Thinkpads Forum

I have a W500 at home with a 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter and its performance is terrible compared to the WiFi Link 5100 AGN on my work T500 on the same networks.

I am looking to get a backup T500 or T510.

Are there any other good and/or bad wireless cards for the T500/T510?

Any other features good to have or to avoid?

Trying to decide also between a T500 and T510.

Searching the forums yields some opinions on the wireless capabilities, but if the cards are in a different model Thinkpad it is hard to tell if the card is at fault or something else.

I would appreciate any information to help make a decision between the different laptops and specifications.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum.
There are some major differences between T500 and T510.
T500: Core 2 Duo CPU, 15.4" widescreen 16:10, (same keyboards as in T60/T61), 1 LED - rest CCFL screens
T510: i3 / i5 / i7 CPU, 15.6" widescreen 16:9, (newer keyboard), all LED screens
If you do a lot of programming or writing, you might appreciate the extra screen-height of the T500 in 16:10 format.

Both models use these same wifi cards: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 and 2 versions of: ThinkPad 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II
T500 also uses Intel 5100, 5150, 5300 and 5350
T510 also uses Intel 6200, 6250 and 6300
In theory, both models can use the same cards, but there is a Whitelist (W/L) in each BIOS, limiting the selection.
There are BIOS versions available from third parties that have this W/L removed, thus allowing ANY wifi card.

Right now I happen to have an excellent T500 for sale: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=113607
This one has the W/L removed.