Wifi Link 4965 better than 5100?

I read this somewhere earlier and it surprised me a little ... is the old 4965 really better than the 5100?

 

The 5100 is 1x2 Draft-N implementations, which means 1 transmit spatial stream and 2 receive spatial streams. The 4965AGN is 2x3 instead. If you want something better, then get the 5300, which is 3x3.

5300 Product Sheet
5100 Product Sheet
4965 Product Sheet

 

then 2 questions:

1) Are wireless cards easily changed?

2) Is there a noticeable upgrade between the 5300 and 5100?

 

1. Depends on the laptop model, I've seen a few that are not too hard to change.

2. I'm not sure, but I'd assume the 5300 being 3x3 will have a more significant change from the 5100 being 1x2 than from the 4965.

 

That sucks. I guess I should have looked into that before I bought my laptop. I just assumed that the 5100 would be good.