Travel Technology - Best/Cheapest source for a PCMCIA or USB infrared adapter?

Daughter's fairly new, but fairly basic, laptop lacks an infrared port. But one of her pieces of medical equipment requires an infrared port for connectivity to the computer. Any good/cheap recommendations? This won't get heavy use, maybe monthly.

Windows XP, btw.

I've searched a bit and there are several eBay options. Is that the best route?

I have a USB IR adapter and have had a lot of problems with it. If you have an option to use the device with a cable, that may be a better option. The reason they no longer have IR built into new laptops is because it was never a very good wireless standard. I did get a good deal on mine at Fry's.

http://contents.fifthunit.com/html/products.5th/sku.753.html

Awesome. Thanks Scott. Let's see if they punish me for shipping to Hawaii.

...The reason they no longer have IR built into new laptops is because it was never a very good wireless standard....

Agree, but that's the only option in this particular case.

Awesome. Thanks Scott. Let's see if they punish me for shipping to Hawaii.



Agree, but that's the only option in this particular case.

Fairly sure they won't, they ship their stuff out of HKG so you'll probably get it sooner than people on the mainland :D

Fairly sure they won't, they ship their stuff out of HKG so you'll probably get it sooner than people on the mainland :D

I did a google search on fifthunit. Have you ordered from them before? They look a little shady...(but the prices are REALLY nice)

I did a google search on fifthunit. Have you ordered from them before? They look a little shady...(but the prices are REALLY nice)

Ordered loads from them, never had a problem. Shipping sometimes takes a little longer than most people want, but as you said; with those prices I really don't care.

The reason they no longer have IR built into new laptops is because it was never a very good wireless standard.

Several laptop manufacturers still do build-in IR, including Fujitsu on many of their models. Although they do list the IR feature under "Ports" rather than "Wireless Connectivity."

I still use IR for printing to my Canon travel printer from my IR equipped laptop. And occasionally to quickly and easily "beam" files to/from another laptop when we're not on a Network where we can share the files.

Fairly sure they won't, they ship their stuff out of HKG so you'll probably get it sooner than people on the mainland :D

Took about 10 days. I was in no hurry :)

Ordered loads from them, never had a problem. Shipping sometimes takes a little longer than most people want, but as you said; with those prices I really don't care.

I picked up the ir adapter and some other goodies. Man was that cheap! It just arrived yesterday

What I liked most was the customs declaration label saying "gift"

Fifthunit is now DealExtreme (www.dealextreme.com). You don't get redirected when you try to go to their old website.

Some more details here:
http://dealextreme.blogspot.com/