Differences in wireless cards in NP8130/P151HM1

What is the difference between the
Internal 802.11B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card,
Intel® 6230 Advanced-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN and Bluetooth Card,
Intel® 6300 Ultimate-N 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card, and
Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1102 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card?

I understand the Intel 6230 has bluetooth, but other than that what differentiates them and makes them worth the added cost?

 

All but the standard card support dual-band wireless, meaning you can connect to access points running on the less-crowded 5 GHz frequency. That means higher throughput at a cost of range as the 5 GHz band doesn't cope as well with walls and other obstacles as the 2.4 GHz band.

The Intel 6230 card has 2 antennae and built-in Bluetooth, which is nice if you intend to use it. Neither the 6300 nor Killer-N have BT. The former has 3 antennae, thus providing more range, which is handy if you would be working further away from an access point. It also supports wireless-n speeds up to 450 Mbps, but you have to be connecting to a router that has similar capability. The Killer-N has 2 antennae but has controller software that allows the card to prioritize network traffic. I personally think it's snake oil, but there are folks here who believe it really works and is beneficial for gaming, watching HD movies, and so forth. I personally went with the 6300 because the 3 antennae and 450 Mbps support are more beneficial for my usage than built-in Bluetooth. The Intel is also a proven commodity with good support and stable drivers.

 

The Intel 6230 is Dual Band (2.4 GHz and 5GHz) has 2 antennas and delivers up to 300 Mbps. The stock card is Single Band (2.4 GHz) has 1 antenna and delivers up to 150 Mbps.

 

Awesome, thanks so much for the detailed response, really clarified it a lot for me. One question I have though is with the 6300, would it use the third antenna to boost reception on all types of routers and wireless networks in general? Or would it have to be a certain type of higher end router compatible with the third antenna? Thank you.

 

It does help. I can see more wireless networks with my notebook than my wife's, which has a cheap $10 USB wireless-n adapter. If you're going to be taking your notebook around a university, you'd probably have better luck getting a stronger, more stable connection on usually crowded campus WiFis.

 

It will help all around. The extra antenna will give you better signal at the same distance versus a card with fewer antennas. (USB adapters are poor comparisons because they basically don't have any antennas, due to the size). It won't increase range persay, but it will make a difference in speed and stability on the same network.

 

i started a thread that shifted to the networking forum (where you can find a bunch of info). i've got the 6300 but i've got a dlink dir-655 router (single band but rated at 300 Mbps). although i've gotten for brief periods transfer speeds approaching the rated speed, about 90% - 99% of time, i'm only getting 130 Mbps. so don't necessasrily expect that you'll get the rated speeds of either the adapter or the router.

 

Are you running the adapter in auto channel width, and relatively close to the router? Are there any other sources of interference around? I've had 300Mbps rated routers run at that same speed when the card is only set to the 20mhz channel width. Currently, I have the 6300 with a 450Mbps router at home that averages only 330Mbps two rooms away on 5ghz (the range and high frequency cause the drop)

 

I'm only 10 feet away from my 450 Mb, 5 GHz router with a clear line of sight and I'm always between 300-400 Mb. I very rarely hit 450.

 

i usually get between 270 and 300 on my linksys e3000 and 6230

 

The new issue of Maximum PC arrived in my mailbox today. The editors did a shootout of the Killer-n versus the 6300, and the Killer won. They do a pretty good job with this stuff, so the Killer might just be worth it after all.

 

I just read that same one. Laptop Magazine is doing a similar test in their upcoming issue. We are working with Bigfoot and sent a pair of machines identically configured, one with Intel and one with the Big Foot Killer and Laptop Magazine is completing very similar tests.

The New Bigfoot Killer 3x3's are expected to be out in a few weeks.