Question about the stock Wireless adapter in the x230

Hi everyone! I just received my brand new Lenovo x230, I read a few people really recommending going for the Intel Wireless Adapter rather than the stock card that lenovo puts in most of their units. This has me a little worried and paranoid that perhaps I should exchange my current one(still factory sealed) for one with a better wireless card. I'm not going to be doing any earth shattering tasks over the internet, just need something stable to use over my college/home wifi. I'm just looking to maybe get some feedback from the people who know more about Thinkpads since this is the first one I have purchased. I talked with a very helpful sales rep that offered to waive the restocking fee to get newly configured x230. I'm really just torn if it's worth going through all that hassle just to get a bit of a bump in wireless speeds. If anyone has any advice on which direction I should go in I would most appreciate it! Thanks for reading.

 

I ordered the X230 with the Lenovo 1X1 standard wireless card and I had no issues with it. It is pretty fast, had no disconnects and at home I never had problems with the range of the 1X1 antenna either.
I upgraded the wireless card to the Intel 6300 mainly because I travel a lot and then you never know in which range the wireless router is. I also like to have the option to use the 5MHz frequency because it is often less congested. I would say test your basic card and if you have no issues stick with it. If you run into limitations you can upgrade it later by yourself it is pretty easy.

 

Your primary environment: "college/home" where an access point is always nearby. In this case, no need to worry.

To put things in context, I own and use different ThinkPad models with WiFi cards ranging from Lenovo/Realtek (1x1, single band), to Intel Wireless-N 2200 (2x2, single band), to Intel Advanced-N 6205 (2x2, dual band), to Intel Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3, dual band), and I "feel" the same level of performance from those cards.

Furthermore, on older notebooks and desktop systems around the house, I upgrade them to "N" by using el cheapo nano USB Realtek WiFi 1x1 dongle (as small as the nano USB dongle for the wireless mouse) without any exposed antenna. And you know what? The nano performs flawlessly.

So, if you are "not going to be doing any earth shattering tasks over the internet, just need something stable," I recommend that you open up the box and enjoy your new X230.

Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for the quick replies everyone! I was just concerned I would perhaps have trouble streaming movies/playing light flash games over that antenna but from what you guys have really eased my nerves. I'm not too comfortable opening and upgrading components (besides ram/hdd) but if I did ever feel I wanted to upgrade, is it a pretty easy process? Also, are there any options for a wifi adapter in the 54mm express card slot that come standard on x230's?

 

The quoted speeds are, as you know, "up to" or "maximum" speeds. In reality, download speed depends not only on the WiFi adapter but also on the router and ultimately the server. I've had no problems watching HD video clips using the Realtek.

It is an easy process, with one caveat. You cannot just buy any Intel WiFi PCIe card and plug it in. The list of "compatible/allowed" card IDs is kept in the BIOS.

You mean on the product configuration page, as a configuration option? I don't think so. There are aftermarket WiFi adapter (sometimes as WiFi "N" and USB 3.0 combo) in ExpressCard form. But I'm not surprised if the electronics/firmware innard is Realtek 1x1.

 

Last I used a Realtek card, it had much difficulty in a very busy college lecture hall with about at least fifty other wireless devices.

 

^^^ I suppose the guys around you were feeling the same pain over the same busy access point.

 

Search for wifi card on ebay that has Lenovo or IBM in the description. Then you should be good. More specifically, search for "intel 6300 lenovo". They run less than $20 with free shipping, and it's very easy to upgrade.
I'm using one in my X230T with 3rd antenna connected on WAN, it's been running without any problems. The reason I upgraded mine was to get access to 5GHz router in my room. I actually mistakenly left the wifi card at default when I was configuring the wifi card so I had the default Thinkpad wifi.

 

I really appreciate all the help guys! I think i'm going to just use the stock adapter and if it falls short than i'll just look to upgrade. Thank you again for all the helpful tips/comments. One last question, are there any guides online if I want to eventually upgrade to the "Intel 6300" wireless card?

 

Note that if you have selected camera in your CTO, there aren't 3 antennas for the eventual 6300 card. For guide, download the ThinkPad X230 Hardware Reference Manual PDF.

 

I have the camera, so I opted for the 2x2 IPS display. Thanks for the tip about the 3 antennas card, this is all kind of new to me so i'm learning as I go. I will shoot for purchasing MacMall | Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 - Network adapter - PCI Express Half Mini Card - 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n (pack of 10 - Brown Box) 62205AN.HMWWB

 

Pack of 10?!
Make sure it is lenovo compatoble too. It doesn't say a word about ibm or lenovo so unless someone tried it and it worked, I would just buy from ebay shipped from china.

My x230t has a camera too so it was "cellular wan upgradeable" which has two unused wires inside. I just hooked one of those as a 3rd antenna. 6205 and 6300 price is almost the same so i chose 6300 jist in case I upgrade my router to a 450mbps in the future.

 

I was real thrown off by the pack of ten too..maybe i'll look for a different retailer? I only narrowed in on that chip since that's the one that lenovo offers as an upgrade in the configuration options for an extra 20$.

 

Don't go by name alone. An Intel "Advanced-N 6205" may be different products in different regions of the world: the product ID (a three-part numeric code, or something like that) determines what it exactly is, and such product IDs are stored in the so-called "whitelist" in the BIOS. You and someone in Germany have different whitelists in the two X230 notebooks.

Another risk of buying from websites is that the part may be factory rejects. (Say, I worked for a factory producing WiFi cards for Intel and, instead of "recycling" the rejected parts as instructed, I put them on eBay for some bucks.) The product ID would match, but the card would not work or would burn, causing motherboard problems.