A couple Wlan Mini-PCI card questions?

[pt1209]

First of all, I replaced my LCD screen last week, I picked one up whole with bezel, hinges and harness. It also came with the white and black lines coming out, does the presence of these wires mean the antennas are already installed into the bezel?

Secondly the range with my present NetGear MA521 802.11b Wireless Card isn't nearly as good as the other laptops with internal cards in our home and I wondered if I would see a big increase in range and speed going with a Internal wireless card?

[rkawakami]

If those black and white wires have little metal "caps" at the end, then yes, those are the wireless antenna leads:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.FL

You can also determine if the lid assembly has been designed with the antennas in mind by looking for one or two plastic "windows" along the edges of the lid. They will generally have parallel, diagonal slashes on them. The antennas are positioned directly behind those areas.

You might notice an increase in range/speed with the internal antennas vs. the PCMCIA card since the signal would be received/sent higher up off the table. Also, the orientation of the internal antennas (polarization) would probably be closer to that of your access point antennas; i.e., they are sticking straight up in the air as opposed to laying parallel with the ground.

[pt1209]

Thanks Ray, the black and white wires do have little metal "caps" at the end but I don't see little vented windows although there are diagonal slashes up near the top on both sides of the LCD Bezel, I thought they were for gripping when lifting the top open. Any other clues that will tell me if the antennas are there, I'd hate to find and install a internal card only to find the antennas are missing..

[sarbin]

those are the "windows" to which Ray is referring.

what "model-type" is your thinkpad, again?

[pt1209]

Thanks sarbin,
I have a R40 2681 CU1.
I thought that was Ray was describing... If that's the case my eyes will be open for a deal on a Internal card.

[sarbin]

i believe "Wireless upgradeable" means the antenna is in place just waiting for a mini-pci card.

Code: Select all

Product: ThinkPad R40 2681-CU1 [change]
Operating system: All [change]

Original description: Based on 2681-C1U: P4-M 1.8GHz, 256MB RAM,
20GB HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 24x10x24x/8x CDRW/DVD,
Wireless upgradeable, Modem(CDC), Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Li-Ion
battery, WinXP Home (Use F11 to recover)

[pt1209]

Sarbin, I noticed that too when I ran a system scan on IBM's site but seeing I swapped out the LCD/Bezel I wasn't sure if the present top had the same options, hoping the presence of the white and black wires "with" end caps means it has the antennas installed.

[pt1209]

Well I will find out for sure later this week, found and won a Intel internal wireless card FRU 91P7266 from a R40 Thinkpad on ebay. Believe it or not I won the bid for under $5. Hope it isn't too good to be true!!