Decided on T400, now which wireless link? and battery question

I decided to go for the T400 with the discrete graphics card. It seems the best bet in terms of weight and led screen.
Which wireless link should I choose?
ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter III

Intel WiFi Link 5100 (AGN) [add $25.50]

Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) [add $38.25]

Also, does all but the 4 cell battery stick out the back? and could the battery from my T42 be used as a back up?
Thanks.

 

I'd go with the Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) for only $13 more than the 5100.

If you don't think you will need wireless N (802.11n) support, then you can always stay with the ThinkPad 11b/g. Wireless N is the newer/faster protocol over G (802.11g), it's starting to get more popular. But yes, you will need a N router also.

 

go with the intel 5300 and i don't know about the battery though. sry.

 

So the one that's included (ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter III) is not up to snuff?

 

No, wireless G is still the most widely used and the speed is more than enough for Internet, and wireless G will still be around for many years. The faster wireless N is more useful for transferring large data over a WLAN, for example, transferring data between 2 PCs at home or at the office. The 5100/5300 support all four a/b/g/n protocols, the ThinkPad Wireless supports only b and g.

 

No the 4 cell does not stick out the back, it is flush with the system. The 6 cell sticks out ~1in, and 9cell ~1.5 in.

As far as I can tell, the part number for the 4cell in the T400 is 41U3196 which comes from the older T60/61's, and is not the same battery as your T42.

 

Thanks all for the useful info. Last question:
Dedicated or integrated graphics? I'll be doing some personal webdesign and some desktop publishing stuff but am usually plugged in.

 

Go with the discrete GPU. The great thing with it is that you can switch back and forth between integrated and discrete graphics from within Windows.

When you need the GPU power, switch over to the discrete graphics. When you're on the go and don't need anything special from the GPU, switch back to integrated to save battery life. It's a complete win win.

 

OT: From owkias signature:

I'm guessing the WXSGA+ is a typo. I'm a screen real estate lover and I ordered a T400 with WXGA+(1440x900). I thought that was the max resolution for T400 and any other 14" laptop screen(that I know of..). Please say that it's a typo..

Sorry for the thread hijacking.. I went with the 5300. I'm not even sure what the difference between 5100 and 5300 is..

 

5100 -> 1 transmit spatial stream and 2 receive spatial streams.

5300 -> 3 transmit spatial streams and 3 receive spatial streams.

 

For those of you wondering why A and 5.8Ghz-based N are of any importance when G is good enough, for me the major draw-back of G (and 2.4Ghz-based N) is the overcrowded 2.4Ghz spectrum that has only 3 non-interfering channels despite the larger total channel count. You're competing with Bluetooth, cordless phones, the B and G networks of your neighbors and even your microwave oven. That's a lot of crowded spectrum. All of A's channels are non-interfering and the saturation is not even close.

 

Sorry to thread-jack, but I just had to clarify the terms above What he's saying is that 802.11a runs on 5.8GHz, and 802.11n has the ability to run on 5.8GHz as well (in addition to 2.4GHz). There's no such thing as "A-based N" or "G-based N", just 802.11n running on 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz frequencies.

 

Well I went ahead and got the Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) to be on the "safe" side since several folk recommended. Thanks to all.
They told me my shipping date is 12 September. We'll see...

 

Good choice on the 5300. The 5100 will probably have worse receiving power than the older 4965AGN wifi. The biggest advantage to Wireless N is that is has a much greater range than G (around 4 times I believe).

 

The wireless card option to get all depends on individual needs.

For most users the basic wifi option is the best.

N is usually not found on remote hotspots and home broadband connections are not faster than any of the options that come with the basic wireless option.

Intel Wifi link is if you really need an N based connection for high speed where you know you actually need one and need to speed requirements that Wifi link brings over the basic cards. I really don't know of any circumstances where a notebook is going to need 450Mbps locally since you can plug the laptop into a gigabit ethernet port.

I am waiting for Wimax myself and will see what the new options offer when it comes out.

I don't know the range of the basic vs higher end 5300 cards however and which will pull out a better signal. Measurement tests would need to be done. But the basic is probably fine for the vast majority of thinkpad purchasers.

For me I am just waiting for wimax, and I dont know which options will be wimax yet.