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My laptop purchase algorithm automatically filters out laptops without an Intel wifi adapter (and Intel graphics, but that's another story).

Intel has a solid track record on Linux driver development done right, going back years. They just Get It, while most others don't. My current Thinkpad with a 3945 has worked, with WPA, networkmanager et al with virtually zero problems as soon as Kubuntu was installed.

Atheros' recent AR6K family may become an option in the not distant future, as they finally remove the need for the magic HAL in-kernel blob. However, given my many problems with AR5K-based adapters and Madwifi (kernel crashes galore, lack of in-official-tree drivers), I'm sticking with Intel unless they mess up.

A T61 (latest T-series model) with the Intel 3965 wireless works out of the box and does not require ndiswrapper.

It's actually the 4965, and that's not *quite* true. You need to grab the latest driver snapshot from intellinuxwireless, but with that, my 4965 is working perfectly w/o ndiswrapper.

An N card with native Linux drivers developed/supported by the manufacturer.

Not true anymore. There is one blob of FCC regulatory compliance stuff that used to be in userspace, but has moved out of it. Intel have been busy opening up all the details on all this stuff to hackers.

It's not Xorg 7.3 that's packaged with Fedora, but Xorg 7.2 with the xorg-server 1.3.0 release. It still features very interesting software, like, for example, noveau, a free reimplementation of NVIDIA's hardware-accelerated 3D-drivers (still work in progress, of course), as well as a kernel patched with the all-new and highly anticipated mac802.11-subsystem that whould yield much better compatibility and performance for all things WLAN. I also like this idea of "Revisor", an application easily allowing for building customized bootable (install-)media with specific packages only.

The ability to build a transmitter that can interfere with others does not mean that it's legal, and in fact is expressly illegal in the United States. 47 CFR 15.5b states:

Operation of an intentional, unintentional, or incidental radiator is subject to the conditions that no harmful interference is caused and that interference must be accepted that may be caused by the operation of an authorized radio station, by another intentional or unintentional radiator, by industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) equipment, or by an incidental radiator.

Emphasis added.

I can drive my car the wrong way on the road, but that doesn't make it legal.

Looking around, it seems that Intel released in February a new driver using the d80211 subsystem that does away with the regulatory binary. There's still a binary microcode update that has to be loaded, and it's freely (as in beer) redistributable. I haven't played with it yet, but the initial response seems to be relatively positive.

The ability to build a transmitter that can interfere with others does not mean that it's legal, and in fact is expressly illegal in the United States. 47 CFR 15.5b states:

Operation of an intentional, unintentional, or incidental radiator is subject to the conditions that no harmful interference is caused and that interference must be accepted that may be caused by the operation of an authorized radio station, by another intentional or unintentional radiator, by industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) equipment, or by an incidental radiator.

Emphasis added.

I can drive my car the wrong way on the road, but that doesn't make it legal.

Looking around, it seems that Intel released in February a new driver using the d80211 subsystem that does away with the regulatory binary. There's still a binary microcode update that has to be loaded, and it's freely (as in beer) redistributable. I haven't played with it yet, but the initial response seems to be relatively positive.

Soon the binary only regulatory daemon won't be necessary, see http://intellinuxwireless.org/.