Anyone ever used one of these USB/NICs to comment

[DaveLembke]

A client just notified me that they had their laptop connected via Cat5 cable and child was running thru room and clotheslined the cat5 cable that was connected to the laptop and destroyed the RJ45 NIC port. They dont have wifi and dont want wifi for security paranoia, and this laptop doesnt have a PCMCIA slot.

Looking online I found this USB to 10/100/1000 Network Adapter Dongle linked below, but figured I'd check first to see if anyone has anything to say about these whether they work or are junk before placing order for one. She has an available USB port that this can connect to. I am going to suggest also not stringing the Cat5 cable through livingroom to couch to avoid a USB port getting sheered out next.    She is looking for a low cost repair vs replacing connector on the main board etc so I think this is her only option right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2690RG7510

[Calum]

I've never used one or seen one used, although I have seen them for sale, so I can't comment from my own experience.
I would suspect it'll work fine, just not as fast as a "normal" NIC - well, of course, since USB2 is 480Mb/s and Gigabit Ethernet is, well, 1000Mb/s, heh.  But leaving that aside, I think you might see slightly higher CPU usage but nothing major, I would imagine it'll work fine for general internet usage and normal home network usage, just don't expect to see "native" performance for huge file transfers.

[PCdoc]

I have used one of these USB 2.0 to Lan. Works good. But these are a bit risky than the one you have mentioned. Your one (With wire extension) is better as the device doesn't keep hanging there at the usb port. I have heard many people complaining that by mistake the device broke along with the USB port because they kept there hand near or on the device etc.

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

Just check the laptop has USB3.0 I haven't used that brand but in the specs it appears not to support 2.0 or 1.1. If ithe laptop is only USB2.0 better getting a USB2.0 to ethernet . Also check that it has drivers for their version of windows.

Lisamaree

[Calum]

Ah, it's USB3, not USB2...ignore my comment on the speed being limited by the USB2 bus, but my points on the CPU usage etc are still valid.  Probably not much of a big deal either way though, sure it'll work fine.

[DaveLembke]

Thanks everyone...

and yes at first I was like gigabit? and saw USB 3.0 but 2.0 backwards compatible, so it should work at 100mbps on USB 2.0. The laptop is running Windows 7 32-bit home premium also and its a dual-core Intel with 3GB RAM. Since its her only option other than repairing the trashed ethernet port I am going to pick one up for her and give it a try on her system. The good thing is that she doesnt do many network intensive functions. Most of the time its just Facebook and Apps.