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Intel Wifi Link 5300
See it at Amazon.com for $33.36Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
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Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Great hardware and software solution!
(5 out of 5) by S. Lionel on Dec 7, 2008 (NH USA)I bought the Intel WiFi Link 5300 card to replace the stock card in my Dell Mini 9 netbook. The stock card is b/g only and gave me a lot of trouble associating with my home router. The Intel card arrived promptly and included the Intel ProSet 12 software on CD (though I had already downloaded an updated version from Intel's web site). The card and software installed easily.
The Mini 9 has only two antennas (I have a third on order) so I initially connected the two to the 1 and 2 terminals on the Intel card. It worked well and gave me a strong signal in my house, though sometimes the Wireless N connection was weak. I am sure the third antenna will help with that. No problem associating with my access point and the speed is great.
An easy upgrade if you are dissatisfied with the wireless solution in your netbook or notebook that uses a Mini-PCIe connector. Just make sure that the card size is correct - Intel makes one that's even smaller, but the Dell Mini 9 took this size.
Edit: As I predicted, adding the third antenna brought back the N performance. I'm now running Windows 7 on the Mini 9 and it recognized the Intel 5300 and operates it without the need for additional drivers or the Intel ProSet software, though the software does give you more information about how the card is performing. I'm very happy with the 5300.
Edit 9/30/09 - I've been getting lots of questions about where I obtained the third antenna and how it is installed. The antenna I used is made by Tyco and is typically sold in a pack of two. Amazon doesn't sell it, but if you search eBay for "tyco minipci" you will find many for sale. The pack is typically less than $10. Each antenna consists of a large square foil area, backed by adhesive, and a smaller section with an S-shaped foil trace, which is the actual, radiating part of the antenna. The only difference between the two antennae in the pack is the length of the lead, so pick the one that works best for you.
For best results, the antenna would be mounted inside the display lid of your notebook/netbook, positioned so that the S-shaped trace is not blocked by the LCD panel or metal shielding. It's ok for the adhesive-backed section to be blocked as this is just a "ground plane". The antenna should be as high up on the lid as you can manage, though I've heard from some who just let it lay flat inside the base of their PC and they say it "works fine".
The connectors used are standard but are somewhat fragile. Pull them straight up from the card and push straight down, taking care to align the plug correctly. You may find that long-nose pliers help (but don't squeeze too hard.)
Note that the Intel 5100 card is very similar to the 5300 except that it does not support the 3x3 mode with the very highest transfer rates (and uses only two antennae.) You may find that the 5100 is more than adequate for your needs, especially if your wireless router itself doesn't support the 3x3 mode (few do.)
One more point - both the 5100 and 5300 support Intel's "My WiFi" technology which lets you share Internet access with local WiFi devices. This requires the Intel ProSet driver and application which can be downloaded from Intel's web site - read more details on Intel's site.
The Mini 9 has only two antennas (I have a third on order) so I initially connected the two to the 1 and 2 terminals on the Intel card. It worked well and gave me a strong signal in my house, though sometimes the Wireless N connection was weak. I am sure the third antenna will help with that. No problem associating with my access point and the speed is great.
An easy upgrade if you are dissatisfied with the wireless solution in your netbook or notebook that uses a Mini-PCIe connector. Just make sure that the card size is correct - Intel makes one that's even smaller, but the Dell Mini 9 took this size.
Edit: As I predicted, adding the third antenna brought back the N performance. I'm now running Windows 7 on the Mini 9 and it recognized the Intel 5300 and operates it without the need for additional drivers or the Intel ProSet software, though the software does give you more information about how the card is performing. I'm very happy with the 5300.
Edit 9/30/09 - I've been getting lots of questions about where I obtained the third antenna and how it is installed. The antenna I used is made by Tyco and is typically sold in a pack of two. Amazon doesn't sell it, but if you search eBay for "tyco minipci" you will find many for sale. The pack is typically less than $10. Each antenna consists of a large square foil area, backed by adhesive, and a smaller section with an S-shaped foil trace, which is the actual, radiating part of the antenna. The only difference between the two antennae in the pack is the length of the lead, so pick the one that works best for you.
For best results, the antenna would be mounted inside the display lid of your notebook/netbook, positioned so that the S-shaped trace is not blocked by the LCD panel or metal shielding. It's ok for the adhesive-backed section to be blocked as this is just a "ground plane". The antenna should be as high up on the lid as you can manage, though I've heard from some who just let it lay flat inside the base of their PC and they say it "works fine".
The connectors used are standard but are somewhat fragile. Pull them straight up from the card and push straight down, taking care to align the plug correctly. You may find that long-nose pliers help (but don't squeeze too hard.)
Note that the Intel 5100 card is very similar to the 5300 except that it does not support the 3x3 mode with the very highest transfer rates (and uses only two antennae.) You may find that the 5100 is more than adequate for your needs, especially if your wireless router itself doesn't support the 3x3 mode (few do.)
One more point - both the 5100 and 5300 support Intel's "My WiFi" technology which lets you share Internet access with local WiFi devices. This requires the Intel ProSet driver and application which can be downloaded from Intel's web site - read more details on Intel's site.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Full size does not fit all
(5 out of 5) by Electrosoft on Feb 2, 2009 (NJ)Be careful when ordering this part. While it is a full fledged 5300 AGN card, this is a FULL SIZE Mini-PCI card. Make sure your system not only supports a full size mini-pci card, but the slot that does is situated near the antennae wires.
With that being said, this card operates near flawlessly. Much better than the 5100, it is a full 3x3 card (versus the 2x2 of the 5100), and signal strength and throughput were excellent. N band support is top notch, and Intel drivers are constantly being refined and updated and work great (skip the network software and just install the drivers. Vista and XP handle this card just fine on their own).
Overall, this is the current (as of January 09) kind of the WiFi mini-pci cards. Just make sure your system can support a full length card.
With that being said, this card operates near flawlessly. Much better than the 5100, it is a full 3x3 card (versus the 2x2 of the 5100), and signal strength and throughput were excellent. N band support is top notch, and Intel drivers are constantly being refined and updated and work great (skip the network software and just install the drivers. Vista and XP handle this card just fine on their own).
Overall, this is the current (as of January 09) kind of the WiFi mini-pci cards. Just make sure your system can support a full length card.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Just Perfect!
(5 out of 5) by Eduardo R. Rodrigues on Jul 23, 2009 (Redwood City, CA)I bought and returned 2 other wifi cards before I found this beauty.
I was willing to upgrade the original internal wireless adapter of my Dell Latitude D630 laptop, which happened to be another Intel 2xxx AG card.
Since I have a D-Link DIR-655 wireless N capable router, I wanted to take full advantage of that.
The last card I tried was the Intel Wifi Link 4965AGN mini-card. But for my frustration, by design, Intel disabled the 40Mhz wide channel spectrum when the card operates at the 2.4GHz frequency, which happens to be my router's. This tiny detail limited the bandwidth of the connection between the card and the router to 130Mbps.
Now, I just received this new card and, after properly installing and configuring it, I'm now enjoying a beautiful and steady 300Mbps connection!!! Just perfect!!!
As a tip, keep these in mind:
1. always connect 3 antennas to the card (no 3rd antenna, no wireless N);
2. if you need the 40MHz wide channel, like me, make sure to configure these 2 items in the card properties:
2a. 802.11n Channel Width (2.4GHz) = Auto
2b. Fat Channel Intolerant = Disabled
Tears to Intel!
I was willing to upgrade the original internal wireless adapter of my Dell Latitude D630 laptop, which happened to be another Intel 2xxx AG card.
Since I have a D-Link DIR-655 wireless N capable router, I wanted to take full advantage of that.
The last card I tried was the Intel Wifi Link 4965AGN mini-card. But for my frustration, by design, Intel disabled the 40Mhz wide channel spectrum when the card operates at the 2.4GHz frequency, which happens to be my router's. This tiny detail limited the bandwidth of the connection between the card and the router to 130Mbps.
Now, I just received this new card and, after properly installing and configuring it, I'm now enjoying a beautiful and steady 300Mbps connection!!! Just perfect!!!
As a tip, keep these in mind:
1. always connect 3 antennas to the card (no 3rd antenna, no wireless N);
2. if you need the 40MHz wide channel, like me, make sure to configure these 2 items in the card properties:
2a. 802.11n Channel Width (2.4GHz) = Auto
2b. Fat Channel Intolerant = Disabled
Tears to Intel!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Intel WiFi Link 5300
(5 out of 5) by Charles Spivak on Jan 31, 2009 (San Jose, CA)Much better version than it's model 5100 lesser cousin, better connectivity, and the ability to utilize MiMo technology make this one the better choice. I upgraded my HP laptop that had the lesser version come with it, and I'm so glad I did. No more dropped or randomly slow connections and it utilizes all three antennas. Don't skimp on good connections, being that you can usually pick this up for about $20-30 and it took all of about 8 minutes to install in my laptop.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Very Nice Intel 5300
(5 out of 5) by Michael Braun on Jan 16, 2009 (North Carolina, USA)Works very nice, I did buy two cards for both my wife and my notebook, it took a little puzzling but the wifi ON/OFF switch still works, they are bothG\ Gateway notebooks. The card comes with drivers on CDROM, I did install these and updated drivers from Intel website. I used / use it with D-Link DIR-655 & LINKSYS WRT600N, works great. I would recommend this product, next project wil be the Intel 5350 with WiMaxx as soon as I can find one. So GREAT Card, Easy install, will recommend it anytime, everytime.