Dilemma: Swap out entire motherboard, or install only Atheros-N card???

Alright, I have a decision to make. I received another T60p from a buddy, who went Mac on me. After carefully questioning his sanity, he seems to be alright.

At any rate, he had installed the Atheros a/b/g/n card in his Thinkpad T60p. His is a slightly newer model, even though the motherboard is supposed to be identical, and his CONSISTENTLY gets a 4.3, instead of a 4.2 that I get, even with the SAME video card. Might there be a small improvement that was fixed, or does that happen for a different reason.

Having said that, I'm not after the .1 difference in the Vista scores lol..., but I don't know if I want to mess around with my jewel of an LCD, around which my whole Thinkpad is based on. I do not, under ANY circumstances, want to mess it up. He also powered his baby up by installing a T7400, so since he did BOTH, I asked him which had been more intrusive an operation, the CPU, or the Atheros card, as he obviously has a clear basis for comparison.

He said that installing the CPU was a piece of cake vs. the wireless card, as a disassembly of the screen is required for that operation.

That said, would it be just easier to swap motherboards, and then put my T7600, hard drives, and the RAM onto the motherboard, which will already have the Atheros-N card?? I imagine that I still have to deal with the screen somehow to get the wires for the card to go into it...

I really want wireless-N. The third option is, of course, getting a PCMCIA or Express card, which would stick out of the system. That would be the safest way to go, but ideally, I'd like to have everything internally.

What say you guys??? I'm ready to do one of the above, as wireless-N will benefit me tremendously! Thanks!!!!!!!!!

 

Unless you know a lot about computer hardware and how to make computers, it would be best not to mess with that. If you can then go with it. I would just get an external wireless card

 

Agreed with Sir Travis D. I pulled open my old laptop when it kicked the bucket and believe me, unless you're very competent and confident it gonna look like a maze and be just as hard to do!

Grand Admiral

 

How do you know this? Are you still under warranty?

 

I highly doubt you will notice a difference using a wireless-N card vs. the regular G card. I tried both and noticed zero difference.

 

Thanks guys!!!! Well, I've upgraded my beloved T60p with a LOT of CRU's, and also NON-CRU parts (the T7600, for example!). And so far, I've always come out on top, and everything has always been easier than expected. Certain components do void the warranty, which is why I keep the original components that I upgraded from in a safe place, in the highly unlikely event that I will ever need warranty. I am saying this with confidence in the Thinkpads, as I've had 12 of them in 9 years, and I have NEVER needed warranty service, ever.

However, I thought about this some more. If I swap the motherboard, or the screen for that matter, it won't do me any good, as I would have to mess with the screen either way. If I swap the mobo, the wires for the N card are not automatically going to be behind my screen, but rather the card itself would be, and replacing the card is the least of my worries.

So, the CPU I consider to have been a piece of cake, but it's not about the card. That's easy. It's about the darn wires that go behind the screen and require messing with the screen.

That said, I am thinking to maybe use the WWAN antenna for the N wire??? What do you think? I could use the two cables for the diversity a/b/g antennas, and then take out the WWAN card and antenna, as I don't use it anyway. I have Verizon, so it would be an honor to throw that thing out of my Thinkpad. This would maybe be ONE, and likely the only way, to get the N card installed and not have to mess with my screen!????

One more thing. I won't need a, or b, and I have my router and current Intel card set to only use 802.11g, so would I be able to just put the N antenna and leave one of the others "hanging" without connecting it? I don't know enough about how this works exactly, but might that be a viable solution? This would be even easier???

As to why I think the N card would benefit me. Well, for one it's because I tried it. The wider range alone would be great, and I have a friend who co-incidentally loves Linksys routers as much as I do, and he said to get the 600N, and he'd help me set up the multi-channel configuration, etc. He also has seen the benefits, especially with larger downloads, he said.

What say you, guys? I so want to do this. And I appreciate your help very much!!!

Thanks again, everyone!!!!!

 

Hey CrunchDude, I am just wondering how you manage to get your hands on parts like a new mobo?

 

I actually bought a 2nd T60p altogether...

 

The N-card won't help you with downloads.

Think of it this way. The FASTEST connection you can have in the States is probably Verizon FiOS if your area has it. At best, that's 10-20Mbps down speeds.

An 802.11g card has a theoretical max throughput of 54Mbps, more than twice the speed of your Internet connection. While you may never get that, good 802.11g cards with a good router can do 20-30Mbps, still the equal of your Internet connection; you'd need a faster pipe to your provider for your wireless to be faster beyond this, and it isn't available.

802.11n can provide two tangible benefits. The first is MIMO (Multiple-In, Multiple-Out), which transmits and receives on different frequencies. You either need an 802.11g MIMO router or an 802.11n router (MIMO is default in .11n); if you have this, you have the potential for better robustness against interference, and better range. Even so, 802.11g has very good range if you choose the right router or WAP, and use a good antenna, say, one that gives you 5-10dB of gain.

The second benefit only comes into play if you're streaming HD video from a networked source. Hi-Def video has the potential to overwhelm an 802.11g network connection, and the better throughput of 802.11n can help you with this. However, that's for traffic on your local LAN; once again, you're still bandwith-limited on your WAN.