Guide about upgrading laptop's wifi card...

krit2

Honorable
Jan 6, 2015
81
0
10,640
I know that the Wireless Card in Laptops can be upgraded and that they come in various size and type (M.2, mini PCIe). Some include a WiFi + Bluetooth capabilities, some only does WiFi. But the thing is that i dont know which type do i need to buy for my laptop as i wanted to upgrade the WiFi card becuase the Wifi card doesnt supports the 5Ghz band of my router and it doesnt take to uses the full limit of my internet speed.

All i really know right now is that i have open my bottom's laptop cover and have located the wifi card placement and did take notes of the model of the card. Also took a picture of it in order it might help identify the size and which model does it support if i will change it to.

QualComm Atheros AR5B225
mnddf.jpg
 
Solution
That's a half-sized mini-PCI-e card.

mini-PCI-e WiFi cards

Physically upgrading a WiFi card is not always all there is to upgrading a laptop. There is the possibility that your laptop manufacturer has a "white list" of devices buried in BIOS that will prevent unauthorized cards from functioning. It's a nuisance, but something you may end up dealing with. You can probably return the card if it doesn't work after installation, but it may save some hassle if you contact customer support for your particular laptop.

From your description, it sounds like you want a dual-band wireless adapter as those support both 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands.

It's up to you what the max supported speed you are willing to pay for is. Higher speed...
That's a half-sized mini-PCI-e card.

mini-PCI-e WiFi cards

Physically upgrading a WiFi card is not always all there is to upgrading a laptop. There is the possibility that your laptop manufacturer has a "white list" of devices buried in BIOS that will prevent unauthorized cards from functioning. It's a nuisance, but something you may end up dealing with. You can probably return the card if it doesn't work after installation, but it may save some hassle if you contact customer support for your particular laptop.

From your description, it sounds like you want a dual-band wireless adapter as those support both 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands.

It's up to you what the max supported speed you are willing to pay for is. Higher speed WiFi adapters generally cost more, however the WiFi card can only ever connect up to the speed limit of the wireless access point you're connecting to, so getting the fastest WiFi adapter may not show much benefit there.

Personally, I don't see any good reason to get a WiFi adapter for a laptop that does not support Bluetooth. It's handy for attaching headsets, mice, printers, or any other accessories you might want.
 
  • Like
Reactions: yegor99
Solution


Ok, thx for the answer, its making more sense now.

I have looked at Intel Ark's website and have looked into the product category where i have found that Intel have sorted their WiFi cards into two type, which is Dual Band and Tri Band. What are the differences?
And i also want to know what are the maximum download and upload speeds that my current wifi card can handle and all the specs like which band 802.11 a b c or g that it does support.
 
The AR5B225 looks to be a single band, Mini PCI-E 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with Bluetooth 4.0

I've seen a board using the AR5B225 that specs 150 Mbps and a board that specs 300 Mbps, so I really can't say, but I would guess it's most likely a 150 Mbps WiFi card. It doesn't matter what your adapter supports if it isn't attaining those speeds. You can view Network Details in the Task Manager in Windows 8 & 10 and see just what your current connection speed of a wireless network is. Connection speed will change as the network signal strength fluctuates.

While I haven't any experience with tri-band WiFi adapters, the point of tri-band routers is to host a single 2.4 GHz network and a pair of 5 GHz networks, and transparently load balance 5 GHz traffic between the two 5 GHz networks. If you don't have multiple devices imposing moderate to heavy traffic on the 5 GHz network, you won't see any benefit from a tri-band router. It doesn't speed up your WiFi, it just allows more usage of the 5 GHz networks before you notice the congestion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: yegor99