Hooch Tan
12-12-2010, 04:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/bearextender-pc-review/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/...nder-pc-review/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Now there's a PC version, aptly and cunningly titled BearExtender PC. It too is a $45 ($44.97 to be exact) 802.11n adapter and it looks much the same as its fruitier brethren. It's a reasonably small capsule, about the size of an Altoids tin but thinner and, naturally, proudly displaying a 2dBi gain antenna, which thankfully pivots and rotates in all sorts of directions."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1292139148.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>At first blush, the BearExtender PC looks like a wireless network adapter with an upgraded antenna. It turns out that this is what it is. If your notebook's wireless antenna is weak or you find yourself on the fringe of network connectivity this might be the solution for you. There are other network cards that allow external antennas to be hooked up to them, but they usually stick directly out from your USB port and where do you put the antenna? This looks to be a good all-in-one solution.</p><p>The other benefit of more powerful Wi-Fi adapters like this is that they tend to hold a stronger signal with better throughput so if you use your laptop to stream video, this can also prove useful. One thing not mentioned in the review, however, I would like to see is do these more powerful adapters help punch through a congested neighbourhood like mine. Living in an apartment building, there are more wireless networks discovered by my notebooks than there are tribbles in a quadrotriticale storage bin. Because of all that wireless noise, I find some notebooks drop their signal every now and again. Would this be the solution I am looking for? What other possible benefits do you see to using an improved Wi-Fi adapter like this?</p>