I noticed one of the reviewers thought that unit burned out his USB connector by drawing too much power, and he wrote that the unit plugs into two connectors because it's too power-hungry for one. You could protect your laptop by using a USB hub that can be powered by an external power brick (if you find one that uses 12vdc that would be even better). That would isolate the WiFi adapter from your laptop, and a avoid costly main-board repair.