Upgrade laptop wifi from G->N

[Jinky]

I have a 4+ year old Dell Inspiron e1505 with a Dell-branded 1390 wireless G "Mini-Card", which appears to be miniPCIe.

Since I can get an Intel 6300 wireless N card for less than $40 at amazon (link), I'm considering swapping out the 1390. My question is, will the Intel 6300 work with only the 2 antennas that are in the laptop? Is having only 2 antennas a deal-breaker for wireless N, and would I be better off with a USB wireless N adapter?

 

[Jinky]

FWIW, I ended up grabbing a new Intel 5100 miniPCIe card on ebay for about $14 US. It only has two antenna connectors (main & aux) and was a direct swap for the old Dell 1390 card I had been using.

IPerf bandwidth tests came out to be around 60 Mbps with the Intel 5100 using the 5 ghz radio on a Netgear WNDR3700 v1, where the Dell 1390 was getting about 21 Mbps using the 2.4 ghz radio.

 

[ginahoy]

I just went through this same research, and was told by techs at two different router manufacturers that using legacy twin antennae impacts range, but not connection speed. Thanks for confirming.

My laptop is mini-pci (not express) so my options are much more limited. However, I found a 5Ghz n-class mini-pci card on ebay for about $30. The wireless function on my current router is getting flaky so I need to upgrade anyway. I'm considering the dual-band EnGenious 7750.

 

[thresherhorn]

Have you/anyone had success with the Intel 6300 card in an older laptop (also have an e1505)?

Got the metal adapter, got a 3rd antenna, installed, newest drivers, high speeds, great signal....

but my system freezes over an extended amount of time (sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes).

Trouble shooting it now, but could really use some good news in terms of knowing if it can be done. Anything I read online are either "success stories" with newer machines or "the e1545 freezes with an intel 6200 card" (yes the 6200... can't find reading 1 saying anything about a 6300 in an old machine).

Your thoughts?