[Selective]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Its actually a gimmik. Been in that field seen that. All wireless cards(chipsets actually) which are designed by good companies are tested with laptops from 25 different brands. There is remote possibility of your 802.11g card not working properly with some obscure laptop makers laptop, but with known brands is never an issue.

Infact thats what standards are for. If a card is 802.11g compilant or 802.11a compliant etc., it does not matter who made it or wether its external or internal, the data rates will almost be same.

I disagree, it is not gimmik. Centrino is not just wireless cards. Centrino is M processor, wireless and battery life as a whole package. And they work better together to give more battery life, good roaming connection as I mentioned earlier.

If you are just talking Intel 802.11a/b/g cards only, then it is a different story all together. There is more to talk apart from standards with respecto to software. I dont want to go in detail, but can give one example for the quality.

During the recent hurrycane in east coast of US, US govt wanted network connectivity as wired world was gone for toss, the US govt evaluated all the vendors and selected Intel Centrino and that too with pre-market release hardware & software. That shows the reliability and confidence.

I am saying all this because dont take chances for 3-8 thousands rupees more. If something goes wrong, the experience to get the problem fixed with laptop is horrible! So, why take chances?

Selective.

[tsk1979]

I never said centrino is wireless card. I am not saying centrino is a processor
Centrino = Pentium M processor + Intel chipset(855 for now) + wireless card(Phillips)
New january 2005 centrino is the Sonoma processor + intel 915 + wireless(a/b/g)

You can buy a Pentium M laptop with no inbuilt wireless. When you buy with wireless its called the centrino.

During the recent hurrycane in east coast of US, US govt wanted network connectivity as wired world was gone for toss, the US govt evaluated all the vendors and selected Intel Centrino and that too with pre-market release hardware & software. That shows the reliability and confidence.

this is the same govt which started a war about non existant WMD's right?

Coming back to centrino, you can read this article about what is a centrino
http://www.powernotebooks.com/articl...fullnews&id=14

Here also there is a catch. Lower end notebooks give you 802.11a or 802.11b. thats a pitiful 6-7Mbps in real world. the standards have moved on to 802.11g. Heck 802.11n which gives approx 100Mbps is out. If you really want to enjoy wifi in local networks, 802.11b is a real real slow way to do it. I know people with centrino 2100(802.11b) still use an externel 802.11g card to get speeds.

Coming to the something is wrong part. Lets say I buy a computer from HP and they give me a APC UPS with it for 10000rs. The same model is available with warranty in the market for 4000rs. So my going to the APC shop and buying the same UPS is not going to make things go wrong, unless I have a very strong negative aura that anytjhing I buy will go kaput.

As far as wireless card makers, Cisco is supposed to build much better cards. For "Integration fanatics" the true integration will come later with Intel chip-Intel chipset-Intel Wifi. Intel may aquire a wireless startup and start shipping out its own wireless. Till that happens its like HP guy putting in the APC UPS for you or you buying it from the market.

And I am not speaking based on what internet tells, I have worked in Broadband industry for more than 4 years and have actually seen whats there *inside* the laptops.

I rest my case

[Selective]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

this is the same govt which started a war about non existant WMD's right?

Hmmm... but this time, they had the task in hand for their own people. Let me not stress on this and get this discussion to other extreme.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Here also there is a catch. Lower end notebooks give you 802.11a or 802.11b. thats a pitiful 6-7Mbps in real world. the standards have moved on to 802.11g. Heck 802.11n which gives approx 100Mbps is out. If you really want to enjoy wifi in local networks, 802.11b is a real real slow way to do it. I know people with centrino 2100(802.11b) still use an externel 802.11g card to get speeds.

This is a good piece of informatin for Dipply. Dippy see if you get the 802.11g with you laptop.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Coming to the something is wrong part. Lets say I buy a computer from HP and they give me a APC UPS with it for 10000rs. The same model is available with warranty in the market for 4000rs. So my going to the APC shop and buying the same UPS is not going to make things go wrong, unless I have a very strong negative aura that anytjhing I buy will go kaput.

You cannot apply the same logic everywhere. There are lot of examples where package deals are always better deal. And the same applies to Centrino.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Intel may aquire a wireless startup and start shipping out its own wireless.

Intel has already done that back in 2000 and it is shipping its own wireless chipset in Centrino FYI.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

And I am not speaking based on what internet tells, I have worked in Broadband industry for more than 4 years and have actually seen whats there *inside* the laptops.

Good to know. More gyan in the group is always fruitful.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I rest my case.

Yup, let us focus on what Dippy is looking for. I hope Dippy is at advantage out of this discussion!

Selective

[tsk1979]

This discussion is getting a little too subjective!
There are pros and cons for everything and same is with centrino.
For more knowlege look at the diagram from intel about LAPTOP connections
http://www.intel.com/products/i/chip...iagram_760.gif.

Also a link to an interesting znet article slamming the centrino and intels response
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/index.php?p=1583

The thing we are debating here "Is centrino worth it?" has been debated again and again. The link above gives the points and counter-points from intel

I hope Dippy's knowlege has really increased!
But I think you agree with me that having a 802.11b will mean buying a 2000rs wireless card at a later stage to get higher speeds. 802.11g 802.11n is the way to go!

As of now intel gives you theree wirless choices
* 2100B - 802.11b 11Mbps only.
* 2200BG - 802.11b (11Mbps) and 802.11g (54Mbps).
* 2915ABG - 802.11a (11Mbps), 802.11b (11Mbps), 802.11g (54Mbps), support for future 802.11e, h, i, etc.

the ABG is the way to go, support for future speed increases too!

[Dippy]

Been following the discussion by you guys since yesterday and I must I am enlightened. For a moment I thought you all forgot me but I'm glad to see my name still in the posts

So is it good for me to go for the Thinkpad with Centrino the R51? Will I get the 802.11g with this one? Like I said I might opt for the one which comes with only DOS since I will be wanting to have XP Professional. Makes no point going for the one which comes with preloaded XP Home

[tsk1979]

R51 can come with three options as I listed in my previous post. I dunno if all are available in india, but I am sure the first two(802.11b, 802.11g/b) are available.
If the 802.11g option is out of your budget, then go for the slower 802.11b. If you dont like the performance you can purchase a 1500rs wireless card and use that.
http://reviews.cnet.com/Networking/4...ml?tag=txt-all
This lists the cards :d. Some are below 20$, but stick to company.
the best solution would be to get 802.11g if its in your budget. Also you can buy the DOS version and later install windows XP. No issues with that.
A guy I know has a R series thinkpad and uses external wireless card. Do let me know if there are any specific queries about R series.

[Dippy]

Thanks for the advice tsk. I will go for the centrino R51 . How ever I just want3ed to if an external wireless card can be added to the celeron powered Thinkpad

Also if I have integrated wireless as on the centrino, how do i get a wireless internet service for eg I get the Relainace card here . Now by card does that mean a wireless card or relainces card to access the net

Basically i want to know is there a difference between a external wireless card and that card by relaince or are they the same thing

I'm just confused just wanted to clarify things

[Selective]

Originally Posted by Dippy

So is it good for me to go for the Thinkpad with Centrino the R51? Will I get the 802.11g with this one?

ThinkPad R51 (2887NQ8) comes with 802.11b/g which is the right choice.
ThinkPad R52 (1860A42) comes with 802.11b/g & XP Professional, for 9K more. So its upto you now.

Selective.

[Selective]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Basically i want to know is there a difference between a external wireless card and that card by relaince or are they the same thing I'm just confused just wanted to clarify things

Reliance card is basically WWAN modem which will connect your laptop to the net. This is different from what we are talking here. Wireless card we are talking about is Wireless LAN (WLAN).

For WLAN, you need to get the broadband connection from BSNL, Airtel etc for which you will get the connection thru landline. The landline will be connected with a modem at your home. There are two options here, regular modem with which you can connect your desktop or laptop with wire. The other option is to install wireless modem using which you can connect both with wire as well as with wireless.

WWAN is very costly and WLAN is very cheap these days. WWAN is not yet stable and still a long way to go.

With WWAN you can roam with your laptop like in the car and still you will have connection but with WLAN you will have connection only for few meters.

I hope I am not confusing you.

Selective

[tsk1979]

A wireless card can be attached to any laptop with a PCMCIA slot. R51 has two of those slots.
As for the reliance card, I think its CDMA card, but you check from them.
The wireless cards which we were discussing are WLAN cards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLAN
Nowadays many places such as airports/coffee shops etc., give you wireless internet. In USA its free at many places, in india at some coffee day joints they will give you a username and password after you pay a fee.
The Wireless lan we were talking about is that. You can use your inbuilt wireless, or use an external card plugged into a PCMCIA link.
Infact if you have a broadband connection at home, you can buy an access point and connect it to your modem. this will give you internet access within 50 meters of the accesspoint and you are not tied to your desk. But if you do that make sure you are properly secured and dont become the victim of Wardriving

[navin]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Infact if you have a broadband connection at home, you can buy an access point and connect it to your modem.

actually you'd need a router esp if the provider is giving PPPOE. an access point can be used with a router to extend the range of the router.

I would secure it with a MAC addres block. When I was in Singapore (last 2 weeks or so) I could turn on my laptop just about anywhere and catch about 4-5 wi-fi hotspots. some were suitably blocked enogh were not. at your laptop end i'd turn on the firewall to max esp while using an unknown hotspot.

[Dippy]

Ok lets talk bout the WWAN card. I heard you get the reliance one for 5 or 6 k and then you pay 1000 a mont for unlimited net access. But will I get access anywhere and everywhwere if I have this partiular card?

I have a hathway broadband connection at home for my desktop. So i guess it will be possible to use that connection via a router

[Selective]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Ok lets talk bout the WWAN card. I heard you get the reliance one for 5 or 6 k and then you pay 1000 a mont for unlimited net access. But will I get access anywhere and everywhwere if I have this partiular card?

Wherever your mobile signal is available you will have net connection. But it is not stable yet, quality of service will be low, bandwidth will be less etc. I dont suggest you to even think about it now.

Originally Posted by Dippy

I have a hathway broadband connection at home for my desktop. So i guess it will be possible to use that connection via a router

As Navin said, you can extend the existing modem/router by buying an Acess Point (AP) and connecting it to the modem.

Selective

[Dippy]

Thanks for the explaination Selective. So i guess its best to stick to accessing through a router then.

Should finalize the machine soon

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by Dippy

Thanks for the explaination Selective. So i guess its best to stick to accessing through a router then.

Should finalize the machine soon

Dippy, That surely was one hell of a discussion and I'm waiting to see what u finally go and buy !! Even I'm interested in one but I guess I'll not start that topic here and probably meet up with tsk on some meet and se what he suggests .

But one helluva discussion ..didnt realise buying a lap top cud be such a detailed procedure.

Cheers