T400 Wifi Card techie questions

Since I haven't seen any answers here yet, hopefully I can find them.

The ThinkPad T400 has three WiFi cards I'm interested in (I'm skipping the WiMax option)

ThinkPad (BGN) - No info I can find
Intel 5100 -Plenty of specs
Intel 5300 -Plenty of specs

The Intel cards have plenty of specs out there, making it easier to know about them. However, they're probably less compatible with alternative OSes, and I'm not sure I'll always run Windows (and perhaps I'll dual-boot).

The Intel cards work both at 2GHz and 5GHz frequencies --does anyone know if the base BGN card is, or is it 2GHz only?

Hard call for me. If anyone has any info (or has a base ThinkPad BGN card they're willing to pull long enough to give me some info off it, or even take a good 800x600 or 1024x768 picture of it) I'd really appreciate it.

P.S. If you buy a T400 with a card that uses two antenna leads, do they install the third antenna wire in case you swap out cards someday? I know that wasn't the case with the T61, so I'm curious if this has changed.

 

The general concensus is that the Thinkpad B/G/N card is not bad, but it uses more power than the Intel WiFi Link cards. The Intel 5300 just adds antennas over the 5100, which should theoretically give it better reception.

Many people have the Intel cards and run Linux fine. There are Ubuntu drivers for them, to my knowledge.

Some people have said that the third antenna is installed. However, others installing a 5300 in place of the base Thinkpad B/G card in the X200 (there was a thread about it a while ago) have found that the third antenna was missing.

 

Ubuntu, yes. However, I'm not talking Linux --something a generation or two removed from BSD and NeXT, if you catch my drift.

 

I catch your drift but I don't know if proper Intel 5100/5300 drivers exist for that OS. My guess would be yes as that company has often used Intel parts (graphics for sure, maybe Wi-Fi as well), but I can't guarantee it.

My general recommendation is the 5100 as I have been satisfied with it (read the 802.11N link in my sig), but all of them should work well enough.

 

I decided (reluctantly) on the 5300. I work in IT, in an environment where wireless is slowly increasing. We're working on bids to put in Cisco-N access points across multiple buildings, and I think the card will be a little more robust in multi-client environments.
If I'd known more about the generic BGN card, I'd probably have kept it over the 5100. I'm on a budget, but I don't want to have any regrets, either.

 

I have now found the answer.

The new ThinkPad (B/G/N) Wifi adapter is a Realtek part, based on either the Realtek 8191 or 8192 (I downloaded the drivers and edited the .INF file, which lists both parts). Without having such a card at my disposal, I cannot tell which of the two chips is being used.

I'm now glad I ordered the Intel 5300 --I find many of Realtek's parts to be middle-of-the-road when compared to someone like Broadcomm, Atheros, or Intel. Also, I have now found the Realtek specs, and neither the 8191 or 8192 support the 5GHz band; they are 2.4GHz only, which could be a drawback over time.

The 8191 family has one transmit and two receive paths. The 8192 has two transmit and two receive paths. In comparison, the Intel 5100 has one transmit and two receive paths, and the 5300 has three transmit and three receive paths. The 5300 should be the most robust in noisy environments. The older Intel 4965AGN has two transmit and three receive paths, and should theoretically come in second to the 5300, but ahead of the 5100.

Hope this knowledge helps someone else in their decision.

 

FWIW, I have the 5300. In the building I work at, there are some wifi networks. On my floor there are some weak wifis. I am able to see and lock on to one in particular that very few other laptops can even see. The only thing I can attribute it to is that the 5300 uses that 3d antenna which makes the difference. I have no idea if any of my colleague's laptops are running the 5100, though.