How to add bluetooth w/o USB (expresscard or something else?)

I have a laptop with a 54mm expresscard slot and apparently an internal mini-expresscard port or slot or whatever (gateway t-1616). I was curious if there was something i could buy and add to the laptop to have bluetooth? I don't wanna USB bluetooth adaptor as the whole point is to save USB ports. Any info or links to products would be helpful. Thanks!

 

any help? i tried finding expresscards but i couldnt. do these even exist?

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._cp_ob_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1207200547&sr=1-93

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Blueto...f=sr_1_93?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1207200547&sr=1-93

Here are a couple. I don't know anything about their reliability or effectiveness. I'd read the reviews amazon has listed. Just to make sure the USB size isn't an issue, there are micro bluetooth adapters (think logitech nano's receiver size).

 

I use the little bluetooth dongles that you can get on Ebay for like $3. They work great, are extremely small, and are cheap. If you are concerned about using up USB ports consider purchasing a USB 2.0 4-port hub (one of the best purchases I've ever made).

 

well i lug my laptop from upstairs to downstairs a lot, usually once a day or every 2 days. i hate using the touch pad though. i wanna take my wireless mouse, but hate having the dongle sticking out 2-3 inches from the side of the unit. plus w/ my zune, printer, exteneral speakers, etc taking up usb ports, id like not having to "waste" one on my wireless mouse n figured bluetooth would be an easy solution. i checked out those ones on amazone but they just say its a "pc card" for windows machines , so i dunno if itd fit in a 54expresscard slot or not Thanks for your help so far though guys!

 

this should slove your problem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833242001

 

That's actually not bad. I mean yea it uses up a USB port but it's flush w/ the system or looks like it. That'd at least alleviate having the ugly 3" dongle hanging out.

 

Okay after readin the user review of my Gateway T-1616 here are the non-usb options:

Expresscard 54 slot
and inside the unit there is 1 free "mini-card socket" on the MOBO. This was mentioned in the review, and also in the MOBO spec sheet here:

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/2007/Tempest/4006210R/4006210Rsp2.shtml

Not that I really know how to install a mini-card , but i installed my RAM so i think i could install a minicard

Do they sell mini-card bluetooth adaptors anywhere? I'd prefer that over the expresscard 54 adaptors

But as far as expresscard adaptors go, would this one be compatible?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833203014

I can't find anything stating what it is besides PCMIA or whatever, and that it fits "type 1 or 2" which I don't quite understand in regrads to being expresscard54 in the notebook


So preferred: Installing a mini-card inside the laptop, but dunno where to get 1

2nd choice: expresscard bluetooth, but dunno if the 1 i found is compatible

 

Think i may have found a bluetooth internal mini-card

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/CDN-Systems/items/item.aspx?itemid=6569149

Now after looking at this mini-card, and my MOBO spec sheet, should this fit? I just have no idea how mini-cards work or how compatible/incompatible they are lol

 

I strongly suggest you do not get that internal card. First, know that it only supports the Dell laptops mentioned. Secondly, the site doesn't look that great. Lastly, it even states that the product hasn't been tested.

Did some more searching:

Are PC Card and ExpressCard compatible?
No. Electrically, the PC Card interface utilizes a connection to ISA-style (16-bit interface) or PCI (CardBus interface) parallel busses. ExpressCard modules utilize either the PCI Express or Universal Serial Bus (USB) serial interfaces. Mechanically, the PC Card interface uses a 68-contact pin and socket connector, while the ExpressCard interface utilizes a 26-contact beam on blade connector. The ExpressCard Standard was developed to bring the high speed, flexibility and lower cost of the PCI Express and USB interfaces to an add-in module which does not require a device to attach externally to the host system, and making either the modules or the hosts backward compatible with PC Card is not feasible.

Taken from http://www.pcmcia.org/faq.htm

In other words, the Zoom card you and I found will NOT work because it is a PC card. As of right now, there are no bluetooth expresscard adapters. Not that surprising considering no one really made PC card bluetooth adapters. It appears that USB bluetooth adapters are the way to go. As I mentioned earlier get a micro bluetooth adapter, not necessarily the one that was posted, but search around for them.

Here's a link to Expresscard's site where you can search for Expresscard products: http://www.expresscard.org/web/do/p...ord=bluetooth&categoryId=0&companyId=0&osId=0

 

wow good looking out man! Thanks for your help! i guess i am stuck w/ usb. i was just really hoping there was another option. your help was great!

 

In theory it's a great adapter. In practice it's the biggest piece of junk I've ever owned.

I have this adapter (marketed by Kensington - only difference is the silkscreening on it. It's still made by the same OEM). The drivers are terrible, and it has a tendecy to stop working spontaneously.

I was using it to connect my laptop to my Treo700WX as a wireless tether (for PAM mode). It'd work for a while but then it would just stop after a few minutes for no reason whatsoever.

When I bought the adapter, I also bought a pair of bluetooth headphones from Best Buy that came with their own USB adapter: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ooth&lp=10&type=product&cp=1&id=1186003256574

The stupid adapter that came with these headphones beats the pants off of that micro adapter. With it I can connect for hours to my phone and it'll never disconnect or hang.

If all you plan on using the micro usb bluetooth adapter for is to connect bluetooth keyboards and mice, then it'll work fine. For anything else it's garbage.

To answer the OP's question though, in my own case Gateway didn't offer my laptop (M-6750) with an internal bluetooth adapter. Higher end versions did come with one though. I've tried asking Gateway about it, but they're not very helpful.

Most of the internal bluetooth adapters are using an internal USB header port that's reserved for the dongle. One way you can try to get the dongle is to look up the part codes from higher end versions of your laptop to see if it's listed. Even with that though, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to just plug it into the motherboard. Unless you open your system up and see that they added the header to the port, you have no way of verifying that you can plug it in in the first place. That and besides the dongle, most need an accompanying cable to actually plug it in.

Your best bet is to just buy a USB bluetooth adapter and just unplug it when you're not using it. That's pretty much what I do nowadays.