Any recommends for wireless N laptop cards

[OneClickHelpDesk.Net]

I'm trying to standardize on one wireless N laptop card to use with multiple laptops (HP & Dell's running Windows XP, Vista and 7). The Access Points/Wireless Routers are all Netgear, Linksys/Cisco, most N, a couple of B/G. We have a main office and several branch offices.

Rather than go through the time & expense of buying a few different models and doing my own testing, I've been trying to find good reviews to help in the decision process. I trust SmallNetBuilder more than most other sources.

I have found all the USB wireless adapters to be problematic because of the form factor. They keep getting knocked around, disconnected or broken.

Fortunately, only one of the laptops uses the express card format as seen in the Linksys WEC600N, which is just as problematic in terms of getting knocked and disconnected as the USBs.

Should I standardize on the Netgear WN511B or the Linksys WPC600N, or is the a better alternative?

 

[thiggins]

Unfortunately, dual-band Cardbus adapters are a dying breed, so the pickins are slim.

Both those adapters use Broadcom chipsets, which haven't impressed me with performance.

If you can't use the Intel 5300 mini-PCIe internal adapter and you're ok with a single band 2.4 GHz card, I'd look at an Atheros-based card like the D-Link DWA-652.

 

[Aluminum]

Need some details, especially if you are mixing expansion generations: pcmcia/cardbus vs expresscard for external, minipci vs pci-e minicard for internal. Are all the laptops intel as well?

If all the laptops are newer, could try atheros pci-e minicards. You can find 9280s (dual band 2x2 N) that will work with any chipset and OS for $20 full size, somewhat more for half size.

Intel 5x00s are also good but do not support some older intel motherboards or any amd ones.

If laptop generations are mixed you may have a hard time truly matching the wireless chipsets in all of them. Its probably possible if you dig around for some 5008 or 9220 cards of each type though.

One thing to beware of: HP/Lenovo lock out generic internal cards, however you can find "branded" types of most minicards to match. The hardware is 100% the same but the id in the ROM/firmware is different, its a stupid forced thing that only serves to punish end user/aftermarket.