dual band versus non dual band.

On the HP site for the DV5 they have several options for the wireless card.

Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth +$50.00
Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n Card with Bluetooth (Dual Band) +$50.00

I do not understand why the non dual band card is the same price as the dual band card. Is there some sort of drawback to the dual band that would make people chose the regular one for the same price?

 

Well the non-Dual Band is Intel and the other one is not mentioned by name so it's possible that it's just cheaper to buy than Intel is (which wouldn't be surprising).
All in all there’s no drawback to dual band cards so it’s not the case.

 

One is Atheros, which should work fine (either AR5007, AR5006, AR5009 or AR9285).

The Intel card is also dual band (4965, 5300, 6200 or 6300).


These are all of the cards used on the various DV5 variations. Personally, I would go Intel.

 

For $50 additional, that should be at least an Intel 6200, if not the 6300. Either of those would be a great choice.

Neither the 6200 or the 6300 support bluetooth, AFAIK so I don't know what's going on with HP's spec there.

 

Anyways, I took a look into the dv5-2000 service manual.

These are offered:

Broadcom 43224 802.11a/b/g/n 2×2
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 802.11a/b/g/n 2×2
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 802.11b/g/n 1×2
Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 WLAN
Atheros 9285G 802.11b/g/n 1×1
Broadcom 4313 802.11b/g/n 1×1
Ralink RT3090BC4 802.11b/g/n 1x1

The bluetooth is a separate module.

 

That's the best choice unless you specifically need WiMAX

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help.

 

Each specific model uses certain cards. For current model HP only lists the ones I posted.