PCImini WiFi adapter

[stray toaster]

Hey,

I have heard tale recently that you can only put PCImini WiFi adapters purchased from IBM into a thinkpad, or else it wont work.

Is this true? Or is this not the case any longer.


And the system in question, is a t43 2687EHU

and the PCImini in question is a INTEL WM3B2915ABGNAX Wireless Adapter from newegg

I ordered the card today with some other stuff, to flesh out my cto thinkpad, but then just read somewhere else that might be an issue. and if that is the case, what would be a good option? would it be best to get one from ibm? or get a PCMCIA wireless adapter instead?


Thank you.

[gazingwa]

for that to work you would have to hack the bios... i would just pay the extra cash for the ibm... they had one for 65 at one point

[stray toaster]

65 is more than twice what anywhere else costs for the same stuff, that is a huge rip-off.

Can I use a PCMCIA third party instead? and how is the reception on those?

[doppelfish]

Can I use a PCMCIA third party instead? and how is the reception on those?

That should work unless the card is crap. Reception will be inferior to the internal card solution since the latter has a larger antenna integrated into the display lid. If that is a real problem, grab an external antenna and attach it to the card. But watch out, not all cards have an externally accessible jack for the antenna.

cheers,
-- fish

[a31pguy]

We get this questions so many times - we should come up with a guide or a sticky for it.

[doppelfish]

We get this question so many times

Maybe a 'Useful Peripherals' forum would help? It could catch the regular "Which mouse?", "Which USB-<thingy>?", "Which firewire-<thangy>?", "Which <whatever>?" type of questions, and the threads would not be spread out over the existing forums.

cheers,
-- fish