Where to buy Intel 5300

Where's the cheapest place to buy the intel 5300 wireless mini card for my xps 1530? Also, how much of a difference is it from the Dell Wireless 1395 mini card?

 

I haven't had the chance to use a 5300 myself, but most reports say that it's significantly better than the Broadcom cards Dell uses. Cheapest place to buy is probably eBay, but I bet you need a half-height card and those are fairly rare.

 

There are actually plenty on ebay, I was looking into getting one myself.

However, I'm not exactly sure what kind of differences we would be talking about? The only reason I looked into one was because Intel cards work better with Linux, supposedly.

 

You are right. They seem to be fairly common now. They were still pretty rare the last time I looked (which, admittedly, was a long time ago).

Basically, people just say you get better reception. Like four bars on the 5300 compared to two bars on a Broadcom part at the same distance from a wireless device. Not quite sure after that...

 

I bought my 5300 half-height on eBay. There's more than plenty of them floating around eBay, trust me. Mine cost me $21 with free shipping, and the rest of the ones I've seen tend to be similarly priced.

 

Does the 1530 use the half card or the mini card?

 

The M1530 uses a full-height card: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsm1530/en/SM/minicard.htm#wp1180188

 

Is there antenna that you need to connect? Or just plug in? On ebay some are selling with antennas.

 

The 5300 requires three antenna cables (black, white and grey) for maximum performance, although it will work with two (black and white). You should have the black and white ones at the very least, since your current card will be hooked up to those. You may have the grey cable as well, but if not, you can just get that separately and route it along the same path as the black and white ones.

 

What height does the M133O use?
Does it pay to upgrade from an Intel 4965?

 

The 1330 also uses the full height too. Can't I use the grey antenna from the other slot?

 

I don't see why not. They all go to the same place. You just have to re-route it to plug into the WLAN card without sticking out.

 

If you have single 2.4GHz band wireless N router then 5300 will give you faster connections up to 270 or 300Mbps whereas 4965 could have only done it if your wireless router supports 5GHz band.