Wireless Card Choices?

What do people recommend for the wireless card? Clearly the 5300 >> 5100, and 5350 >> 5150. However, they don't offer the WiMax enabled 5350 for the T400s (yet?).

Do people think the 5300 is better or worse than the 5100?
I'm in a city where they talk of putting up a bunch of WiMax, but know knows if/when that will happen.

Alternatively, is there a good chance that the 5350 will be coming to the T400s in the near future?

Thanks.

 

The 5300, 5350, and 4965 can use 3 antenna, where the 5100 can only use 2. So, I get 125Mbps on the 5100, and 270Mbps on the 4965 and 5350.


Theoretically, the 51(x)0 can get 300Mbps and the 53(x)0 can get 450Mbps, but I've not seen any routers that would do that.

 

If you're only getting 125Mbps on the 5100 the issue is most likely that you are operating in 20MHz channel width. Go to device manager, properties for you 5100, and set channel width to Auto for 2.4GHz & 5GHz.


I have used both the 5300 and 5100 in my x200 Tablet. In my experience with a D-Link 655 at home and various public hot spots on the road I have concluded that the 5300 is very slightly better. It gives slightly better range and speed at range. However, the 5100 is perfectly adequate for any area with decent Wi-Fi coverage.

The 5x50 are identical to the 5x00 except with the addition of WiMax. The WiMax option may be good for future proofing but at the moment availability is extremely limited.


Another option would be to order your T400s with a regular Wi-Fi card. If/when WiMax ever becomes available in your city you can get a 5350 off eBay and pop it in (make sure it is for a ThinkPad). The upgrade is relatively straightforward and will not affect your warranty status.

 

It's already set to Auto.

I've used a 2 wire Broadcom N as well that only got 125mbps on the 5ghz band...I've had a half dozen 5100s only get 125mbps.

 

Lenovo recently released a new wireless driver for the 5300 (at least) that fixed the remaining quirks and random drop outs that the 5300 and 5100 exhibited. I recommend one of the Intel cards as a result. Uses less power in G mode than the ThinkPad G card and supposedly better range for for G. The N stuff is useless to me right now, but either Intel card seems to be worth the $20-50 difference