Anyone here own an Inspirion 1420/1520/1720 series Dell?

[darkstar]

I'm interested enough in these and their Vosto counterparts, but have been unable to find any reviews on what for me would be a strong selling point: increased wi-fi antenna strength/gain and, supposedly, range.

Anyone have any experience or heard any reports from users?

Thanks in advance if I don't see you soon....

:hi:

[Deja Q]

1. Dell = garbage

:(

But to focus on your topic: Their laptops are typically known for overheating, even scorching. So I wouldn't use it on my lap if I were you. Unless you want to get a cheap vasectomy...

I'd rather buy Lenovo. I've worked with them and are of higher hardware quality. (They also bought IBM's PC/laptop division a few years ago) I'd wipe it and reinstall the OEM license, sans Lenovo- and 3rd-party apps, but I would go Lenovo for real.

[darkstar]

3. Hey thanks

for the response. What I'm really interested in is ANY laptop touting increased antenna gain, as I have free muni wi-fi that is always somewhat spotty at times in in various reaches of my apt. But is really getting bad as summer progresses (increased air conditioner use creating interference at edge of range, perhaps?)

At any rate, these inspirons are the only notebooks I've found boasting increased range and pull-down. Do you know of any others ( I'm far from conversant w/ industry).

However, in my humble investigations, this new series is getting amazing reviews, espially as to price (esp Vostro route), performance and yes heat (i.e., folks have noticed/measured heat reduction over past dells). You can get discrete nvidia 8600 in the 1520. No bloatware at all. Santa Rosa. Three hour 6 cell battery life w/ DVD spinning. W/ no frills beyond vid card, going w/ Vostro, using on-line coupons and such, looking doable at 700-750 for the 15.

Anyhow, back to topic: do you know of antenna advances and if they really work? Who else touts increased range? Anyone.

Again, thanks in advance.

:hi:

[Xipe Totec]

5. The single most important thing you can do to extend the range of your 802.11 system

is to install an external antenna with some good gain and directional or omni-directional qualities. WiFi is simply a radio, which is used for computer.

More in this article.

http://www.radiolabs.com/Articles/wifi-antenna.html

[darkstar]

6. Thanks XT!!!!

Nice to see you.

The article really helped understand things except for one key point: how do I get signal into laptop?

Sorry if that seems dense, but none of the connector options for point to point desktops made any sense to me.

Thanks in advance if you get chance to respond....

:hi:

[Xipe Totec]

7. It depends on your specific card,

Or rather your specific laptop. If you have a built in wi-fi and no external access to the antenna, you may have to buy a USB or PCMCIA based wi-fi, but that's cheaper than buying a whole new PC just in the hope of getting a better wi-fi connection.

I used to have an Orinoco, one of the early wi-fi on a PCMCIA card.

Here's an article referring to that particular model.

http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/hnet.html

There seems to be a market for these antennas now, you'll probable have to do some shopping around and see if there's anything compatible with your laptop.

http://sharperconcepts.zoovy.com/category/24ghzantennas

Don't be afraid to just disable the internal wi-fi and go with an external solution.

Hope this helps, and good luck! :hi:

[Xipe Totec]

8. Here's another solution (Dell, no less)

The WN121T RangeMax™ Next Wireless-N USB 2.0 Adapter



http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=A0734276

[darkstar]

9. man, thanks so much.

Kind of you to link me up and share your knowledge.

Can you stand another likely dense question?

Would the municipal wifi I'm now getting need to be N standard for this to work?

Thanks amigo,

:yourock: :pals:

[Xipe Totec]

10. Excellent question

According to the specs, this device supports IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n

802.11n builds upon previous 802.11 standards by adding MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output). MIMO uses multiple transmitter and receiver antennas to allow for increased data throughput via spatial multiplexing and increased range by exploiting the spatial diversity, perhaps through coding schemes like Alamouti coding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11#802.11n

[Taverner]

2. Lenovo, Apple or a Panasonic ToughBook (my fave)

I have a ToughBook, and dropped it down wood stairs, and it performed fine afterwards.

Heavy, but durable.

But Lenovo/IBM or Apple make good ones too

[darkstar]

4. Thanks Tav--

Appreciate the input. Please see my post above to Hypno for better explanation, etc.

Thanks again.

:hi: