If I install a wireless N card in my Samsung NC10 will it eat up more battery?

I love my Samsung NC10 but only thing I dont like about the netbook is that it came with a wireless G pci-e card so I just ordered a Dell 1505 wireless N pci-e card to replace the current artheros wifi that comes with the samsung nc10 because it doesnt support wireless N.

Anyways do you think it will eat up more batteries than the non wireless N?

 

You will have to study the data sheets for both the Atheros and the Dell (Broadcom, I think) cards. Even then, you may not get a clear answer since the power used depends on the operating conditions. However, I doubt there will be a significant difference if you are using the computer in the same locations as before. But if you use N's extra range then you may also find there is higher power consumption.

See if you can make some measurements of the before and after power consumption. You can use Mobilemeter to plot a graph of power drain with time so it is easy to see the average power consumption under different operating conditions.

John

 

i would expect a wireless card to consume about an extra 1-5 watts. to give you an overall idea of the impact of this, the laptop probably uses about 15 watts idle i'd imagine.

 

Where did you conjure those number from? A NC10 probably uses less than 15W peak.

 

i guessed! (on the basis that my desktop uses 500W) but according to Intel, the Atom uses an astonishing 2.5W so, it will more likely be about 8-10

 

I doubt that your battery life will descrease. I'm not sure what card you're interested in but Intel provides quite a lot of power maximisation options for the 5300 card.

I upgraded to a wireless N card in my Sony TX but it wouldn't be fair to me to give my experiences as i upgraded to an SSD drive at the same time.

 

Do you guys think its worth upgrading to a wireless N card? Whats the benefits? Slightly faster download speeds and a much longer range?

I already ordered the card but seems like the default card in the samsung nc10 is pretty fast.

 

Not an upgrade that I see as worthwhile honestly! The default card does a good job as far as I can tell.

N for some has still been somewhat problematic! I have thus far been reluctant to upgrade my equipment to N and probably won't for some time to come. One also has to consider the speed of their internet provider because in some cases getting N just doesn't make a lick of sense.

 

You need to have a very fast internet link for your local wireless connection to be the bottleneck.

The advantages of n are (i) more potential bandwidth to share between more users and (ii) better maximum range.

John

 

I ordered the wireless N Dell broadcom card anyway might as well just install it. I mean I do use a wireless N router.

 

Some people have had problems with the Atheros wireless card not wanting to connect reliably with their routers. Intel is better at holding connections so that's one reason for making the change.

John