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    Wifi 5100 vs 5300

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by solarscott, Apr 10, 2009.

  1. solarscott

    solarscott Notebook Guru

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    Just wondering what the difference is between the intel 5100 and 5300 wifi links...in laymens terms would be great...thanks
     
    solarscott, Apr 10, 2009
    #1
  2. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Basically, in short, the 5300 is supposed to give better range and wireless signal reception.
     
    MidnightSun, Apr 10, 2009
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  3. solarscott

    solarscott Notebook Guru

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    great! Thanks.

    Next question...does it actually get better range and get reception?
     
    solarscott, Apr 10, 2009
    #3
  4. Chango99

    Chango99 Derp

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    1234567yes
     
    Chango99, Apr 10, 2009
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  5. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Arguable. I get great reception with my WiFi 5300 card. Some say there's no real difference, while others report that the 5100 drops connections much more frequently than the 5300.

    Personally, I'd say since it's not too expensive of an upgrade based on the cost of a laptop, go with the 5300.
     
    MidnightSun, Apr 10, 2009
    #5
  6. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    I have been using 5100 for around 7 months and I have never seen a dropped connection (in the cafes, airports, at home etc.).

    I think the difference between 5100 and 5300 is more on the theory rather than practice. In other words, the difference exists on the paper but not in real life.


    --
     
    ramgen, Apr 10, 2009
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  7. neenee

    neenee Notebook Consultant

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    The 5300 supports a higher maximum throughput (450 Mbps instead of 300 Mbps), provided your access point supports it.

    Check the 'Features and Benefits' section on this page.

    There should be no difference in how often, if at all, either configuration disconnects from an access point.
    Perhaps there are more complaints about the 5100 because there are more people using it.
     
    neenee, Apr 10, 2009
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  8. aidil

    aidil Notebook Evangelist

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    Since I own both cards, I can say that in reality 5100 indeed drops connection 'speed' to 130Mbps after few seconds at 270Mbps, and tend to stay there except being reconnected again. While 5300 tend to have steady connection speed at 270Mbps.

    I know that not only me who has 5100 with this kind of issue in this forum. Don't know why, maybe because I use only single band 2.4GHz router (with wide 40MHz channel enabled). I haven't tried to compare both at 5GHz band.

    But at least I'm not complaining, since 130Mbps is still above 802.11g speed.
     
    aidil, Apr 10, 2009
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  9. wobble987

    wobble987 Notebook Virtuoso

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    if memmory serves,

    the 5300 has more antenna compared to the 5100.
     
    wobble987, Apr 10, 2009
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  10. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

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    One more antenna connection available but not all laptops have the 3 antenna setup installed. Works fine on 2 though i don't have a wireless N network to know what speeds it connects/transfers at.
     
    goofball, Apr 10, 2009
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  11. stevezachtech

    stevezachtech Notebook Evangelist

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    There was a thread that compared the 5100 and the 5300 in terms of how it would improve if the latter was installed.. I heard that the 5300 had less issues and it had better qualities as a Wi-fi receiver..
     
    stevezachtech, Apr 16, 2009
    #11