Replacement WLAN Card for a ThinkPad X61

I'm been dragged kicking and screaming into helping a mate out with his rather battered old ThinkPad X61 Laptop - basically the bundled 4965AG wireless card has kicked the bucket (the laptop was dropped by customs personnel in Libreville, Gabon) and I was just wanting to see what WLAN cards would be recommended to replace it.

Note that he has the Middleton BIOS installed but I've also confirmed the mini PCI slot is definitely working, as I tried it with a spare 3945ABG but I need to keep that myself for another mate I'm helping out.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

 

With the Middleton BIOS you can install any wifi card. The 4965 was a good card, if your friend wants to stick with that they are cheap on ebay but get the non-crippled agn version though so that he can use wifi N networks as well.

Other Intel cards with 3 antennas are the 5300 or 6300, or you can get the 2 antenna 5100 or 6200 for a bit less. Note that the 6200 and 6300 are half-size cards and will need a bracket to adapt to a full-size mini PCI slot.

Personally, I'm leaning towards the Atheros AR9280 for upgrades right now. I recently bought an AR9280 and it seems to get better reception than the 5100, 6200 and 6300 cards I have.

If your friend wants the exact same card as he had before, I have a 4965ag card that I pulled from my T61 which you can have for the cost of postage from Canada, but I would really recommend going with one of the newer dual-band N capable cards I mentioned.

 

i would go with the Intel 5300, it runs cooler then the 4965 one. The 5300 can run on two antennas.

 

Cheers mate - I'll see about getting one ordered off eBay UK and see how it goes.