Andy Anderson

"Draft N" Wireless - a good idea?

Hey folks--I'm considering a Dell laptop (I can get a good discount), and was perusing options on their website. Wireless networking is important to me, and Dell has a "Draft N" wireless card available for a few dollars more ($40-50, I can't recall exactly).

What's the general consensus on whether or not this is a good idea? I've read a bit online, and noted that there's no guarantee that the Draft N card would be upgradeable when the standard is finalized, and Dell is very up front about that.

Anyone have any thoughts/concerns/suggestions? Should I take the "Draft N" plunge? Is there anything I'm overlooking?

Andy

XBL Gamertag: Anderpants
My DVDs are cooler than yours.

Peter Burtch

Re: "Draft N" Wireless - a good idea?

I think a better question to ask yourself is, would you be getting any added benefit by having that wireless card with a non-standard versus a normal a/b/g or b/g card(?) Have you had connectivity issues where you use the laptop related to lack of signal range or strength(?) If not, I don't see it as a worthwhile investment since the plain jane cards will normally do what you need nicely. Quite often, depending on which home router you own and what sort of range you need, a simple free firmware hack will give your home network enough of an added boost to make the extra money for a new card not worth it. YMMV, of course.

-P

Chris Lockwood

Re: "Draft N" Wireless - a good idea?

Is this some new wireless standard?

The laptop I got in the spring has wireless built-in, no need for a card, & it works great.

Andy Anderson

Re: "Draft N" Wireless - a good idea?

Peter-

Thanks for the reply. Yep--after doing some research on it, you're absolutely right. There doesn't seem to be much advantage there. I don't typically have problems with my reception at my house. Additionally, where "Draft N" seems to shine is not actually speeding up downloading from the internet (doesn't go any faster than g), but wireless streaming and file transfer between machines. I just don't do very much of that, so it would seem that I'd be wasting my money on the Draft N card and having to purchase a Draft N router (typically $125-130).

Andy

XBL Gamertag: Anderpants
My DVDs are cooler than yours.