Vostro 1700 - Wireless N upgrade?

Hi folks,
My son has given us his retired Vostro 1700 as he's replaced it with another monster Dell laptop. It seems to be a pretty nice machine and seems to run Ubuntu 10.10 flawlessly.

It came equipped with an Intel 3945ABG wireless card which does not do 802.11n. The Dell product site lists a couple cards which do. I see them listed on eBay for not a lot of money. I have a couple questions about upgrading.

1) How difficult is it to disassemble this laptop to gain access to the card?

2) Are there going to be any complications such as antenna connection incompatibility if I try to swap cards?

3) Are there any BIOS issues? (I recall that some older Thinkpads - with which I am more familiar - would only work with Thinkpad approved cards.)

4) As there are several cards listed on the Dell web site that support 802.11n. Do any offer significant advantages?

5) Will other mini-PCI 802.11n cards work or would I be best to stick with what Dell lists?

Please feel free to comment on issues I have not had the foresight to ask about!

many thanks,
hank

 

1) Not that difficult: Documentation

2) No. See 5.

3) Possibly. See 5.

4) Don't buy it from Dell; it's almost certainly overpriced.

5) I think the Intel 4965 is your best choice. There are better cards, the 5xxx and 6xxx series, but while they should work, there have been reports of these cards not working with older chipsets, so it might be a crapshot. Dell doesn't whitelist cards, though, so you don't need to get a Dell-specific card.

 

Many thanks for the quick and complete reply. And incidentally, I'll have to add good online documentation as another Dell plus.

best,
hank

 

Yes to what Wolf says. I always disliked Dell wifi cards, Intel makes the best wireless cards on the market.

My Vostro 1500 went from a 3945 ABG to a 4965 AGN, very fast and smooth upgrade and what a considerable difference that made. Now the Vostro 1500/1700 will only have the black and white antennae pulled out inside the wifi card bay by default (really depends on what wifi card you originally had) while the 4965 AGN card will need a grey antennae. There should be a plastic holder for extra antennae you need. You also need to install the Intel drivers for your OS (available on Intel's website), reboot and you should be ready to roll.

 

Thank you for the additional information.

A 3945ABG is presently installed.

Does this mean I will need to install buy and an antenna as well?

thanks,
hank

 

No the Vostro 1700/1500 should have an area where the extra wires are tucked away, including Bluetooth, Mobile Broadband connector and the grey wifi antenna.

 

Followup:

I posted a WTB in classifieds and another forum member replied with a card for sale. I bought from him an Intel 4965 AGN card. I put it in this morning and it is working fine.

It appears that the Vostro has antennas installed for all optional mini-PCI RF devices regardless if they were part of the original build.

thanks,
hank