Cat-5 cables

My laptop did not come with a Cat-5 cable. While I was in CompUSA picking up a wireless card, I looked at their prices. It was almost $30 for a 14-foot cable.

I picked up a 14 foot Cat-5e cable from Wal-mart for $8. I priced K-Mart and other stores for about 50 cents per foot. Why was CompUSA so expensive.

BTW, what is the performance gain in Cat-5e over Cat-5? Is it anything a 10/100 Ethernet card would notice?

No. Cat 5 is regular 2-pair ethernet. Cat 5e is 4-pair and is suitable for gigabit ethernet. I wouldn't worry about it unless you were running gigabit.

Originally posted by dave
No. Cat 5 is regular 2-pair ethernet. Cat 5e is 4-pair and is suitable for gigabit ethernet. I wouldn't worry about it unless you were running gigabit.

They both use RJ-45 connectors, are they compatible with each other?

Interchangable, but CAT5 won't work with gigabit.

There's a slight quality difference, I think; twists per foor or inch or whatever. Not really noticable. CAT5 will work for a home network.

Originally posted by Skunks
Interchangable, but CAT5 won't work with gigabit.

There's a slight quality difference, I think; twists per foor or inch or whatever. Not really noticable. CAT5 will work for a home network.

Well, I paid the extra 2 bucks for Cat-5e. This way I will be ready for Comcast gigabit in 10 years.

Originally posted by richlevy
Why was CompUSA so expensive.

Because they bank on people not comparison shopping for the small stuff. They figure Joe Six-Pack who's there to buy a laptop won't know better, and often they're right. They make a killing off cables, paper, disks, etc. that you should buy somewhere else but don't since you're there anyway.