Recently I noticed a universal port replicator for about $80 in one of the
computer superstores.

Do these things work reasonably well?

Is it better to get one which connects through USB or PCMCIA?

Ray Jenkins wrote:
I can only speak from a month's worth of experience, but the USB port
replicator I'm using now seems to work just as well as the parallel and
serial ports my old laptop had. As for which interface to get, it
depends on what you're going to use the replicator for and whether you'd
prefer to plug in a USB cable or insert a PCMCIA card eveytime you use it.

I just use mine to connect to a printer and PDA sync cradle every now
and then, so USB is more convenient. If you're going to be hooking a
monitor, keyboard, and mouse to your replicator's VGA port to use your
laptop as a desktop replacement, I think I'd still go with USB because
it's easier, probably more reliable (the PCMCIA card is just another
component that can go bad, and it's harder and more expensive to replace
than a USB cable), and I'd hazard a guess that the USB interface would
be a lot faster than PCMCIA. Also, with USB you don't tie up a PCMCIA
slot while the machine is docked, which could be an important
consideration-especially if you've only got one slot to begin with.

Yours truly wrote:
Be kind of difficult to get them all to fit, wouldn't it? What I meant,
of course, was if you're going to be hooking these components to their
respective ports on the replicator-the monitor to the VGA port, the
keyboard and mouse to their respective PS/2 ports.

Thanks Jonathan -- that helps. I think I'll probably go with the USB
connection.

It's probably an item I could pick up on the cheap at eBay, with little
risk.

"Jonathan L. Parker" <jlparker@grapevine.net> wrote in message
news:3f230593_3@newsfeed...