CF-30, MK3, Replace Intel 5100 Wireless?

My CF-30 MK3 has the Intel 5100 draft N card. I will be using this laptop almost exclusively for my wireless internet company. Lots of setup & testing of access points etc.
I'm concerned the draft N card may be lacking in reliability/stability & connection speed with today's wifi equipment.

I've been looking at the new Intel 7260 2x2 card.
When I get the Toughbook up and running it will have Win7 Pro. I'm still on the fence about attempting to run 64-bit.

Has anyone successfully upgraded the mini pcie wireless card?

-GB

 

I'm running an Ubiquiti SR71.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/710805-cf30-mk2-installed-sr71e-wifi-wlan-card.html

I think a lot of people waste their time and money on 64bit Windows.
First of all, if you only have 4gb of ram..Don't bother with 64bit...
Second, What program are you running that will take advantage of 64bit?
If you're not running Photoshop with huge images or 40 instances of Firefox, you're wasting your effort on 64bit.

Here's a good read on 64bit windozes and ram memory size.

http://club.myce.com/f184/how-much-ram-needed-get-good-64-bit-win-7-performance-327064/

 

I have the SR71 in one of mine too. But After mixing several CF-30s and my CF-31 around and using the Internet on each... I really can't tell the difference between the stock card and the SR71. I don't think the differences are as glaring as in the CF-28/29 days when you upgraded the wifi card then. When you did that... You could tell a huge difference.

 

I see a difference between my laptops with and without the SR71. It's when I am out and about that I see the improvement. The SR71 finds and connects to many more access points than any Intel card. Crazy far distances away too. For general use the Intel cards are more than enough. 5300 or 6300 series...Anything with 3 antennas and N.

 

I've used plenty of Ubnt hardware but never took a look at their pcie stuff. Looks like most of it has been discontinued but I did find the driver page.
Maybe I'll give the SR71 a try. It has good reviews!

Understood on the 32 vs 64 bit Win. I just wanted to use 64 because the Toughbook has a 64 processor. I'd rather stick with 32 and have all devices functioning correctly.

-GB

 

Hmmmm... Maybe I ought to swap my SR71 into my CF-31...

 

The SR71 is 2x2. I think the Intel 5100 is also 2x2. If I add a pcie card that uses 3 antennas will I have to run another antenna wire or do the cf-30s, at least the MK2&3, have the extra wire already installed but just not in use? I'm totally happy with 2x2 @ 300Mbps, just curious.

-GB

 

Correct the SR71 has 2 antennas.
If you go with an Intel card, I suggest to get one with 3 antennas. A flag antenna works well for the third antenna and is easy to install.
The 5100 does have 2 antennas, but the 5300 has 3 antennas. They will work with just 2 antennas, but added the third antenna gave me a definite improvement.

 

Link to Lenovo connection manager. I was using version 5.98...I see 6 is available now. Older versions are available at the bottom of the page.

ThinkVantage Access Connections for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit) - Notebooks