Stupid questions re: upgrading the wireless in my Toshiba p305 laptop

[DarthW]

I just bought a NETGEAR WNDR3700 last night because my ancient router was acting up. Setup went well and, so far, I love this router, but all my current household devices (Wii, Nintendo DS, printer, Toshiba laptop) are 11g.

As I now have the router for it, I'd love for the laptop to be able to take advantage of the 11n performance.

I can't find anything in my laptop documentation on upgrading the WLAN card, but it LOOKS like it takes a mini pci-e card (picture below). Does that look correct, and, if so, what do I need to keep in mind when shopping for a replacement card?

I have no personal preference on brand, just want it to work right, and, since I have the dual-band router, I'd like to be able to take full advantage of that.

Anything else I need to keep in mind? Is it just like changing a pci-e NIC in a desktop (uninstall drivers, remove hardware, install new hardware and drivers, configure), or are there special laptop considerations (since there is a WLAN power switch on the front of the laptop, or maybe the proprietary Toshiba ConfigFree software won't recognize it, etc)?

Laptop is a Toshiba Satellite p305-8822 with 3GB of RAM, running Vista Home Premium 32-bit. It is bone stock as far as hardware and OS, I've never changed a thing on it, other than updating Windows and installing my other apps.

Here's a picture of what the wireless card looks like, I assume the antennas will have to match up to/fit any replacement card:

 

[DarthW]

Follow up question... from what I can tell (on ebay), I don't need a Toshiba-specific card like maybe an HP or IBM would require... but does that mean that, if I bought a intel 5300 that SAYS it is for an HP or an IBM, it won't work?

I can't find a intel 5300 for Toshiba, just Intel 4965... not that I know what the differences are (yet, but I'll try to find out).

 

[thiggins]

What card is in there now? With 3 antennas, I'd think it would be N already.

You have a mini PCI-e full-height card. An Intel 5300 or the newer 6300 should work,
as long as Toshiba doesn't lock you to certain cards. I don't know if they do. But if you search around, you can probably find out.

Swapping is same as other stuff. If you download the full Intel driver file that includes the utility, you might want to run it first before installing the card.

 

[DarthW]

I stole that photo from irisvista.com. It is of a slightly different p305 model that came with a N card. Mine looks like that, but with only 2 antennas (no middle one) and the card is a WM3945ABG.

The form factor is the same, it's just got 2 antennas instead of 3. Which begs the question... if I upgrade to a card with 3 antenna points, which 2 would I use, the same 2 as the factory card (leaving the middle one empty)?

If I upgrade so that I can use 5.0GHz... 5300 vs 6300... any advantages to which I would choose?


EDIT: Heck, what about adding a 3rd antenna, even if not needed, if it will improve performance/connectivity? Of course, I'd need to try and find out what 3rd antenna to get and how to best route it around the laptop (if there is a "best").

 

[thiggins]

Don't worry about the third antenna. It's only to provide a bit more receive gain. In most cases you won't see any difference in performance. Certainly not enough to go through the hassle of trying to put another antenna in your notebook.

Use terminals 1 and 2, the two outer ones on the card. The 6300 is just the newer version of the Intel card. See this thread for more info.

If your current radio is dual-band then you have dual-band antennas. If it's only single band, then you won't really be able to use the 5 GHz band on the new card since the antennas are tuned for it and you'll get really crummy 5 GHz range. 2.4 GHz will be fine.

 

[DarthW]

Thanks so much for all the info!

As my current card is a WM3945ABG, I assume it is dual band (for the A portion), so hopefully that is to my advantage. If the third antenna really isn't worth messing with, though, then I guess I won't.

The only 6300s that I can find are the half-height cards, and my laptop doesn't have the mounting/screw holes for securing a half-height card, so I might just have to stick with a 5300. Should still be a HUGE step up, though.

 

[thiggins]

Yep, you have dual-band antennas.

A 5300 should serve you well. It's the standard client card for all our wireless testing.