I recently installed ESX 3.5i U5 on a Dell Latitude C640 successfully with the exception of a few minor issues. I know that laptops aren't a supported hardware in ESX per say but is there any possibility of adding a second NIC through a PCMCIA slot or USB? I tried a couple NICs I had on hand with no success...... If so can anyone confirm what NICs they've used with success?

ESXi doesn't support PCMCIA or USB devices at this point. For NICs with ESXi 3.5 you could try an Intel PRO 1000 (I use the GT) or if you have some around the Pro 100s or Broadcom 57xxs will work.

Thanks for your reply Dave. I primarily asked the question because I noticed in the bimod.tgz file in ESX 3.5i U5 there is a file pci.ids with a large number (100 or so) of cardbus/PCMCIA adapters listed. The file seemed to list a lot of other supported hardware (although none of my adapters were listed) so it seemed that cardbus/PCMCIA adapters must be supported. Perhaps this is just something that VMware will utilize in later builds.....

I already knew the trick with the Intel GT and Broadcom cards, I've used that I few times already with workstation builds but I really needed something for this laptop build. Oh, well.....