Any Intel WiFi Link 5100 vs 5300 experience

I'm looking to purchase a new laptop and install Linux on it. I have a choice of either a Intel WiFi Link 5100 or a 5300. If all else is equal, I prefer the 5300, but I am curious about the state of wireless drivers for both chipsets.

The think pad thinkwiki suggests one needs the 2.6.27 kernel for these two chipsets. (However I am looking a not only a thinkpad, but also a dell, and some other brand laptops).

Has anyone had any success with either (or both) of these Intel wireless (5100/5300) chipsets with Linux?

 

The two chipsets use the same driver (iwlagn), so there shouldn't be any difference in theory, regarding Linux support. The differences between the two chipsets should be the same as when running Windows, as long as the driver works (it's still in an early state).

Myself, I own a Dell notebook with Intel 5100 chipset, but I haven't tried it out yet under Linux because I have only wired network at home. The only place where I rely on wifi is the university.

 

Thanks, ... is suspected it might be the iwlagn (I noted some forum posts of a Lenovo user trying to get the Intel 5100 to work with the iwlagn).

I think that is the key point ... its still in an early state. ... If I end up purchasing a laptop with this WiFi hardware, I may go for the 5300, unless I read of the 5100 functioning superior.

I noticed this wireless in a Dell Studio 15, that I may order from Dell Ireland. I simply wish one could actually pickup, rotate, touch, and see the Dell prior to purchasing. I find laptops tend to be more "personal" than desktops.

My wife and I use wireless a lot: my wife uses it at work, and we both use wireless on vacation. I use wireless when I travel on business. My wife used to use wireless at the University, when she was still in University. We have both wired (every room in our apartment (but kitchen and bathrooms) are pre-wired for ethernet) and we also use wireless at home.

I use Linux extensively for home use (and business use when travelling - I travel a lot).

I've read one needs the 2.6.27 linux kernel for the iwlagn to function properly. I don't know if that is true. As of today, the 2.6.27 is relatively new for most Linux distributions. I use openSUSE and it is currently only in openSUSE-11.1 beta4, ... so if I purchase a Dell, I'll likely load openSUSE-11.1.

 

i have the 5300 and it works fine in ubuntu 8.10

 

Neat ! What kernel version are you using? I think the command for that in a konsole is: uname -a

 

5100 worked out of box in 8.10

 

Most new linux distro versions will have the kernel, and I believe every rolling release distro had it a month ago.

 

I have 5100, works on 2.6.27 with (as was already pointed out) iwlagn.ko, but you also need to download firmware from intel. I was surpirized that it actually is more powerful/sensitive than atheros card in my other laptop and even than an external 500mW prizm card.

AFAIK, the difference 5100 vs 5300 is that 5300 supports higher speeds on 802.11n networks (not relevant for me).

 

Who really has a wifi network that can fully use the speed anyways. Unless you do a lot of intranet file transfering, meh...g is still good enough for me.

 

Do you know if the Wireless-N access point makes a difference? In other words, will the 5300 get better throughput on all properly working Wireless-N APs or is there a correspondingly faster AP that must be used to realize the potential in the 5300?

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a TP500 and the cost bump from 5100 to 5300 is $20. I'm leaning toward doing that, but won't make sense if it only matters if I spend a million dollars on an AP required for the extra speed.

thanks,
hank

 

I'm thinking I should update my input to this thread.

I ended up purchasing a laptop (Dell Studio 15) with the Intel WiFi Link 5300. Under openSUSE-11.1 beta5 (with the 2.6.27 kernel) the wireless "just works" under KDE-3.5.10. All that I had to do was chose wpa, set my home wan ssid, and set my password, and it connected.

Our current home wireless-router does not have N, so I have not tested that yet. However we have a new wireless router (that arrived this week) that has N, and its possible I will be able to test that "N" compatibility this weekend.

 

I have Ubuntu 8.10 running on my Thinkpad x200 Tablet. The wireless (Wi-Fi 5100) worked great out of the box. I had to make a minor change for my display (it found some virtual displays that was causing problems), and I still don't have the digitizer working, but everything else is great.

The 5100 and 5300 are basically the same card. The 5300 is supposed to have a 3x3 antenna array (3 transmit, 3 receive), while the 5100 only has a 1x2 array (1 transmit, 2 receive). This bumps up the theoretical N speed from 300 to 450 mbps. However, you may need a 5GHz 802.11n router to see a benefit, and I have never seen a benchmark of an 802.11n router that can do much better than 100 mbps.

I would just save your money and get the 5100 in most cases.

 

Yep....MEPIS included ('bout time!), which is NOT bleeding edge but a stable variant of Debian. I'll have the 5300 card pretty soon myself.

 

If you want to know the difference between the 5100 and 5300, you should read this. Basically, the 5300 has more antennas, better range performance and better speed performance.

I've got a 5300 and a 2.6.27 and it's running just fine.