Is it safe to buy an Intel 5300 from eBay?

Some chinese sellers have them for like $9. Should I go for it, or are they fakes?

Thanks!

 

I remember some engineering samples lying around for the Intel 6200 and 6300, but that was a while ago and for something as old as the 5000 series, they are probably legit.

 

Thanks for the advice! I've been experiencing some pretty erratic internet speeds from only this laptop (currently has a broadcom 1510 that i want to replace with an intel 5300) after a fall (dog knocked it over ). Do you think installing a new wireless card will do the trick? I checked the card and it physically seems fine. Updated drivers; no dice. For a day or two it stayed at 1mbps, then it started working normally, then it wouldnt go past like 3 mbps, then it went up to 5, then started working a little better (but not up to normal speeds). Kind of frustrating.

 

I bought one on eBay like 3.5 years ago when they were about $20. Been working well ever since. Though mine was from Washington (the state), not China.

I don't know if it will help or not, though, in your case. Perhaps the fall knocked the antennae around a bit, and now there's more interference from the metal parts of the laptop? If so, it could still help, since the 5300 uses more antennae than basic Broadcom cards. But it might not. Still, at that price, it's probably worth trying.

 

Thanks for the advice. I dunno, its really weird. Its normal sometimes, but most of the time it's not. Wonder what could be causing it.

 

Reseat the adapter as well as the antenna wires.

 

Ive tried the antenna wires before. I just did the entire card and the wires again. No dice. Wonder how its messed up but looks fine.

 

I just bought this card. Did i make a mistake? I couldnt find the part number that the e6400 uses. There are a couple different Dell P/Ns. But the model number is the same. I'm afraid I may have to cancel.

Thanks for any info!

 

Dell doesn't whitelist their adapters so it should work. If you have a full height slot in your laptop, you'll need a full to half-height adapter, but they're easy to get on eBay.

 

I have just a half height space. I guess thats my worry. Right now, I have a broadcom 1510 in this laptop. Its surprisingly tiny. Basically, I'm hoping that I can just remove that and pop this 5300 in. They seem to have the same dimensions. Its just impossible to see what the exact part number that dell recommends is. Btw, thank you for all the help! Just found the rep button. Could swear it used to be different.

 

Yeah, the buttons changed style with the update of the forum software. Anyways, yeah it will be a simple replacement, just uninstall the wireless driver for the dell 1510 before making the physical swap.