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This like the WPER-150GN is a single antenna WLAN solution.

Chipset: Ralink RT3090
Interface: Mini PCI Express
Wireless connection up to 150Mbps
RF 1T1R

This looks to be a corporate edition, and states that it’s a low power device.
Also states that’s its for top end Notebooks, not so sure about that my self.
Only positives I can see is that it should be a reliable WLAN card that may use less power but only because it transmits with 1x antenna and gives poor performance compared to dual/triple antenna devices.

This is a more promising card, then it’s little brother below.
Chipset: Ralink RT3092
Wireless connection up to 300Mbps
2T2R

The Ralink RT3092 is a dual antenna single radio chipset.
Also USB device on a card.
This can transmit and receive at 300Mbps.
Should do well with data transfers and media streaming.
Not the ideal WLAN card that would have 11nABG support but pretty close.
Not a bad choice to upgrade to, if you never plan on using 5Ghz (A) band.

I see a whole range of new WLAN cards coming out to replace the rather nasty ones included with OEM Notebooks.

Here is a first look a them and my thoughts, would love to get my hands on them to take them for a spin.

SparkLAN WPER-150GN / Gigabyte GN-WS32L
802.11n, b/g/N, 1T/1R USB interface Mini PCI-Express Half-Size Module
Ralink RT3070 minicard SoC Solution

This card should only be used if your current notebook or other device has but one antenna.
The Ralink RT3090 chipset is a USB device on a card, with single antenna and radio.
The connection to and from the router will be limited to 150Mbps max.
Should do reasonably well in day to day stuff like surfing the web, sending print jobs etc.
Demanding jobs like file transfer or data streaming won’t be it’s strong point and best left to 2T/2R or better cards.
This is a cheaper card at $34.95 and can be found at our good friends OxfordTec

I’m sure in the next few days better I’ll have some better cards to look at.

It’s going to be an awsome year for TV Tecnology, glad I didn’t upgrade the old 32″ LCD, may see what happens.

This so far is the one to beat, 3D,  LED and WIFI, I want one

The Sony XBR-LX900 series is one of the only 3D-compatible TVs to include the necessary glasses.

(Credit: Sony)

LAS VEGAS–Sony announced a trio of 3D-capable HDTVs at CES 2010, but only the most-expensive model, the XBR-LX900, actually includes a pair of the glasses you’ll need to enjoy 3D content. Of course, other family members will have to get their own pairs, sold separately (pricing TBD). Along with the Panasonic TC-PVT25 series, it’s the only 3D-capable TV announced so far to include glasses. Like other makers, Sony’s glasses use an active LC shutter system. The right and left lenses in the glasses alternately darken and lighten, too quickly to perceive, while the TV synchronously displays the corresponding right- and left-eye-specific images. The result: when you’re watching 3D content, is a stereoscopic 3D effect.

The LX900 also distinguishes itself with a built-in Wi-Fi connection, allowing wireless access to your home network and the Internet. Of course, this flagship Sony includes all of the interactive goodies found on other Sony TVs, such as Netflix, … Read the full post at CNET’s CES 2010 blog

This looks way cool, 4×4 Antenna’s and 11n full 600Mbps, lets hope this comes out in the not too distant future.

The D-Link Rush Access Point

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

LAS VEGAS–If you want to upgrade your wired network to wireless-N, you probably want to wait for the newest access point from D-Link.

The company unveiled at CES 2010 its most powerful consumer access point ever, the D-Link Rush (DAP-1560) wireless-N access point.

According to D-Link, the DAP-1560 will bring home networking to a new level of performance for those who demand the fastest streaming of high-definition content, such as movies, HD video, and photos. The new access point features a 4×4 antenna design that helps boost the power of any existing router with up to 600Mbps wireless speed and great signal coverage.

The device is compact enough to fit in your palm and comes with four detachable antennas. It has only one WLAN port on the back to be connected to a router, and it supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup, which allows for quickly adding wireless clients to its network via the touch of a button.

The access point is a dual-band selectable device and transmits in the 2.4GHz wireless band for applications such as surfing the Internet, or in the 5GHz wireless band for HD media streaming. This also means you won’t be able to use both bands at the same time.

Apart from working as an access point, the DAP-1560 can also be set to work as a wireless adapter (or bridge) for Ethernet-enabled clients, such as video game consoles, digital video recorders, or computers that don’t have built-in wireless adapters.

The new access point has a designed wireless speed of up to 450Mbps when used with adapters of the same 4×4 standard. However, it works with all existing wireless adapters at the cap speeds of each card.

D-Link says that the DAP-1560 access point will ship during the first half of the year. More details, including the price, will be available then.

This router I looked forward to exactly a year a go at the same show when it was announced this was getting released.

Lets hope this time round that it does, with HD Video Sending to TV’s  450Mbps will be needed to accomplish this.

The D-Link Touch true dual-band router.

(Credit: D-Link)

LAS VEGAS–If you don’t want to upgrade to Wireless-N with an access point such as the D-Link Rush , but instead want to replace the router itself, D-Link also has some new options for you.

The company announced at CES 2010 two new Wireless-N routers: the the D-Link Touch DIR-865 and the D-Link Wireless N Pocket Router. The Touch is a flagship high-speed Wireless-N router,whereas the Pocket Router is a minimobile router for people on the go.

The D-Link Pocket Router.

(Credit: D-Link)

According to D-Link, the Touch blends power, speed, range, security, functionality, and energy efficiency into one economical box that has the shape of traditional D-Link routers, complete with three external antennas. The router sports a 3-inch interactive touch screen for easy setup, configuration, and management of the router and Internet traffic.

The Touch supports true dual-band capabilities, working in 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands at the simultaneously. Three data streams offer throughput speeds of up to 450Mbps when used with the same standard wireless clients. Like all Wireless-N routers, it’s also backward compatible with earlier standards (802.11a/b/g).

If the Touch is a high-end router for the savvy user, the D-Link Wireless N Pocket Router is designed as a travel companion for people on the go, and features multimode functionality. It can be used either as a wireless router to create an 802.11n Wi-Fi network anywhere one is needed, or as an access point (AP) to add Wi-Fi to an existing wired network. The device can also be used to add wireless capability to an Ethernet-ready device, such as a desktop PC or an Xbox 360.

Despite its small size, the Pocket Router also comes with a USB port and supports D-Link’s SharePort technology, which allows the router to work as an extension of a networked computer’s USB port.

Neither of the new routers from D-Link will be available until mid 2010. Their prices and other details will be revealed then.

This is the original Dell WLAN 1500 card to go with the i945M chipet based Notebooks.
A full length MniPCIe card, do modern machines will need to check if these will fit.
2 Antenna’s (2Tx2R) 270Mbps max connection
This card when tested with Vista was the fastest card out there.
Will it do just as well with Windows 7

Performance:
Connection to router at 2.4Ghz – 135Mbps
Upload speed 8.76MB/s = 70.1Mbps
Download speed 9.61MB/s = 76.9Mbps

Connection to router ar 5Ghz – 135Mbps
Upload speed 8.51MB/s = 68.1Mbps
Download speed 6.08MB/s = 48.7Mbps

No matter what I did this card would not stay connected 270/300Mbps.
Once transfer starts the device would fall back to 20Mhz bandwidth and then a max of 135Mbps connection.
This in turn gave mediocre (comparative) speed scores.
I even installed the new Dell Windows 7 Client Utility to no avail, it detect 300Mbps routers but no luck connecting at staying connected at any where near that speed.
Very disappointed in this former king of speed, lets hope newer drivers will sort this issue.

Dell WLAN 1510

Here goes the 2nd Dell WLAN card the 1510
This card is Broadcom 94322 Chipset which is the 94321 and Radio chipset combined into one package.
Like the WLAN 1515 this is a 1/2 length card with 2 antenna connectors.
These can be found in a heap of Dell Notebooks with other 1/2 card options like the Dell WLAN 1510 and the Intel 51×0

These are cheap as chips on Ebay, and there are a heap of them to boot.
On Ebay be wary for duds, non working parts, buy from a seller with a good rating.
The Dell WLAN 1500 performed very well, how will it do with this time round ?

Performance:
Connection to router at 2.4Ghz – 300Mbps
Upload speed 19.87MB/s = 158.9Mbps
Download speed 10MB/s = 80Mbps

Connection to router ar 5Ghz – 150Mbps
Upload speed 11.46MB/s = 91.7Mbps
Download speed 10.28MB/s = 82.2Mbps

Lets start with the AMAZING 2.4Ghz upload speed, I’m pretty sure my previous WLAN tests didn’t do this well.
Download speed is nearly 1/2 this, quite disappointing.
The 5Ghz speeds are quite average nothing spectacular or disappointing.
Quite odd this this WLAN card connects to the router at 300Mbps but after a second or two drops to 150Mbps when the tests were started.
It would not go back to 300Mbps when finished, this is probably also means the average speeds in all but the 2.4Ghz upload.

Broadcom 94322 chipset based, 1/2 length card, Broadcom have started to make drivers again after a year+ of nothing.
This is basically the ancient 94321 chipset with radio also added on the chip.
The 94321 was a rather good chipset and Broadcom have not changed or updated anything.
So the above connection speed drop may get fixed with new driver releases.

Tested with Win 7 x64
Driver version 5.60.18.41

Final thoughts, choose this over the Dell 1515 any day, I haven’t got a Intel 5100 yet so can’t comment on this card.
Not a bad card, it may have a lot of potential with newer drivers.

Getting back into my other passion WLAN.
Got hold of some cards of EBAY to test.
This is the first of the Mini PCIe cards, this is a 1/2 length card and will only fit in late model Machines that have the ability to take these short cards.
The 1/2 length cards were made to lessen the real estate of the WLAN card to save money.
The cards feature all in one Chipset and radio on the same Chip, saving more money.
Even more cost cutting meant that they only come with 2 antenna’s.

Dell WLAN 1515

Now how does all this cost cutting fare in the real world ?
I’ve done a very simple real life test of measuring how long it takes for a 300MB file to transfer from Notebook to router and then back again.
This tests both receive and Transmit features of the WLAN card.

The Dell WLAN 1515 comes with the Atheros AR5009 chipset, which looks to be the all in one AR5008 and Radio Chipsets.

Upload (Transmit) is from Computer to Router, Download (Receive) is from router to computer.

Performance:
Connection to router at 2.4Ghz – 300Mbps
Upload speed 14.9MB/s = 119.2Mbps
Download speed 6.8MB/s = 54.2Mbps

Connection to router ar 5Ghz – 300Mbps
Upload speed 4.5MB/s = 36.1Mbps
Download speed 2.11MB/s = 16.9Mbps

Very good Upload speed at 2.4Ghz, download speed is less then 1/2 though.
5Ghz performance is rather disappointing, especially te downoad speed.

Overall not a bad card for 2.4Ghz use.

[UPDATE]
Just to clarify, here is what I used to test this device and also the upcoming devices:

Dell Inspiron 9400 , WLAN card was placed in here.
Latest Atheros driver (8.0.0.239)
Router, Buffalo WHR-G300N (2.4 and 5Ghz), 1Gbit/s
IBM XServer 236, with 6x73GB in RAID 5 1Gbit/s