Intel wifilink 5300 vs atheros?

Which one is a better card, the Intel 5300 agn, or the Atheros abgn?

 

Wow, thats a hard one. Atheros is the one to buy vs new technology. I think I'd go the atheros route,

 

I'm using the 5300 and have had no problems. I'd recommend going Intel.

 

Could always go the 5100 too. What are your needs?

 

Atheros is almost a magical name in commuter communications. Within the last year, Intel was cosidered to be rubbish compared to Atheros and some threads showed the difference.

 

"Rubbish" is a bit extreme. Atheros cards are better in a number of regards but any of the cards are likely fine for OP. Whats the antenna setup like with the atheros cards?

 

+1 Atheros. Intel makes cards easy, but Atheros makes them better.

 

If you're just hooking to your router at home, it probably don't matter. It also depends on your needs. If you're running Linux, Intel cards have much better support. I've seen notebooks with all kinds of cards. They mostly all work about the same.

 

Thanks all. After reading your comments, I'm glad my t61 has atheros; however, it hasn't impressed me much yet... I haven't seen atheros (or they call it "thinkpad") as an option in the configurations of any models any more. Why's that?
(btw I run XP)

 

my t400's basic atheros chip has better reception than my friend's MBP

 

i replaced the wifi card in my dell inspiron 8600 with a atheros ar5005g last year, main reaosn was actually because of better linux drivers than my previous card.
my thinkbad x41t has an intel 2200bg.

the intel card in my x41 gets constantly higher download rates than my dell all the time, but both cards perform very fine. on the other hand, the atheros card performs better off site (in university or at the neighbour) when the signal quality is low.

i also know of bad intel 2200bg experiences, i have myself replaced two of them in my friends laptops.

in conclusion i'd say nothing is as bad as old tests. i didn't hear negative things about the new intels, so i'd personally prefer the intel 5300 because of good driver support in linux and the 3 antennas. but i think there is no bad choice between atheros and intel these days either way.

 

i'd agree with reception but not with performance. but the antenna plays a vital role too.

also, the casing of the mbp maybe influences signal quality, and it might not be the best notebook therefore for comparison...(just thinking)?

 

Having owned quite a few MBP's I can say that the reception on most of them is pretty poor. Even though some of that was mitigated by using plastic in chosen spots, the alu case itself seems to do what it can to limit "reach" and "width".

Can I ask (not trying to hijack the thread) related to this thread and just out of curiosity: My soon-to-come X200s has a CF lid, and since CF blocks radiowaves (including radar) has anyone noticed a difference between the X200 (glassfibre lid) and the X200s (CF)?
Also, just in case I don't get better reception on the Thinkpad as opposed to this MBP, will it be easy to swap for an Atheros or even a good idea? The Thinkpad comes with the Intel agn 5300.


(first time I ever heard of Atheros is in this thread, so I can't help but wondering).

Edit/Add:

There's nothing like not noticing this is a two-page thread with a big (comparably) post at the top:

I think I got my answer – at least the ones that matters the most in Ernst's first post on this page:

Thanks, I'll propably stay with the Intel 5300 unless I run into specific problems.

 

3 Antennas? When I opened my t61 I also seemed to see 3 antennas as well (it is atheros abgn).

 

my fault. it was an conditional "and" for my personal interests. i meant to say the intel has both, 3 antennas and good linux support. which the atheros has probably also, but personally i had the best experiences with intel cards under linux.

 

Persnickety: I'd imagine lenovo would test the machine to ensure that signal strength was up to their standards. I wouldn't worry about that part too much.

 

Oh, yes. I wasn't worried it would be any worse than what I have, I was just interested in getting "top of the line", sort of.

Even though I seldomly run into not being able to find a netconnection, when I do I always think "I wish I had my GF's iBook", because that old thing of hers seems to always be able to connect whenever I have no signal whatsoever (still typing on this bloody MBP, waiting for the X200s I ordered the 30th).

 

Hi everyone. I just tried wireless connection on two machines, one is atheros abgn, the other is 5300 agn. I was just trying to connect to an open network in the area. The 5300 agn was able to connect, but the atheros abgn was not, saying you may need to configure the authentication method (something like that). Does this mean the 5300 is better or not? Just curious.

 

Still hoping someone can answer my question

 

if you define "better" as the difference between one card connecting and the other not, then yes, the 5300 is better for you.

without charts and graphs of signal strength tests, battery life tests, heat output tests, and so on, all you'll ever read are anecdotal references claiming one card to be better because user X could connect to network Y using card Z, therefore card Z is better than card W for whatever reason.   i personally go off of my own tests and forget the anecdote.   there are so many variables in wireless networking that you can't take others' results as an absolute truth.

so, use what works for you.   if it doesn't work for you, get something else.   if you've found a card to work better for you (as you have with the 5300) then use it and forget what anyone else says (myself included).