Confused about laptop network cards

Comparing laptops, specifically Asus N53 series, Malibal/Lotus W150HM, Lenovo IdeaPad Y-series and know basically squat about network cards. Lenovo's stock card is listed as Intel 1000 BGN; this is the only machine I've shopped which doesn't show 801.11 as stock. Lotus options include upgrades to Intel 6230 or 6300, or Bigfoot Networks "Killer". Questions: 1) How does the Lenovo's card compare to the 801.11's? 2) What will spending a few extra $$s for any of the Lotus upgrades really get me?

 

All cards here are 802.11- in fact all Wi-Fi cards are 802.11b/g/n. Not all of them support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands but that's a different story.

In general you should avoid low-end hardware and Intel 1K is such.
Intel 6230 contains Bluetooth which causes some throughput problems so I would avoid 6230 (but 6200 is OK).

Intel 6300 is very good but its only advantage over 6200 is 3 stream support- which doesn't mean a thing unless you have a three stream router.

Bigfoot Killer is based on Atheros chipset and is- in general- very good but don't believe any of the marketing crap about it improving you gaming experience and such.

So to sum it up- question 1 is invalid.

As for Q2- better card will improve your range and throughput if the rest of your setup (router and ISP) are up to the task. In general it's better to spend few $ more to get better hardware.

 

Yep, especially considering network adapters are dirt cheap in most cases. The wifi adapter is often overlooked, but it can definitely make your life miserable it it's a bad one.