Studio XPS 1645 / Studio 1747 Wireless Configs

Folks, I'm looking at the above two laptops (prefer the XPS), but Dell (in the UK at least) are only offering them with the Dell 1397 (b/g) wireless card.

Does anyone have any idea why? Is this something affecting Dell globally or is it just UK/Europe in a mess?

I guess I could survive with just wireless G, but it seems ridiculous to be limited to that these days; I guess I could also just order it and pick up an intel/dell Wireless N card for ~£25 and install it myself, but again the question arises, why is it necessary? I assume some of you do have an 802.11n card of some description in your 1645/1747's have you seen any problems with it?

I did phone Dell, but the sales guy said that the XPS 1645 couldn't be configured with anything but the Dell Wireless 1397 card because of the Core i7 processor (sounds like bull to me!), but that I could get a Studio 15 or and Alienware instead if I wanted an i7 with wireless N (because that's consistent )

They do allow you to have 802.11n on the Studio 15 and the Alienware M15 my only guess is that it's something to do with the widely reported power issues with the XPS 1645 (which suggests that the same issue affects the Studio 17).

I'd be interested in any thoughts you have on this!

Thanks

 

One other thing (if I do end up buying a separate card). Is there a massive difference between the Intel 5300 and 5100 in terms of holding a signal or performance?

Price-wise the 5100 is ~£15 and the 5300 is ~£25 - cheaper than dell would normally charge for a jump from the 1397 to 5300 anyhow I think.

The dell wireless cards don't seem to be as widely available and are mostly more expensive than the Intel ones in the UK.

 

I ordered and currently have the Studio XPS 1645 with Intel 5300, so any talk about the i7 being incompatible with the 5300 card is nonsense.

 

Thanks for the confirmation n3verm0re!

 

I've ordered a Studio XPS 16 with i7 in the UK and have already sourced an Intel 5300 card to go in it. The 5300 is rated at 450Mbit and has 3 antenna, the 5100 is specced at 300mbits and has 2 antenna.

My Company Laptop is a Lattitude D620 which has a Dell Wireless G card in it and that actually works pretty well, for the limited work it has to do.

If you look on dell.com, the Intel 5300 is standard spec for an i7 Studio XPS 16 in the US, as is the 370 Bluetooth card, both were not available on the i7 XPS in the UK when I placed my order.

Also standard on dell.com is 6 gig of Ram. 4 gig is standard in the UK, and to upgrade to 6 gig costs over 400 POUNDS, that's an extra $600 or so. That's a real bargain, don't you think?

 

We definitely get the best bargains in the UK!

Out of interest, may I ask where you got your 5300? I've been looking at e-bay and regular retailers.

* Regular retailers seem to have the full height card for £25 - 30
* eBay has Dell second hand half height models for 20 - 25 (seems dell are the only ones who use the half-height version of the card).
* There are also new ones on eBay for £14ish (suspiciously cheap I think), shipping from HK
* Then there's dell who charge £45 (but *generously* offer free shipping ) for the half-height.

I'm veering towards the regular full height one atm.

 

I bought mine from justopeshop for £25 with free postage, it claims to be a Dell card, is half height and is in the UK. The same seller had the 370 Bluetooth card as well. The listing doesn't actually state that it is a new card, but it can't be very old even if it is a 'pull' from a system.

From the internal photos I've seen I'm not sure a 'full length' card will fit in the wireless slot, the BT slot is full length, but the wan slot seems to be hal height only.

I've had much success buying from HK, but since I bought some dud SDHC cards from the far east last year I've been more inclined to buy from the UK if I think the price is still OK.

 

My Intel 5300 and Bluetooth cards (bought on ebay) arrived today. The BT card was in a plain plastic bag, not an anti static bag, and the additional antenna is an apple one! Has a very short lead so can't see it giving much signal, but I'm hoping the 1645 has 3 already fitted, even though the wi-fi card I'm getting is only 54g.

 

I've also ordered an xps 1645 from the uk and didn't have the option to upgrade to wirelress 'n' card so I am planning on ordering an dell 5300 card. Can anyone confirm if the uk 1645 ships with 3 antennas as standard?

 

Mine is arriving tomorrow, but 'she that must be obeyed' is putting it in hiding until the 25th, so I won't be able to help you until then.

The picture linked from the '1645 owners lounge' thread shows a laptop fitted with a 5300 card with all three antennas. The antennas are also present for the WWAN (3g) card, even though it doesn't have one fitted, so I'm assuming all the antennas get fitted, irrespective of configuration. Fingers crossed!

 

Intel 5100 is a piece of crap wireless card. Ive had 3 intel cards before and theyre all . Whatever you do dont get intel. if you go even a bit far from the router your speed drops to 1mbps. Get DLINK external card from an etailer. I have constant 300mbps.

 

Just to update this old thread, I replaced the Dell 1397 card in my 1645 today and yes, the laptop did have all three antennas pre-installed. Windows 7 had no problems loading drivers for the replacement 5300 card. I get good connection speeds in my house and have doubled the transfer rate over the 1397.

I also fitted a Dell 370 Bluetooth card. This did require drivers loading, but they are readily available on the Dell site.