I have a laptop that I would like to use as my main desktop machine, but I would like to be able to take it with me if the need arises without having to disconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. one by one (there is no docking station available for my laptop). I found a gizmo that lets you plug all that stuff into it and connects to your computer via a single USB connection; however, it’s USB 2.0 and I’m almost positive that the USB ports on my laptop are the older 1.0 variety.
Here’s my question: how difficult would it be to upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0? Is it a software fix, or would hardware have to be replaced? I’d really rather not buy a new machine when I have this perfectly good one handy…
The laptop is a 2003-era Toshiba Satellite, if that’s helpful in any way.
I’m pretty sure that USB 2.0 devices can be used in USB 1.0 slots. They will just run at a slower speed.
If you want to upgrade to 2.0 slots, you can buy a USB 2.0 card for $10-$15 at most any big box store. Installing it should only consist of removing the old card and popping in the new one. (May need to install some drivers as well.)
If your machine is 2003, it’s almost certainly has rev 1.1 USB. There are PCMCIA cards that offer USB 2 “upgrades” to laptops, but that would preclude you using any other PCMCIA card. I suspect hende missed where you said you had a laptop, although I’m not sure what card you would remove to replace your older USB ports; virtually every post-2001 PC has USB ports supplied by the motherboard.