles. The Status tab shows details of your current connection, while Survey displays the list of available wireless networks to connect to. The Profiles tab conveniently stores the connection and network settings for multiple networks, meaning you don't have to remember them. This is helpful especially if you often use the same networks, such as Work or Home.
We did think the device was on the larger side and protruded quite significantly from a notebook USB slot. Buffalo have helpfully included a USB cable which plugs into the unit, thus removing the need to plug it directly into the drive. In our tests, we could not detect any noticeable difference in data speeds between a regular network card and the Wireless Keychain adapter, and the while the speed decreased with increased range, it wasn't substandard by any means. Although it is USB, be warned that the unit will drain battery life from your notebook, especially after extended usage.
Brand Post
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 HP Spectre x360 16 review: The right 2-in-1 at the wrong time
- 3 Acer K242HYL review: An affordable monitor for any occasion
- 4 GeForce Now review: You bring the games, Nvidia streams the hardware
- 5 Asus ProArt PA279CV monitor review: The go-to for content creators on a budget
Latest News Articles
- Telstra launches the Smart Modem 3 with faster Wi-Fi speeds
- Netgear reveals the world’s first quad-band Wi-Fi 6E router
- TP-Link’s Archer GX90 AX6600 Wi-Fi 6 gaming router
- Research: 1 in 16 home routers can be hacked
- How to use your Mac's Wi-Fi menu to sort out weak areas of Wi-Fi coverage
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D
The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?
- Every TV in Samsung's 2022 line-up: OLED, Neo QLED and more!
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?