StarTech.com PCIe Card with Serial and Parallel Port - PCI Express Combo Adapter Card with 1x DB25 Parallel Port & 1x RS232 Serial Port - Expansion/Controller Card - PCIe Printer Card

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

At £36.31 ex-VAT, this is a pretty budget-friendly “port grabber” if you’ve got an old-world device that still expects **parallel (DB25)** and **serial (RS-232)**. StarTech generally doesn’t do anything fancy here, but the value is in getting legacy printers, labelers, scanners, or industrial kit talking to a modern PC without buying a whole new machine. The big win is convenience: you’re basically paying to avoid downtime and procurement cycles.

That said, I wouldn’t treat this like a “network adapter” at all—your naming/category is misleading. It’s not a NIC and it won’t help with networking; it’s for onboard expansion of I/O ports. Also, parallel ports are a bit of a legacy pain: compatibility can vary depending on the device and the driver situation, and some environments (new Windows builds, locked-down IT images) can be fussier than you’d expect. If you only need one of the ports, this is probably more cost than necessary; if you *need both*, then it’s a sensible, low-risk purchase for a department PC where legacy peripherals still live.

**Who should buy:** SMEs, offices, and engineering/ops teams replacing legacy PCs who need serial + parallel for specific equipment and just want it to work. **Who should avoid:** anyone expecting “plug-and-play into everything,” or teams with heavy standardisation on newer OS deployments where legacy drivers may need testing first.