Tell us what WiFi chipset a laptop has.

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Tell us what WiFi chipset a laptop has.

10980 points posted to Broadband and Mobility, Dell Web Site, Linux, Laptops by tonyb2006 08/29/07 **UNDER REVIEW**

Tell us the WiFi chipset used in a laptop before we buy it so we know if the WiFi chipset supports a feature we want, or if it supports Linux or another operating system that we intend to use. The WiFi chipset being like "Intel ipw2200" or "Broadcom BCM4306", or "Ralink rt2500".

tonyb2006 08/29/07	Just to add something: "Dell Wireless 1390" Or "internal PCI-e Mini-Card WLAN" Does not suffice.
benjesuit 08/29/07	Generally Dell Wireless utilizes Broadcom chipsets. Pain it the @$$ getting those to run under Linux. Intel chipsets however, present less of a problem.
james_g 08/30/07	If you are concerned about what a devices supports/is supported by, you can search the Dell website or google.com for additional specs on a particular card. The options shown on the website (correct me if I'm wrong) state what the card is and provide additional info in the Help Me Choose links This is similar to one of the biggest problems I've seen in escalations: Customers pick one and didn't know what they were buying and 6 months later start to complain about it and want something else. We provide as much of the basic info as possible in teh systeme builds and if you really want to be sure you are getting what you want, the best thing you can do is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!!!! For example, the new mobility cards started coming out with Hypermemory and Turbocaching (dependong on manufacturer). The average customer does not realize that Hypermemory means the card has only have the stated memory dedicated as video and up to the remainder is pulled from system RAM have a 256 Mb ATi video card with Hypermemory, the card itself has only 128 mb and it will pull up to 128 mb from the System RAM, the amount pulled is dictated by total system RAM, which OS you are running and what the BIOS settings are. While we do have the ame of the card including Hypermemory, if you don't know what that means it doesn't help anything. So we included it in the specificiations documentation for the system as well as on buying individual cards of that type. James T Gray Dell Resolution Expert Center
dave-2 09/05/07	Glad to see more documentation available pre-purchase, but you missed one: graphics cards. I purchased a retail nVidia 7300 LE card that has an on-card cooling fan and have been annoyed with all the extra noise (since the Dell's system fan is almost always slow and silent). So I was pleasantly surprised when my Dimension 9200 ordered with 7300 LE video had no fan noise from the video card. Having learned that lesson, I tried to research the 8300 GS and 8600 GT video cards offered on current Dell systems, with no luck. Every single item in the ordering page had a "Help Me Choose" link except the video cards, and I couldn't find the info anywhere else. Finally I called a nice customer support rep, who tracked down a techie after about 15 minutes, who reported that both the 8300 and 8600 cards did in fact have fans. Oh well. So keep up the good work on technical documentation, and please continue fill in the gaps so we won't have to bother your support folks with questions that could be answered with more research. Most of the Help Me Choose info is currently pretty superficial, but some of it is actually useful.
dell_admin1 09/06/07	Changed status to UNDER REVIEW.
psychomp3 09/07/07	it's only Dell or Intel.
rotthund 09/11/07	And don't forget the WiFi sticker.
winoffice 09/22/07	I think that Broadcom and Ralink are not options for wireless cards on either desktops or notebooks. All of the wireless cards are either made by Dell or Intel. If no wireless card is compatible with Linux at this time, then Dell should add on its Linux pages: "It should be noted that no wireless cards are compatible with Linux and are thus not offered on Linux systems. By the way, about desktops, I think that the wireless card's description should also be offered on desktops, and not just laptops.
psychomp3 09/24/07	Linux in iteself is still limited.
iheartdell01 09/27/07	I don't think this is a very good idea. Most users would be really confused by this. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. If your laptop costs $400 then you are probably getting a crap wifi module.
psychomp3 10/02/07	not really. if the portable is under $400 then more likely there is no bluetooth but tsinc ethe chips are already cheap to manufacture most systems come with bluetooth and wifi. most chips even teh draft-n are Broadcom. Just by another question...Do other manufacturers actually post the brand of the wireless card on the protable itself.
john_h 11/12/07	The Dell-branded wireless cards right now are Broadcom-based devices, while the Intel-branded ones are obviously Intel. The Linux support for the Broadcom chipsets isn't the best right now, but they can be made to work, with either the bcm43xx driver + additional firmware, or with ndiswrapper. Some info on getting them to work is here: http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Tech/Wireless/Truemobile_ndiswrapper
rotthund 12/06/07	Don't the Centrino stickers imply that. or the Centrino stickers means it's Intel Wi-Fi?
petzymathuram 12/07/07	Hi John...welcome back...2 Ideastorm..not bad people from Dell are still here...;)
mariov Feb 19	Great idea! i wish my 1300 came with intel instead of broadcom...
umberto May 22	This needs to be done. In fact, why not have a fully-updated spec sheet that tells the consumer exactly what they are buying; as in the model number for every part? This would really give Dell an edge in the market for more technically-inclined users.
chris_b May 23	@umberto Thanks for the comment. We are currently reviewing the original idea and all comments, please keep the suggestions coming. =)

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