which wireless to get??

-Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN [add $45.00]
-ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN Mini-PCIe US/EMEA/LA/ANZ
-ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter [add $35.00]

Out of those 3 will i be ok with the 2nd choice or is it a really junk?? should i upgrade? thanks

 

Intel...they make the best WiFi cards I know of.

 

Thinkpad is Atheros brand. If all you want is a/b/g I've heard it's better than the Intel option. If you are interested in 802.11n then I would personally get the Intel 4965.

 

I'm not sure which of the two 802.11n adapters is best, but I have had issues with the ThinkPad (Atheros) adapter...

Matt

 

i have no clue what this mean

"Thinkpad is Atheros brand. If all you want is a/b/g I've heard it's better than the Intel option. If you are interested in 802.11n then I would personally get the Intel 4965."


but i am just going to use it when i am at home go to starbucks, go to a friends house and university...

 

get a dell

 

Get the cheapest one. It will be more than sufficient for what you propose to use it for.

 

The Atheros will perform better. The only conceivable upside to the Intel is that it's supposedly final 802.11n compatible, while the Atheros has yet to receive certification.

 

Some say the Intel also is a bit better for battery life. Keyword a bit.

I picked the Intel on mine as they are more universally compatible usually for 3rd party Wifi tools, but the average consumer does not need to worry about this. My reason is that I am a network admin/installer so I need to run extra programs for other things.

 

I'm sure they're both good. I personally went with the Intel wireless as that's what I've used in the past. This kind of question is like anything that's fairly similar, i.e. Pepsi or Coke? You will get different opinions from everybody, unless there is some known major defect in one of them.

 

Actually, that's literally a matter of taste, while this is a little more lopsided a comparison. One has been established as performing better than the other.

 

Yeah, that's true if we have the data, but since this is the new platform and new cards, neither of the two have been tested enough to say which is better in this case. As a result, it probably boils down to taste (which includes the history of each).

 

Going by history is all we have at the moment, that's true, but it is a hell of a lot. Side by side the Atheros cards have always beat the Intel ones for stability, sensitivity, power and range. With N, I concede that we haven't seen side by side comparisons yet, but for Intel to trump the Atheros would be like the US going to war with Canada. Not impossible, but highly improbable.