how do the different wireless cards compare?

I noticed in configuring the M4400 that Dell offers 4 different wireless cards, anybody know how the different ones compare?

Dell 1397
Dell 1510 (add $15)
Intel 5100 (add $20)
Intel 5300 (add $40)

The text with the last option suggests much better speed and twice the range.

Right now I have a 4 year old Inspiron 8600, my daughter has a newer Inspiron and my mother has a newer Dell that is the cheapest laptop they sold at that time. I've noticed that they can both pickup wifi signals at locations where my 8600 won't, so I'm interested in getting the best wireless I can with my next machine. If spending another $40 will guarantee that I get that, then I'm all for it.

 

I'd like to know this as well.

 

i dont know about the dell branded options, but there have been lots of complaints about the 5100.

the 5300 has 2 antennas. i upgraded to a precision m4400 from a inspiron 8600 as well.

i've been very happy with the range im getting from the 5300.

 

It has three actually ...

as for how the various one compare, I suspect few people have multiple machines with different card to know ...

 

yea i saw three antenna connectors. but what is the third one for?

and why is it advertised as having 2 antennas (antennae?)

 

Presume only two are used for diversity with "a/b/g" and the third is used for MIMO with "n", as I don't have an "n" router yet, I can't say, let alone see how much the 450Mbps figure is hype ...

 

Here is a link about the 5100 vs 5300

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4187106

Basically the 5100 has a 1x2 antenna setup (1 Transmit / 2 Receive) whereas the 5300 has a 3x3 setup. This enables the 5300 to go up to 450Mbps but I do not believe there are any routers out yet that support this (not sure about that though). I have read about more people having conflicts or issues with the 5100 though (search the notebookreview forums) so you may want to go with the 5300 to be safe or the base a/g/n model if you don't want to spend for the upgrades.

 

I have the 5100 and it works fine with my Linksys WRT54GL wireless router (with DD-WRT firmware).

I can really recommend WRT54GL if you don't need Wireless-N since it is a stable router and you also have the option to run third-party firmware on it to get more features like WDS bridging.

Örjan