Intel 5300 vs 6250

Dell is replacing my Studio XPS 1645. I noticed that they 'upgraded' me to the Intel 6250 wireless card. I have the Intel 5300 right now.

However, I'm not sure if it's really an upgrade, or a downgrade. I know that the 6250 has WIMAX support, and is Wireless N certified (the 5300 is only draft-N). However, the 5300 has a 3-antenna array, whereas the 6250 is only 2-antenna. I never use WIMAX, so the Wireless-N performance is all that concerns me.

Which of the two is better (ignoring WIMAX)? Should I be happy they 'upgraded' me to the 6250, or should I swap it out with my current 5300 when it gets here? Thanks.

 

If you can get good signal with 2 antennas, you should be good to go, no?

 

The 6250 is better.Don't fall into the antenna trap.3 antennas are not necesserily better than two.It doesn't work like that.

 

The 6 series have some improvements in N and 5ghz performance, I'd take the free upgrade.

If you find someone who wants your 6250, you might even be able to make a few bucks buying a 6300. I wonder if the laptop even has 3 antennas wired in, few seem to bother.

In the parts market, the 6300 is cheaper than the 6250. Its a lot easier to find a legit/non-ES version of a 6300 too, though that really only matters for the wimax ids.

e.g. a handful of authorized distributors have legit 6250s for $50-60 often on backorder, quite a few have 6300s in stock for $30-40.

 

Here is 6250's for sale:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...centrino-advanced-n-wimax-6250-cards-new.html

 

The Dell XPS 1645 actually has 6 antenna leads in it. 3x for the WLAN card, 2x for WiMax, and 1x for Bluetooth.

Thanks everybody for your opinions, I guess I'll be happy that I got the free upgrade, and if I notice loss in signal strength, I'll just switch it out for a 6300.

Oh, and what do you mean by 'legit non-ES version'?

 

Geniune non Engineering Sample version..Just to be safe stay away from ES products.They fall into a grey market..

 

I have an XPS 1640 and my laptop came with the 5100 AGN.

I was wondering if I could just order a 6300 and swap it with the 5100?

I am noticing that the 5100 is 2 antennas and the 6300 is 3, so will that be a problem?

 

The 6250 really is not an upgrade from a 5300. The only thing better about it is that it has (mostly) useless wimax / 4G support. Having both the 6300 and 5300, I can honestly say that they are on par with each other. While I have not personally had any problems whatsoever with Intel's lower end cards, some people have reported that they are not as good as the higher end ones and that any problems they had were alleviated by switching to the higher end one.

It is fully compatible and a direct swap.

 

You can't really say that it's crap because you don't use wimax/4G. Different people have different needs.

If you have any 3xxx or 4xxx or 5xxx or 6xxx, you should stick with your card. The only reason to go to 6x50 cards or even 5x50 cards is because of wimax/4G integrated, which will save you one extra slot or your expresscard slot if you want to use wimax/4G. The reason I say that is because no matter what you do, your current bandwidth with the 3xxx or 4xxx or 5xxx or 6xxx will not exceeed your Internet speeed.

One exception is when you want to transfer a lot of bandwidth in a LAN settings. Otherwise stick with what ever you have.

 

I'm trying to upgrade cuz I think my card is dropping connections every few days. Plus the reception is kind of crappy, even tho the laptop is just 1 wall away from the router using 2.4ghz N (even worse with 5ghz).

I did a bit more research and I decided to either upgrade to a 6300 or get a compatible card to match my Dlink DGL-4500 router (which is the DWA-652)

 

I didn't say that it's crap, just that it is mostly useless, which it is.

There is a lot more at play than just maximum theoretical throughput. There is range, compatibility, and power consumption to name a few, and the contemporary cards are significantly better at this than previous ones. The range of the 5300 and 6300 comes in handy for me all the time.

 

The newer intel wifi cards have an advantage if you have a 3x3 MIMO router (3 spatial streams in and out)

True but its not always internet speed. Think about LAN bandwidth (eg Streaming videos, transferring files)

 

And also let's say I'm out on the beach, far away from my router. The 5300 and 6300 are still going to connect better and have much more bandwidth than lesser cards, whose connections are spotty and have low bandwidths.

 

i.... envy you. living near the beach? arrrrgh!

also might be a useless feature to most, but i love the "mywifi" feature which afaik is only on the 5x00 and 6x00.

 

The Intel Centrino DOES have "MyWiFi" technology built in:

http://download.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/adapters/6250/323018.pdf

^Look under product description: "and includes Intel My Wifi Technology" which can connect up to 8 CE devices to enhance today's mobile lifestyle."

 

If your referring to my post. I hope you werent being sarcastic, as you just dont know with online. If you were, I was not trying to be a wise guy, just wanted to point out that the 6250 does support MyWIFI.

 

That's what was worrying me, not speed, but signal strength at a distance. I might switch it out with a 6300 after all.

 

ah! nice, ty. my bad.

 

What new intel cards generation?

I have a Ralink card, that connects up to 135Mbps .... think i´m gonna upgrade to these new Intel cards.

 

The 6xxx generation. Examples: 6200, 6250, 6300...

 

Geniune non Engineering Sample version..Just to be safe stay away from ES products.They fall into a grey market

 

So is the 6250 an upgrade or not? I see 5300's going for $18 to $20 on eBay, where as the 6250 and 6300 respectfully sell for much more.

 

The 6250 isn't just a WiFi card. It also has Wi-Max. If you live in an area with Wi-Max coverage it could be worth your time, otherwise, I'd pass on the whole 6xxx generation if you already have an Intel 5xxx series card. If you need 450Mb/s then you'll have to have a compatible router to push those speeds and 3 antennas in your notebook for the Ult-N6300.