Wireless cards- Dell 1390, 1490 vs. Intel 3945?

Any real reason to choose an Intel wireless adapter over the standard Dell ones as long as they offer the same capability? I'm ordering a new Inspiron (or Vostro) and the Dell 1390 (802.11g) is standard. The Intel 3945 (802.11a/b/g) costs an additional $25.

Or should I also consider the $100 Draft-N wireless for future purposes?

Any input is appreciated.

 

$100 Draft-N!? You can buy the Intel 4965 for $45. That's just painful.

 

I'd also like to know is the Intel 3945 (802.11a/b/g) is any better than the Dell 1390 (802.11g), such as at keeping a signal. I'll be buying an Inspiron 1520 pretty soon, so any suggestions would be great =)

 

The Intel Proset cards seem to be really good, in my experience. Roughly 80% of the systems we support have Proset cards, and they seem to be solid. The occasional problems we've seen tend to either stem from a problem with the antenna or an unlucky bad apple in the batch.

 

I am using 1390 without any problem. If you only need 802.11g, why pay more.

 

Main reason I chose an Intel card this time around over a Broadcom (Dell) card is the open source driver support. I hated not having WiFi in Linux or having to jump through a zillion hoops just get it working....

I saw my sister in laws E1505 with an Intel card and how it was seemlessly picked up by multiple linux flavors. That sold me on choosing Intel over Broadcom, but might not be important to you as a user.

The factors that make one better than the other depends on you though...

 

In order to have a "Centrino" laptop, you have to use the Intel chipset, processor, and wireless card. If you use the Dell card, you lose that "Centrino" name.

Supposedly, according to Intel, the Centrino combination allows better performance/power management and battery life than without.

Unless it's a real budget system, I would go with the Intel card, and there is no need to spend $75 on the 4965; better get the 3945 (and sacrifice "N"), if that's much more reasonable.

 

I have the 1390. Very happy and looks to be a reliable card so far. I don't even use Dell's drivers - just the "stock" ones that come from the Vista install.

Regards,
Paolo

 

I had a horrible experience with the Dell cards that we had on the D610's at work (had about 5 laptops, wireless didn't work properly half the time, in the most random of cases). Swore never to buy another Dell wireless product again. Went with the 4965 on the new laptop, and its been a dream.

Would like to see some cheap AP's come out though for finalized 802.11n that can run Linux.