I am getting a minimum-configuration Dell B130 as a free offer for a
credit card balance transfer. Wifi is not included (it's really a
MINIMUM configuration). This is one of those annoying ExpressCard
machines, too.

Does this model have an internal MiniPCI slot? I've got several MiniPCI
cards and antenna sets around the place. I've successfully hacked
internal Wifi into other laptops that didn't originally ship with it.

I just helped someone else who got the exact same laptop the exact same
way this past summer.

[And you are right, it's a really stripped down, minimum configuration.
This really was not a good deal unless you were going to carry the
required [significant] minimum balance for the required period [two
years] anyway.]

Yes, on the unit that I dealt with (yours could be different) there was
a mini-PCI slot, and everything was present except the card itself. The
laptop already had an antenna and switch installed. I managed to find a
complete Dell kit on E-Bay with the normal Dell card (1390 ... actually
a card made by Broadcom), it even had the driver CD and installation
instructions. I think we paid about $25 for it. The bare cards are
common, but finding a complete kit in a box was not and I considered
this a lucky find.

Dell has totally abandoned PC Cards in most models and only offers
"Express Cards". They did this WAY too soon. It's a real problem for
people who need functionality that isn't built into the laptop.


zwsdotcom******.com wrote:
> I am getting a minimum-configuration Dell B130 as a free offer for a
> credit card balance transfer. Wifi is not included (it's really a
> MINIMUM configuration). This is one of those annoying ExpressCard
> machines, too.
>
> Does this model have an internal MiniPCI slot? I've got several MiniPCI
> cards and antenna sets around the place. I've successfully hacked
> internal Wifi into other laptops that didn't originally ship with it.
>

"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:456dbd39$0$6960$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Dell has totally abandoned PC Cards in most models and only offers "Express
> Cards". They did this WAY too soon. It's a real problem for people who
> need functionality that isn't built into the laptop.

Good point, although I'd be surprised if more than, say, 10% of laptop users
*ever* stick anything into their PCMCIA/CardBus/ExpressCard slots!

Barry Watzman wrote:
>
> I just helped someone else who got the exact same laptop the exact same
> way this past summer.
>
> [And you are right, it's a really stripped down, minimum configuration.
> This really was not a good deal unless you were going to carry the
> required [significant] minimum balance for the required period [two
> years] anyway.]
>
> Yes, on the unit that I dealt with (yours could be different) there was
> a mini-PCI slot, and everything was present except the card itself. The
> laptop already had an antenna and switch installed. I managed to find a
> complete Dell kit on E-Bay with the normal Dell card (1390 ... actually
> a card made by Broadcom), it even had the driver CD and installation
> instructions. I think we paid about $25 for it. The bare cards are
> common, but finding a complete kit in a box was not and I considered
> this a lucky find.
>
> Dell has totally abandoned PC Cards in most models and only offers
> "Express Cards". They did this WAY too soon. It's a real problem for
> people who need functionality that isn't built into the laptop.
>
> <snip>

Agreed.

While there are numerous external PC Card readers on the market, they're just one
more thing to have to throw into a carrying case. Or, if the laptop is used as a
desktop replacement, one more thing to take up real estate.

Notan

Barry Watzman wrote:

> [And you are right, it's a really stripped down, minimum configuration.
> This really was not a good deal unless you were going to carry the
> required [significant] minimum balance for the required period [two
> years] anyway.]

Unfortunately, I am. And the card where I was carrying the balance was
a higher APR than the destination card; so actually this deal saves me
money. While I could have found a better deal by shopping around, my
credit isn't good enough to be sure of getting those deals, so I would
almost certainly have had to apply to multiple providers. The act of
shopping around itself hits the credit score negatively. This
particular deal seems to be aimed at the high end of subprime credit
customers, so I figured I had a good chance of acceptance.

BTW, the balance requirement is now $5000 initial transfer, and minimum
ongoing balance $3500 for 18 months. So the computer costs maybe $1000
depending on where Prime goes. It's only worth it, as you said, if you
would have been paying the $1000 out in interest anyway.

This machine is going to replace an Athlon XP-M2800+ - I'm hoping the
performance will be better (400MHz vs 266MHz FSB).

> Yes, on the unit that I dealt with (yours could be different) there was
> a mini-PCI slot, and everything was present except the card itself. The
> laptop already had an antenna and switch installed. I managed to find a

That's fantastic news, thanks - especially about the antenna! I hope
the machine isn't locked to Dell cards only.

> Dell has totally abandoned PC Cards in most models and only offers
> "Express Cards". They did this WAY too soon. It's a real problem for
> people who need functionality that isn't built into the laptop.

They're not the only ones. Apple, too. But that's a special case.

Joel Kolstad wrote:

> Good point, although I'd be surprised if more than, say, 10% of laptop users
> *ever* stick anything into their PCMCIA/CardBus/ExpressCard slots!

The big problem for me is that machines with ExpressCard also are
legacy-free in other ways. So there might be no way to add legacy
devices (parallel ports) to such systems. I'm not talking about just
attaching a parallel printer - I need to attach development hardware
that requires a "real" parallel port. PCMCIA ports have worked in the
past. USB adapters do NOT.

There are no external PC Card readers that can be used with a notebook,
as far as I know, and that's what I was talking about, not just flash
memory cards. PC Cards (often incorrectly called PCMCIA cards) are
right on the processor and chipset PCI bus, and if they are not on the
laptop motherboard, I know of know way to add them externally, because
they invovle I/O ports, memory addressing, DMA, IRQs and "Plug-and-Play".


Notan wrote:

>
> Agreed.
>
> While there are numerous external PC Card readers on the market, they're just one
> more thing to have to throw into a carrying case. Or, if the laptop is used as a
> desktop replacement, one more thing to take up real estate.
>
> Notan