M1330 Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card..is it draft 2.0?

title says it all...

Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card

offered on the XPS M1330

couldn't find any information on what version of N this card is..anybody know?

 

I was looking for this too. All I could find was ref to 802.11n(draft) every router I have seen that is draft 2.0 is listed as 802.11n(draft2.0) so it doesnt look like it..

but hey ho.. I couldnt find if n to n2.0 was possible by firwmare upgrade either... so who knows... it all seems a bit airy fairy at moment..

 

yeah...I don't know if I should even bother with the N upgrade..Might just settle with ABG and worry about N when I'm done with the M1330 3-4 years from now

 

is there a way to tell if your router is n draft 2.0 compliant?

 

nope santa rosa supports final N

 

... usually they should tell you on the box or on the product's site.

 

Yes, it is Draft 2

 

Well i read somewhere in the network forum that someone is able to connect to the D-link DIR-655 Draft N 2.0 without any problems with the new intel card.

 

Does that mean it will offer better battery life than the b/g card that it has as standard?

 

That card you're looking at is the Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN, you can find the specs here:
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/wireless_n/overview.htm

 

Do any of you have any reviews where they actually tested Wireless N performance against Wireless G and showed a substantial improvement? Here a while back with the Draft N hardware the performance was worse in several reviews I saw using a number of Draft N routers.

 

I can tell you I have the 1330 with the draft n card and a Linksys WRT300n. The combination of the two is terrible. My notebook has terrible a/b/g reception at school. At home when I connect to my draft n router, I start of at 130MBps connection but it gets slower and slower until after about 10-15 minutes I'm at 2MBps. So I have to disconnect and reconnect.

I am unable to disable the N transmission on my router or turn the N off on my notebook, so I am stuck with this problem.

 

I'd be willing to bet your WRT300N is Draft 1.0 and is what's causing the problem...

I'm not familiar with the WRT300N interface, I only use DD-WRT Firmware, so I can't give you instructions on how to disabled N-Mode (although I can tell you that you should be able to) but I can tell you how to disable N-Mode on your notebook:

Start > Computer > Right-Click > Manage > UAC Promp Continue > Device Manager > Network Adapters > Intel Wireless 4965AGN > Right-Click > Properties > Advanced > 802.11n Mode > Disable > OK

 

Dell.ca only offers Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card for a n-draft card. I know that dell.com offers the Intel wireless-N... Are they the same?

 

No, they are not the same...if you call, they should be able to provide you with the Intel N card

 

I don't have the Intel Wireless card, nor do I have an option for 802.11n mode. However, I have adjusted other options, such as band preference and disabling power saving features and other compatability options. Each time I change a setting, I am unable to connect to anything in any mode. Even non-N routers.

This card is the most worthless piece of junk and makes the entire laptop essentially useless. I consider myself very lucky when I am able to get this thing to connect to a network. When it does, it usually takes 3 or 4 attempts to connect. Then it takes nearly 10 minutes after connecting, to get anything beyond "local" access.

 

What makes "Santa Rosa" more supportive of N final than any other platform? N isn't ratified yet so unless you can see the future you can't ensure that the final version will be a driver update and thus can't prove that the Pre-N offered by Intel in Santa Rosa is actually future proof...

And you can always add final N support by replacing the internal WiFi card with whatever is out or adding it in as an expresscard...

I'd stay away from buying "draft" products if it were me... Seems silly to knowingly BUY BETA products that don't offer free upgrades to final (as a written contract)...