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Mini PCI cards with antenna

I'm currently using a cardbus wireless g card. I have seen some mini PCI atheros b/g cards recently on ebay that come with an antenna and a couple of plastic bits (brackets?). I had always assumed that mini pci cards connected to some integral antenna and that with my laptop (Dell Inspiron 5000E) I would not be able to just remove my pci modem and replace with a wlan pci card. Can the cards I mentioned above be fitted to any laptop as long as there's a mini pci slot? If so, where would you route the antenna? Thanks for any advice.

Reply to
Dean
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You route bothantenna up the back of the screen. One to the top middle and one lower down at one side.

Quite worrying the first time you do it as it feels like brain surgery. The next time it's no problem.

On some Dells you have to be careful about the card. Some ex Toshiba mibi PCI cards stop the CD working. The Intels are OK but some IBM branded Intels sometimes will not switch the radio on in Dells as the IBM Thinkpads use different switching contacts on the cards.

Reply to
That Bloke

Thanks for the help. So does this mean the antenna has to go through the hinge?

Reply to
Dean

On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:26:48 +0000, Dean wrote in :

Depends on whether your laptop has a built-in Wi-Fi antenna or not -- does it?

If you're willing to sacrifice some radio performance, you can use small Wi-Fi antennas anywhere near the mini PCI card that they are behind plastic (not metal).

Reply to
John Navas

I'm fairly certain there is no built-in antenna. The laptop is quite old and came with the mini pci slot occupied by a winmodem.

Will the sensitivity be noticably poorer than say my DLink cardbus cards' built-in antenna? The type of mini pci card I'm referring to are the ones on Ebay that to be compatible with most notebooks and invariably come with 2 short lengths of wire (about 10").

Reply to
Dean

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:37:03 +0000, Dean wrote in :

Another important factor is the BIOS. Some machines will refuse to boot if the BIOS detects a "foreign" Wi-Fi card.

Hard to say. Might be a bit better. Might be a bit worse. Depending on how good and well placed the antennas are.

For better performance, consider a PC Card or USB adapter with pop-up or external antenna; e.g.,

formatting link

Reply to
John Navas

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