The Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300 series is a family of IEEE 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N wireless network adapters
These adapters, available in both PCIe mini card and half mini card form factor deliver up to 450 Mbps of bandwidth
This operates in both the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz spectra
Description
The Intel 5300 Ultimate N Wi-Fi Link Wireless Network Adapter is family of IEEE 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N1 wireless network adapter that operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz spectra. This adapter, available in both PCIe Mini Card and Half Mini Card form factor deliver up to 450 Mbps of bandwidth, in addition to providing a host of features that enhance today mobile lifestyle.
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24 of 25 found the following review helpful:
Disregard the other negative post, this is an excellent chip... Nov 18, 2009
By Nvard Papiryan The other reviewer clearly did not do his research before marking it down and 1 star is a little too much don't you think just for the user not doing research? 802.11n ONLY SUPPORTS WPA and above!!! WEP stopped at G as it is a very weak form of security compared to WPA/2 and that is a decision belonging to the WiFi Association.
This is used in an HP Pavilion dv7-1270us upgraded from a 5100. This hooks to my Apple Airport Extreme Base Station the latest revision version 7.4.2. Sadly this only goes upto 300mbps even on the 5GHz band. I am using Windows 7 Ultimate on this machine because I use Spanish and Russian languages on it too.
Power usage: It uses very little above its sibling 5100 but it does use more nonetheless being that it has a 3rd antenna connection as well. I have noticed that when it is idle, it will trigger it's speed down (on N connections) to conserve some of the battery and when it is on full blast, it will go to the 270-300mbps range. Most of the time when it is idle, it will be around 150-216mbps. It is very smart about power management but that doesn't really apply to me seeing as I have a 17" laptop.
Performance: With my setup unfortunately, I can't achieve the advertised 450mbps (see setup above). I am only left on 300mbps but it feels more stable compared to the 5100's 5GHz N connection. I do get sustained speeds of 10-12MB/s when copying large files (ISO, HD Video) and for smaller files ~8MB/s - ~10MB/s coming from a Gigabit machine. I have stressed it by streaming 2 1080p videos simultaneously without too many lags in playback. 3x 720p videos came out with similar results. 802.11N by all means isn't meant to get too far of a distance but since I got the third antenna working, I can go 3 rooms apart until it drops a signal bar to 3 from 5. If you must use a far distance connection, G will suit you better but for network related work, N in a closer range works best. Overall one of the best devices you can find out there.
Compatibility: It works from XP and above and Linux support in more modern distros seems to be in order. For Windows, it supports XP but 802.11N on XP is very flaky and doesn't work as well as Vista and 7. I used the driver from Intel's site as the stock 7 driver is very basic. MyFi only works in Vista and 7 and makes your laptop its own SSID/hotspot which is pretty neat, sorry XP users but why bother beating a dead horse? This is unfortunately tied down to Centrino/Centrino 2 users meaning you must have an Intel machine. I'm not sure of Atom netbook users so please report if such is done. Hackintosh users are out of luck with this and the other siblings 5100 and 1000. Atheros and Broadcom chips are better for Macs and Hackintoshes.
Packaging: It was packed in a little, easy-to-open clamshell package which wouldn't open too easily as I was scared it would let the 5300 drop. I had to gently open it and while it didn't drop, its better safe than sorry. Nothing too fancy either, ANTOnline shipped it in the mail via USPS in 2 (yes 2) yellow envelopes insides, full of bubble wrap.
I hope I had enough info to provide to other possible buyers, ANTOnline did their job well and shipped it very securely as well. Feel free to leave questions in the comments as well, I might post benchmarks later on if I get enough demand.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
This was a decent and affordable upgrade for my Dell XPS M1530 Feb 26, 2011
By M. C. Eschner I bought my Dell XPS M1530 laptop two years ago. I was never that concerned about the WiFi connection speed I was acheiving until I started adding a couple of other computers to my wireless LAN and saw the speeds they were getting. I installed Windows 7 professional, 32 bit about 8 months ago. Also, after installing Win7 the 1505 card would rarely connect to my network automatically. The M1530 came with a Dell 1505 Wireless N(draft) minicard. At best I could connect to my d-link router at 54 Mbps. I live in a two story house; the router sits on the second floor. If my laptop was on the 1st floor my signal strength would never get above 3 bars. On the second floor I could get 4-5 bars. After seeing much better performance from other devices on my network I did some research and decided it was time to upgrade.
After deciding to upgrade and researching alternate Wifi cards, I realized I needed to determine how many antennae my laptop had. I accessed the wireless card (very easy to do on the XPS M1530) and discovered the Dell 1505 card had 2 antenna connections, and there was a third antenna sitting there unused. That explains the signal strength issue.
I ordered the Intel 5300 direct through Amazon and was initially informed delivery will take 3-4 weeks. Disappointed, but I could live with 54 Mbps for another month. Well, a week and a half later, I came home from work and there was my new Wifi card waiting for me! Bonus!
The card came in a small plastic clamshell with a software cd and software install instructions. The instructions state the card is only supported on Intel Centrino systems. My laptop has an Intel Core2 Duo processor. Slight moment of panic there. But, "supported" only means that if there are problems on a different system, Intel won't help. It doesn't mean it won't work.
So I sat down, disconnected the battery, unscrewed the 1505 and disconnected the 2 antennae. Then I connected the 3 antennae to the 5300, slipped it into the slot and gently screwed it in place. Total time: about 10 minutes.
I booted the laptop, got the windows message for installing driver software, then got an error that the driver for the new device could not be found. What happened is that a generic Microsoft driver had been installed, but it couldn't check for an updated driver as there was no internet connection. I quickly connected to the d-link router and established an internet connection. I had signal strength of 4 bars(sitting downstairs) and connection of approx. 100 Mbps.
I popped in the Intel software disc and after starting the install, got a message that the software is not compatible. It's only for XP/Vista, not compatible with Win7. I went to the Intel support page to check on the latest driver. I clicked the link to allow the site to scan my system for compatible drivers. They do have a Win7 driver listed with a published date Nov. 2010. I downloaded and installed the driver. Here's where I ran into problems. After about 5 - 10 minutes of internet use, my system would completely seize up on me. I had to force a hard Windows shutdown, then restart. I'd get the startup message that Windows had not shut down normally and given the safe mode options. I went ahead and chose start normally. Again after about 5 -10 minutes on the internet, system seized. I went through this cycle about 3 times, then rolled back the Intel driver back to the Microsoft driver. Since rolling back the driver I have experienced no issues at all.
One other minor annoyance was that the WiFi indicator light would now continually flash like an activity indicator. With the old Dell card the light stayed on all the time. After a rather unsuccessfull internet search, I noticed in the advanced properties for the card that the option to allow the system to automatically turn off the card was enabled. I disabled that option and now the light is on continually, no more annoying flashing. This may be a Dell-only annoyance.
In summary, for the $35 I spent to upgrade the wireless card on my 2 year old laptop, I am very pleased with the results. If you're running Windows 7 and buy this card, I recommend sticking with the Microsoft driver. Don't bother grabbing the latest Intel driver unless you're having issues.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
upgrade for failing card Mar 15, 2011
By CBAD I installed this card in my Lenovo X61t which came with a 4965 Intel in it and this card would not work initially but with some bios changes due to Lenovo's terrible policies. It easily outperforms the previous card and has better signal form same routers. Very pleased with results so far. The real issues is the location int eh laptop obviously a design issue if you actually use it and you are right handed your hand is on top of the card most of the time so i believe heat was a major issue in the previous cards failure, hope this one continues to stay cooler.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Works in Dell Latitude D620 Mar 30, 2010
By Redemtious I purchased this wireless card to upgrade the wireless in my Dell Latitude D620. To my suprised the D620 had 3 antennas but the cramped inside made it difficult to connect all 3 antennas at once.
Don't believe the other negative posts about this item. It works great.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Beware! Mar 17, 2010
By Just Anonymous This is a great card to upgrade your computer to wireless N.
BE AWARE, please bear in mind that some brands of laptops will not accept this card. Lenovo laptops will display ERROR 1802 WRONG CARD error and prompt you to remove the card before your machine boots up. This happened to me. Apparently Lenovo whitelists only Lenovo WiFi cards to work with their computers (sucks, I know). If you're a computer hacker, you can alter your bios to make this card work on such computers but I always shy away from messing with my bios because it's a relatively easy way to really mess up your computer: but if you like to live on the edge, there's plenty of help on the internet on adjusting your bios.
Fortunately for me, I have another laptop that doesn't have that whitelist limitation and I installed it on that computer and didn't even try to return.
In any case, once you get it installed, I am running at 300Mbps on the laptop --- so about 3x faster than my old G cards.
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based on 23 reviews
Disregard the other negative post, this is an excellent chip... Nov 18, 2009
By Nvard Papiryan
