Getting my geriatric laptop to play with whichever Wi-Fi network I’m using is always an adventure. Almost as fun as trying to pair my wireless headphones with the machine’s non-existent Bluetooth connection. If only there were a single dongle to do both — easily.
O hai!
What Is It?
A wireless networking dongle that brings both Bluetooth 3.0 High-Speed and 802.11n Wi-Fi to any PC with a USB port. Hello the future.
Who’s it For?
People like me who have piece of shit laptops and would rather go on a three-day bender than buy fancy new (“up to date”) machines.
Design
It kinda looks like a piece of blister-pack gum, and it’s only slightly larger than one.
Using It
Plug into USB port, install driver software. Away you go. Once up and running, the Cirago automatically scans for available Wi-Fi networks easily pairs with virtually all Bluetooth devices.
The Best Part
It’s $US40.
Tragic Flaw
Sorry MacLover, this little guy is Windows-only.
This Is Weird…
The Bluetooth manager program consistently asks for a device password, regardless of whether it actually has one or not — like for my Arriva Leo headphones. “000000” seems to work in most cases.
Test Notes
• Network connection speeds using the dongle averaged slightly lower than using my laptop’s internal radio on my test network (~48Mb/s external vs 54Mb/s internal)
Should You Buy It?
If you need something like this, then yes. It’s a small, cheap and relatively speedy.
Cirago BT7300 Specs
Standards: Bluetooth 3.0 High-Speed, 802.11n Wi-Fi
OS: Windows 7, Vista, XP
Range: 10m
Dimensions: 1.18 x 0.47 x 0.2 inches (3 x 1.2 x 0.52 cm)
Price: $US40