ThinkPad vs Intel WiFi on T400s

The T400s has dropped slightly in price. I took a look and they're now using the ThinkPad wifi card instead of the original Intel 5300. Also there's no choice to select the Intel model.

But took a look at the T400 and the various cards are still offered. Not sure if there's really any noticeable performance differences among the cards:

ThinkPad b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe
Intel WiFi Link 5100 [add $20.00]
Intel WiFi Link 5300 [add $40.00] [Lenovo recommended]​

 

Thinkpad wifi cards are mostly Phillip and atheros card (not sure which one they still use for the current Thinkpad laptops). The performance would depend on how many antenna setup they use. The intel 5100 card use 2 wires and 5300 use 3 wires, the latter have stronger signal reception and transmission, and the throughput is also better. So if the thinkpad wireless use a 3 antenna setup, then the speed should not be bad.

Without the Intel wireless card, the laptop would not be called a Centrino. As centrino brand is only valid for Intel CPU + Intel wireless card, not that of a big deal IMHO.

 

the current thinkpad b/g/n card used in the T400/T400s is a half-length mPICe utilizing a realtek RTL8191SE chipset.

my father has this card in his T400 and it works great.   i have an intel 5100 and 5300 in my main systems and each work great as well.   these days you can't go wrong with any of the cards.   i tend to prefer intel cards simply because their drivers usually work better in server OS environments -- which for 99.9999999% of users is a non-issue.   (and yes, i'm making that statistic up. )

 

Supposedly, the Intel WiFi Link cards have a lower power consumption as compared to the Realtek cards, although I don't have any data.

 

apart from drivers support, i don't think there is real big deal with most of these wifi cards. Maybe you would lack the fancy Centrino sticker but i don't think that is a real big deal, since there are many people whom hate the intel and windows stickers and remove it right after they got it.

 

I never even got a centrino sticker with my system...

Not that I care since I took all my stickers off .

 

i don't have stickers on my thinkpads either, since they wear out or become slightly unglued due to long usage. Also windows stickers are notoriously cheap, since the paint or ink that is used, wear out quickly compared to the Intel stickers.

 

Thanks for all the info here.

Not a deal breaker for me regarding the Centrino compliance, but what is is if the Intel does use less power consumption than the Realtek...I'd rather go with the Intel then