Difference in Intel and Atheros wifi

[leesiulung]

Hi everyone,

I think I finally decided to get the X31 over the X40, primarily because of the speed boost, the faster hard drive and the larger 6 cell battery (standard). But I have a hard time deciding between the 2672REU or the 2672RHU. The only difference is in the wireless card, one has the Intel 802.11b wifi card and the other has the 802.11 a/b/g card from Atheros. I probably won't use 802.11 a/g in the near future... The price difference is $40, any suggestion why I should pick one over the other?

btw, feel free to give me any pointers or ideas on why I should choose either X31 or X40... and the war is on!!!

[whizkid]

If you decide to get G at home, it's going to be nice to have the option.

Some corporate networks are on A. I'm thinking of moving to it myself, both to avoid interference in my own house and neighborhood, but also because you can have 24 non-overlapping channels with A, and only 3 with G, so 8 times as much total bandwidth.

[gundam]

I swapped my intel 2100b card for a ibm a/b/g card and the reception on the a/b/g card is much worse, so be warned. Oh yeah, and the a/b/g card is slow at detecting APs too because it needs to go through each mode per cycle.

[ychandrani]

Well, I used both an X31 and an X40 for a week, borrowing them from a Thinkpad junkie friend who owns one of each. I liked both. And quite honestly, it took me about 3 weeks to settle on an X31 for similar reasons as you. Both have superb build quality; the x31 is a little heavier, but certainly lighter than the T22 that I still have and love. I went in for the 2885RGU because I have a few working Ultrabay 2000 devices that I want to share between the T22 and the X31, including 2 HDDs that I use for regular backups and that rare species called a floppy drive. Yes, some of us still use floppies! But the biggest reason was the size of the academic discount I got on the 2885RGU through my university.

I don't know if you are eligible for IBM's employee or shareholder discounts or academic discounts. But, take a look at the links below to compare pricing both the 2672RHU and the 2885RGU. The latter is a ThinkExpress machine, but both have the three year depot warranty; the 2672 comes with an IBM a/b/g card; the 2885rgu with the Intel 2200BG + an Ultrabase X3 and a DVD/CD-RW Combo. I know some folks here and elsewhere prefer the IBM wireless card, but I am perfectly happy with the 2200BG in my 2885RGU.


2672RHU
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getp ... 67&blsrt=1

2885RGU
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getp ... 27&blsrt=1

[leesiulung]

ychandrani,

thanks for you observation, but I get a special deal through a special program and can get the 2672REU for about $1800+tax. The reason I chose this model over any of the others is due to the bluetooth support. If you need bluetooth and want internal, the only way to do it is to add it yourself and possibly void the warranty. In addition the parts cost a total of $130.

I don't know how much you get the 2885RGU for, but if you buy through the Shareholders Purchase Program you can get the 2885PWU that essentially comes with the same but has 4200rpm drive and 256 mb of memory instead (you might save $200)....

[ychandrani]

The 2885RGU does have bluetooth + the security chip. The same as the one you've chosen. Although I have not yet tried the Bluetooth functionality of the computer. This is from IBM's support pages for the 2885 RGU:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... Entry.y=10

P M 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 40GB 5400rpm HDD, 12.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, Modem/Bluetooth(CDC), IBM 802.11a/b/g wireless(MPCI), 1 Gb Ethernet(LOM), Secure Chip(TCPA), X3 UltraBase + DVD/CDRW, 6 cell battery, WinXP Pro


For some reason the link to the detailed specs is missing today from the IBM support site.

As for the price, I am sure the shareholder discounts are larger than academic ones.

[ychandrani]

Sorry, I have been mistakenly saying that my 2885RGU has the Intel 2200BG. It in fact has the IBM a/b/g miniPCI card.

[leesiulung]

ychandrani,

You are right the 2885RGU does come with bluetooth. For some odd reason this was not reflected in the TABook for October 04'.

I looked at the shareholders program and the discount is indeed bigger than educational pricing (but not significant for me, bout $50 if I buy the slice and CD-RW/DVD drive separatly), unless your school has a special contract like UC Berkeley or Harvard. But this is not always the case, sometimes, the mastercard might have the best discount, other times it is the educational discount... it seems to be no rime or reason how ibm prices their systems. If you don't mind please let me know how much you paid for your 2885RGU and through which program.

I appreciate your input and will keep that in mind before I make my final choice.

btw, how do the IBM a/b/g atheros minipci card perform? are you satisfied with it? are you satisfied with the laptop overall?

I know there has been some complaints about the slice, how it gets stuck and its cheaply build plastic... perhaps I will go for a docking station and a USB DVD Burner instead.

[ychandrani]

ychandrani,
I appreciate your input and will keep that in mind before I make my final choice.

btw, how do the IBM a/b/g atheros minipci card perform? are you satisfied with it? are you satisfied with the laptop overall?

I know there has been some complaints about the slice, how it gets stuck and its cheaply build plastic... perhaps I will go for a docking station and a USB DVD Burner instead.

I pm'ed you one part of my response. Here's the other. I am quite happy with machine and have not had any trouble with the IBM a/b/g card. I did space out in my response to you and said the 2885RGU had the 2200BG; but having used two X series machines from a friend I stopped paying attention to which box had which mini-pci card.

the ultrabase is ok. it does not feel as solid as I thought it would be, but once you get used to the correct angle for lifting the X31 off the base, its not such a hassle. I have used it as a sort of docking station, with its own power adapter. The ultrabase allowed me to keeping using two Ultrabay 2000 harddrives that I already owned; also I listen to a lot of my jazz cds when writing (which is what i seem to do all the time these days), and for that I prefer using the the plain old Ultrabay 2000 DVD drive rather than a burner/combo drive . I could have moved the harddrives into external USB 2.0 cases, but didn't want to bother. Also as you know, buying little nick nacks can easily add up and before you know it you are out a couple of hundred bucks more.

As for DVD burners, I thought of getting the IBM multiburner, but then decided against it. I have now settled on the Lacie Slim 8x Dual layer burner, which retails for $219 and up. There have been posts on this drive in this forum, so you should search for them.

[verktyg]

ychandrani,

I know there has been some complaints about the slice, how it gets stuck and its cheaply build plastic...

the ultrabase is ok. it does not feel as solid as I thought it would be, but once you get used to the correct angle for lifting the X31 off the base, its not such a hassle. I have used it as a sort of docking station, with its own power adapter. The ultrabase allowed me to keeping using two Ultrabay 2000 harddrives that I already owned...

I also just picked up a 2885RGU with the X3 Base. The base is a lot thicker than I thought it would be so it makes the X31 pretty bulky for traveling with it attached.

I thought that the whole system would be about the size of an old 7xx or 3xx ThinkPad, much like the Sonys and other brands with a removable drive bases. ( actually it's less than 2" (50mm) thick but it seems bulky)

The upside of the X3 Base is that all of my UltraBay 2000 attachments work in it.

Also, I can put a second standard X31 battery in the base which will make it great for doing trade shows where the X31 will be on all day and there isn't an AC outlet (mains) handy.

On the downside, the UltraBay drive release/pull out mechanism is really flimsy and poorly designed. The pull out tab on TPs with an UltraBay 2000 is easier to use whereas the X3 tab is tiny and hard to hook on to.

Additionally, installing and removing the X3 base takes 3 hands! To remove, you have to pick up the unit, release the locking mechanism on the bottom then pull out the release lever on the left side which raises the X31 slightly out of the of the base. It takes 2 hands to slide the X31 back and out of the base.

I too thought that I'd use the X3 Base as a docking station but it's too much of a hassle to install and remove every day.

Overall, if the X3 base didn't come with my system I would probably never buy it.

[sktn77a]

I have the b, a/b/g and the b/g cards in my T4x computers. My experience is that the newer cards (a/b/g and b/g) have better range than the older b. In my house the a/b/g has the edge on range over the b/g (and can also work at 108Mbps with an atheros wireless base - I have the D-link DI784). The a/b/g and b/g are noticeably faster than the b in web surifing (even though they shouldn't be) and very much so when transferring files over my network. Haven't noticed any speed difference between the a/b/g abd the b/g.

I'd definitely get a/b/g or b/g over the b card to future proof the investment and I have developed a slight preference for the a/b/g over the b/g.

[nikemen]

I have the b, a/b/g and the b/g cards in my T4x computers. My experience is that the newer cards (a/b/g and b/g) have better range than the older b. In my house the a/b/g has the edge on range over the b/g (and can also work at 108Mbps with an atheros wireless base - I have the D-link DI784). The a/b/g and b/g are noticeably faster than the b in web surifing (even though they shouldn't be) and very much so when transferring files over my network. Haven't noticed any speed difference between the a/b/g abd the b/g.

I'd definitely get a/b/g or b/g over the b card to future proof the investment and I have developed a slight preference for the a/b/g over the b/g.

how are you getting superG using your thinkpad and the dlink? Do you just have it turned on on the router and then is there something to enable on the TP?

the netgear I have is also an atheros chipset, would love to try to tweak it.
thanks