Netgear brings Gigabit to laptops

Netgear yesterday unveiled what it claimed is the world's first Gigabit Cardbus adapter for laptop computers.

The company said that its GA511 Gigabit PC Card provides speeds up to 1,000Mbps, 10 times faster than Fast Ethernet and 100 times faster than 802.11b wireless.

It will be targeted at users needing to transfer large computer aided design, video or database files quickly.

The PC card is backward compatible with 10Mbps and 100Mbps Ethernet products, and incorporates 10/100/1000Mbps auto-sensing speeds eliminating any need for manual switching.

"With Gigabit switches becoming increasingly affordable, home and business users are rapidly migrating to the performance-enhancing speeds that Gigabit technology provides," said Kartik Gada, product line manager at Netgear, in a statement.

"Until now, Gigabit adapters have only been available for desktop systems. Most workplace environments are migrating to notebook computers for employees."

The device also incorporates Netgear's Smart Wizard Install Assistant, which the company claims enables users to set up the card in five clicks of a mouse.

It supports Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98SE, and NDIS 2.0, and is available at a retail price of $59.99.