Finding an available port for your computer peripheral could be very difficult especially if you require several ports for your numerous devices. And the difficulty gets bigger if what you are looking for are ports with serial, parallel and non-USB connectors since modern computers have either reduced or removed the use non-USB ports.

So if you cannot locate any available non-USB ports, you can still make use of your non-USB devices. Simply buy USB adapter. You wonder: Is a USB adapter better than the conventional expansion card? Here are the advantages of using a USB adapter:

1. Universality. During the past, there are certain ports that are only compatible with specific devices like printers and modems particularly for printer ports. USB Adapter accommodates all (depending on the type of USB adapter) non-USB connectors of any computer peripherals. This would include joysticks, modems, keyboards, and mouse with 9- or 25-pin serial connectors.

2. No additional expansion cards required. Usually, when you link devices with non-USB connector to you computer you would require additional expansion card for each of these. So if you would add a joystick and a modem or any peripheral with non-USB connectors, you have to add an equal number of expansion cards for individual use. With USB adapter, all you need is a USB port to link any non-USB device to your computer.

3. Compatibility. Whether you would like to connect the serial, parallel port, or any other non-USB ports to your computer using the USB adapter, you wont have any problem for they would run. The USB adapter makes your devices work if connected to a USB port.

4. Multipliable. Since a single USB port can accommodate up to 127 devices (hubs included), you can attach several non-USB devices without the need of expansion cards. This means that when you have several non-USB devices, all you need to do is to provide each with USB adapter and a hub to connect them to the source.

5. Practicality. While most of the devices on the market have USB connectors, computers and other hosts have also used USB ports. And since non-USB ports are harder to find, you can resort to USB adapter connect your non-USB devices to your computer.

6. Price. Buying an expansion card is more expensive than buying a USB cable.

7. Availability. USB adapters are more abundant than expansion cards and in turn, they are easier to locate. A local computer store and even the Internet could be a rich source of these.

8. Easy installation. If you prefer to use an expansion card for your single device, you have to remove the whole computer assembly in order for the expansion card to be installed on your motherboard. But that is not all. You still have to turn of your computer and booth it several times for the card to start working. With USB adapter, all you have to do is to attach the connector of your non-USB device to the adapter, connect the adapter to the USB port of your computer and in no time, your device is working- even while your computer is turned on.

With all these lay down, would you still prefer using expansion cards for your non-USB devices? Certainly not! The availability of USB adapters has made connecting devices to your computer faster, cheaper, and easier.