T500 Intel WiFi 5100vs5300 question about antennas ...

I will be getting T500 with Intel WiFi link 5100. I cannot upgrade to 5300 beacause its Top Seller model.

Im curious if T500 has already installed antennas so it would be very easy to upgrade from 5100 to 5300. Does anybody know this for sure ?

My model will be T500 2082-BKU. Im not sure if its WWAN upgradeable ...
If it was it would have antennas preinstalled so why not additional antennas for 5300 wouldnt be installed ?

Thanks

 

WWAN and WLAN are two different things. The intel 5300 or 5100 are WLAN cards, whereas the 'WWAN upgradeable' means you have an antenna in your laptop capable of being used with a WWAN modem (which you would have to install). Alternatively, you can buy a Thinkpad that already comes with a WWAN modem.

Either way, if you want the 5300 and can only buy a model with a 5100, you don't have the option of just sticking on another antenna to the card, you need to buy the 5300 card and swap the 5100 out for it.

 

I know its different thing. But if they leave you antenna for WWAN why wouldnt they left antenna that fits wifi 5300 ?

Sorry but you didnt understood me well ... I know that I have to replace the 5100 with 5300 ....

Take a look here:
# Intel WiFi Link 5100 mini-PCIe adapter (codenamed Shirley Peak 1x2) supporting up to 300Mbit/s Rx / 150Mbit/s Tx
#Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 mini-PCIe adapter (codenamed Shirley Peak 3x3) supporting up to 450Mbit/s

Intel 5100 has 1x2 antennas and 5300 has 3x3 antennas ...

Now ... do I have rest of the antennas included or not ?

 

No, you don't.

 

Strange ...

Now 2nd quesition ...

Is my T500 ( 2082-BKU )WWAN upgradeable ? I mean does it have WWAN antennas included ?

Somewhere in tabook.pdf in T500 series they say: WWAN upg, none, or just blank space. How do I know now ? Of course Im talking about the data in the tables in tabook.

Thanks

 

Do you have a link to where you're buying from? Maybe we can take a look for you. If not, maybe you can ask the seller for a serial number and then you can use that serial number here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...=/partslookup/partsLookup.vm&sitestyle=lenovo

for a parts lookup list. The WWAN antenna will show up as something along the lines of: 44C1991 SBB WWAN MP-READY FULL F1

From the very brief description on Lenovo's website, the 2082-BKU T500 doesn't come with the WWAN antenna as far as I can tell, however it may just be that it's not be included in that limited description that's given:

"Original description: P8700(2.53GHz), 3GB RAM, 320GB 7200rpm HD, 15.4in 1680x1050 LCD, 256MB ATI Radeon HD3650, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, Camera, 9c Li-Ion, WinXP Pro"

 

I can't quite make out what's going on here. What i think you want to know is are the antennae there. I'd bet they are. The 5100 uses 2 and the 5300 uses 2. I have an X200T with the 5100 and it has 3 antennae but only uses 2.

If what Lumpkin says is true there isn't much difference between the two though. The only way I'd upgrade would be to get the wimax version.

 

My 200 Tablet came with a 5100 but nonetheless included all three WLAN antennas and both WWAN antennas. The 3rd WLAN antenna was taped to the top of the card and unused. I have since upgraded to a 5300 and it works fine. However, my model was CTO and not topseller and therefore may be treated differently by Lenovo. Nonetheless the 5100 is a good card ( detail) and I doubt the upgrade is necessary for the vast majority of users (I ended up upgrading mine because a friend accidentally ordered a ThinkPad without ANY WLAN card [I gave him my 5100 and bought a 5300 off ebay for myself]).

The tabook does not list anything about WWAN for your particular model. Contrast this with the x200/T400 which clearly list "WWAN Upgradeable" on the models that don't have WWAN installed. For this reason, I would guess that topseller T500, without WWAN pre-installed, lack the two WWAN antennas.