Why did Lenovo take away this configuration?

I'm keeping an eye on the ThinkPad SL300 and noticed that besides a current price drop the option for wireless card is only

ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter III

I don't know much about wireless cards but I wanted to know that if this was gonna be the only option of wireless card, would this really suffice for day to day use?

 

Why wouldn’t it? 802.11b and g are the most widely deployed protocols today. As for the other two dominant wireless protocols, 802.11a tends to be used for special reasons and 802.11n tends to be used for high speeds and will become the protocol of the future.

 

I have a quad mode (A/B/G/N) Intel 5100, but have yet to use the A or N band on my x200. BinkNR is correct in stating that the vast majority of available hotspots are B or G. I have never seen an 'A' network anywhere, although some corporations may use them. 'N' is becoming increasingly popular because it promises more speed (≈100 mbps in practice) due to a higher frequency, and more range due to MIMO. However, if your main concern is getting an internet connection, 802.11g will be more than fast enough, and 802.11b will probably even suffice. The main reason for 'A' is if your company uses it, and for 'N' if you intend to work on LARGE files stored on a NAS, and don't want your network card to slow you down.

 

Well even though you guys are correct regarding protocol use...having the intel cards is usually just better for the multiple antennas for signal strength and range. Also the drivers are more solid and work well in linux since intel opens it up. Buuuut ultimately you should be fine. I just tend to see people having more issues with "generic" branded wifi cards (arthos, realtek...etc?) in comparison to the intel cards when I do IT support at my job.

 

With regards to Shin Kai, the first part of your question... i highly doubt lenovo has limited the access of the Intel 5100/5300 for SL300, i would recommend you to call Lenovo and ask them.. most likely it's just a screw up on the site as usual and they can probably add that option in for you.

Although the vast majority of available hot spots are B or G (that's just due to cost and because the protocol has already been finalize in my opinion). On the consumer side N capable routers are considerably cheap and affordable now. So in my opinion i think it's a hindrance in not providing 802.11N and there is no reason why they shouldn't. 802.11N standard will be in the near near near future lol. I remember reading some where there's another protocol starting to creep up for consumers.

I honestly disagree with almost everything you said. Umm.... higher frequency? N uses 2.4ghz... it can run on 5.8ghz.. but most low budget consumer routers operate only on 2.4ghz. MIMO is not only for N... G has MIMO too... I have G and N access points in my house... my G can operate in 100Mbps. If my main concern is getting an internet connection I'll still go for N. When you talk about corporations... they will most likely NOT use Wireless connection. That is one of the biggest Rookie IT mistakes ever to allow wireless connection unless there's a real specific reason to do so.... PERIOD.