Super High Power Wireless

[flashstar]

I'm contemplating purchasing a minipci card in the future to install in my T23. Since the case is notorious for not permitting wireless signal entry, I thought that I might need something a bit stronger. I found the following card. An EnGenius EMP-8602.

http://www.engeniustech.com/datacom/pro ... spx?id=176

The device appears to run at 400mw power. This should be enough to power through the case, etc.

I'm just wondering if it will blow out the minipci socket or not due to extensive power requirements.

[rkawakami]

Don't know the power requirements of the EnGenius wireless card since the power consumption figure is not in the datasheet. Nor do I know off-hand what the maximum power (current) supplied by the MiniPCI socket. I do know that having all of the transmit power in the world won't do anything for you if the receiver is still blocked by the metal in the laptop. So yes, running a 400mW transmitter may get through the case a little bit better, but you would still be deaf if your antenna placement is behind any metal.

[flashstar]

Sorry, I checked and it said on another site that that particular card isn't designed for laptops. Anyway, will any mini pci card work, or are there specific types that the laptop needs? I'm looking at one like this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUPER-G-XR-wireless ... dZViewItem

Will the T23 also be ok with a new Intel Pro Wireless card?

Thanks.

[RealBlackStuff]

That Atheros/Gigabyte card should work in your T23, after you apply the no-1810 patch.
See also this: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_w ... s#Solution
An Intel 2200b/g or 2915b/g will also work fine.
Don't know which Intel you are eyeballing...

PS: if you don't have factory WiFi installed, you can install antennas yourself. Plenty of posts in this forum.

[schen]

If you look in my sig., the card you see list with the T30 was in my T23 and worked great after the patch. As an added bonus, since it was Atheros chipped, it runs at SuperG 108Mps with some Atheros chipped access points (mine is a D-Link DI-624).

But in your case though, I think I'd use a PC Card solution and not have to hassle with the antenna issue.

[AlphaKilo470]

I had a MiniPCI wireless card and two antennas inside of my T23 at one point earlier this year. No matter what part of the case the antennas were in or how things were positioned, wireless access weak to the point of being useless. However, in my experimenting, the best antenna setup was one in the lid panel and one under the wrist pad. Oh, the other challenge to internal wireless on a T23 that didn't have it from the beginning is room for the antennas; it'll be a tight fit.

[flashstar]

Thanks for the advice. I think that I'll go with that retractable wireless card. I'll still have another pcmcia slot so I should be golden. If there is practically no chance of getting a good wireless connection without built-in antennas, then I don't think that it's worth it.