Updating internal laptop wifi card to ac: can you help find the right model?

[aldo]

Hi, I just found an R7000 second hand, but my laptop has no ac wifi right now.
A usb AC1200 adapter could be a solution, but I was suggested that upgrading the internal card might also be an option (also, my laptop only has usb 2.0, which might be a bottleneck)

I researched a bit and I am not sure where to find specs for an ac1200 card that might fit and be in white list (still have to discover if my laptop has a white list actually).

The laptop is an acer aspire 1810tz
When querying about the wifi card, ubuntu returns:
description: Wireless interface
product: Centrino Wireless-N 1000 [Condor Peak]
vendor: Intel Corporation

That's what it looks like:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACER-ASPI...R5B93-P3-/281317084616?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

Could anybody pointing me to the right replacement card model, if there is any?

Thansk!
Aldo

Update: could this be te one, even if has only 2 antennas?
Intel 7260.HMWWB - Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Network Adaptor PCI Express Half Mini Card 802.11ac 2x2 Bluetooth 4.0 USB
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E7QGHE6/?tag=smallncom-21

 

[azazel1024]

Yes, that is the card you probably want. The Intel centrino 1000 card though is signle antenna, so you'll need to add in an antenna to your laptop as well. Easy enough to do generally.

 

[aldo]

Yes, that is the card you probably want. The Intel centrino 1000 card though is signle antenna, so you'll need to add in an antenna to your laptop as well. Easy enough to do generally.

Thanks a lot for the advice.
I wasn't aware there was only one antenna on mine.
I contacted a few sellers asking if they sell additional antennas and if they accept returns in case the card was not in white list, just to stay safe.
Hopefully, the internal card should give me a bit more speed that a usb adapter.

 

[jegesq]

All internal wireless cards for laptops "only" have two antennas. if your laptop only has a single antenna wire, I'd say you should forget about adding AC to it, because you really need 2x2 to take advantage of the upgrade.

The Intel 7260ac will fit and that's the card you want to try to upgrade to.

I just did this same upgrade yesterday on my main laptop I use for work and at home. I have an HP DV6 with an i-7 3rd gen processor which had a decent (and very reliable) Ralink b/g/n adapter. I'd been using an ASUS AC53 USB dongle with great results, but I wanted to make it "clean" and do an internal upgade. So I bought the Intel 7260AC +Bluetooth adapter from Amazon.com, and did the upgrade yesterday. I will say that it works great and I am getting even better throughput and signal than I got from the AC63, and I was really happy with the AC53, so I'm really pleased now.

This is really an easy upgrade, and will take about 10 minutes if you do it carefully and have the right drivers on hand. So let me give you the benefit of about 12 hours of futzing around to get things right.


Your several concerns in doing the upgrade should be:

1. Bios "Whitelist". You mention the whitelist. For those who don't know, some computer manufacturers have "whitelists" in the bios code that restricts the kinds of card and aftermarket parts that can be used with particular builds. A lot of early adopters, especially with HP laptops who tried to replace their OEM wireless cards with new Intel 7260's (mostly the 7620n's, but also the AC cards, ran into this issue quite frequently, usually with older model laptops. Their only choice was to either go with a USB dongle and forget about upgrading their internal adapter, or try to find a hacked version of the bios which eliminated the whitelist for their particular model. There are sites out there (I found a couple) that actually offer hacked bios versions for just this situation, but the real issue is that you always run the risk of bricking your machine when using a hacked bios from a unknown source.

Anyway, the "whitelist" issue was and remains pretty common with Lenovos, a lot of HP's and many Toshibas and Sony laptops. Fortunately, my HP laptop (Envy DV6 with a 3rd gen i-7) didn't have the issue. I doubt your Acer has such a whitelist, or if it does that it would exclude the Intel 7260, but you never know until you try. Most of the newer Acers I have seen actually come with 802.11ac adapters installed, and most of them are the Intel 7260AC adapter. But if you have the whitelist, you'll know it as soon as you put the card in, because your computer will likely not boot, or if it does, the card won't be recognized at all. The only way to really know is to try it. And for about $32, the price of the 7260, it's a pretty cheap experiment. Just return the card if it doesn't work (easy if you buy from Amazon).

2. Be aware before you buy, that there are three different versions of the Intel7260 wireless adapter: One is b/g/n only, so you don't want that one; there are two AC versions, one with Bluetooth/AC and one AC only. The AC only is almost impossible to find, so just be aware that whether you want BT or not, you'll probably just have to live with it (you can always separately disable the BT in device manager or in settings in Win8/8.1 if you do not ant to use it; on the other hand, if you do, it works very well).

3. Drivers & Disconnects: When you buy the 7260, you just get a pci-e mini card-- it does not come with a driver. So you'll need to find one that works with your laptop. If Acer has a driver for your particular model, obviously, use it. If not, then look for other Acers running your OS and that are similar and use the driver for that model for the 7260ac.

If you can't locate a suitable driver from Acer, your only choice will be to use the generic Intel drivers. In the case of Intel's drivers, newer and more recent is not necessarily better. This is where the dreaded "disconnect" comes in: If you use the Intel latest drivers (17.1.xxx, from August or Sept 2014), chances are the 7260 will lose functionality if you put our laptop into "sleep" or "hibernation" mode (i.e., if you close the lid for any period of time without shutting down). When you reopen the lid, you will see that you have lost your wifi connection, and try as you might, you will not be able to reconnect. The adapter will be there, but it just won't connect and the only way to remedy the situation is to disable the adapter (in Device Manager) and then re-enable it.

If you search the internet you will find literally thousands of messages posted at dozens of website all complaining about the 7260 "disconnecting" "adapter losing connection/function when resuming from sleep/hibernation".

I mention this problem because when I replaced my old card with the 7260, it appeared to be rock solid, and I kept it running for several hours with no issues. However, when I put the lid down and then reopened it, the adapter wouldn't connect to anything. I could still see the adapter and could attempt to connect to both the 2.4 and 5.0 channels on my router, but it would not connect no matter what I did. The only thing that would allow a new connection would be for me to go into Device Manager, disable the 7260 and then re-enable it and that would solve the problem.

But of course this was not a tenable solution. I mean, who wants to do that every time you open and close the lid of your laptop?

In any event, I learned from others at the Intel forums that apparently the older 16.xx drivers (the new ones are 17.xx) didn't have this disconnect issue and were stable. Anyway, to give you the benefit of the time I wasted on this issue, I'll just give you a link to the Intel 7260 drivers: http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wtech/proset-ws/sb/CS-034041.htm

If I were you, I would avoid the consumer drivers and go with the ones designed for IT Professionals (see the link at the top of the page at the link I just gave you). Keep in mind, you DO NOT need to use the Pro/Set Wireless Utility. You only need the drivers. The drivers that finally worked for me were the one in the file "16.10_De164.zip" (the "De" signifies that it doesn't have the ProSet Wireless Utility, just the drivers, and 164 indicates it's for 64bit).

What I did to get the drivers to work correctly was this: First I just installed the 17.10.1 driver (which is shown as the latest and newest). But like the recent 3603 ASUS firmware (which created a host of issues with the 5ghz channel disappearing), those drivers were unstable and did not prevent the "disconnect" from occurring when recovering from "sleep" mode. So I found the 16.10 driver, using the IT Professional download page and installed those instead. And they worked. I can now close and open the lid of my laptop, go into sleep mode, etc., and have no issues with the adapter at all. It's solid and just works.


Anyway, this is actually a 10 minute project if you have the right drivers, the right screwdriver, and are willing to spend about $32 for the card. A word of warning: Be careful with the antenna wires and keep them in the same order as they are in the card you're replacing. Otherwise, this upgrade is a snap.

I highly recommend this upgrade. It just works.

 

[jegesq]

When I wrote that "all internal wireless cards have 'only' two antennas" I was responding to your original post in which you seemed to be suggesting that there could be more than 2, i.e., 3x3 internal cards. I'm not aware anyone makes a 3x3 internal, dual channel laptop adapter. So that's what I meant.

**************
Edit: My bad....there are 3x3 internal cards for laptops. See, e.g., http://www.avadirect.com/Centrino-U...-Internal-PCIe-Half-Mini-Card/Product/3704653

Live and learn.....

**************

I am not so sure the Centrino you have in your's doesn't have two antenna wires. See below. But if it doens't, putting in a second one may not be that easy (at least I wouldn't attempt it). You need to disassemble the screen frame and run the antenna wire into the lid of your computer. Me, i would leave that to a computer shop. But that's just me.

I am pretty certain that the Intel Centrino card you describe has two antenna connections. See this photo:

http://www.splusdirect.com/intel-ce...tore=default&gclid=CLT3nfKHuMICFceCfgodgZwAvw

You will see one on the left that says "main" and one on the right labeled "aux". Those are the two antenna connectors. The issue is whether your laptop has one or two antennas and you need to check your current adapter to be sure.

 

[jegesq]

Oh, and lastly, when you write in your last post that you hope adding the 7260 will give you more speed than a USB adapter, you probably won't see a dramatic increase in performance. I was very happy with my ASUS AC53 USB adapter; the improvement over that is marginal with the internal card, except when I'm sitting at the same desk where the router is located and then it's like being connected with a GigE cable. Seriously fast when it's right next to the router, way faster than the USB dongle. But for average use in another room, or downstairs, the performance is comparable, except now I don't have something sticking out of my laptop, or sucking down additional battery (the USB is a way bigger hog than the internal card).

Anyway, just do this. You will enjoy the experience if it works, and if it doesn't, it's an excuse to upgrade your laptop to a newer model with AC built in.

 

[jegesq]

To the OP:

You want the Intel Network 7260.HMWG WiFi Wireless-AC 7260 H/T Dual Band 2x2 AC+Bluetooth HMC .

You do NOT want the HMWB model. That's the 802.11n card, not the ac. I have heard about several Amazon sellers who mistakenly identify the -n cards as -ac. See, the HMWBN here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D69CINO/?tag=snbforums-20

This is the HMWG which is the -ac:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMCVKMU/?tag=snbforums-20

Obviously you're in England. Try to find one like this at Amazon.uk

EDIT: FOUND IT ON AMAZON.UK.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMCVKMU/?tag=snbforums-20

Trading24 (the seller) is the same seller I bought mine from (in Los Angeles). Very reputable. They say they have next day delivery in the UK if you use Amazon Prime.

 

[azazel1024]

Oh, and lastly, when you write in your last post that you hope adding the 7260 will give you more speed than a USB adapter, you probably won't see a dramatic increase in performance. I was very happy with my ASUS AC53 USB adapter; the improvement over that is marginal with the internal card, except when I'm sitting at the same desk where the router is located and then it's like being connected with a GigE cable. Seriously fast when it's right next to the router, way faster than the USB dongle. But for average use in another room, or downstairs, the performance is comparable, except now I don't have something sticking out of my laptop, or sucking down additional battery (the USB is a way bigger hog than the internal card).

Anyway, just do this. You will enjoy the experience if it works, and if it doesn't, it's an excuse to upgrade your laptop to a newer model with AC built in.

Your laptop might have really poor antenna positioning. I briefly tried an AC1200 USB adapter (same one you mention). Close in I get only 7-8MB/sec better with my Intel 7260ac (a little over 10% faster), but at medium/long distance I tend to get around 20-40% faster speeds, especially at long distance.

I don't personally suffer from the sleep/resume issues. Mine is rock steady. The only issue I have is that it and one of the power saving features in later Intel Win8.1 drivers seems to not work properly with my TP-Link routers (WDR3600 and Archer C8), so I have to disable the feature, otherwise my 11n performance sucks (11ac works fine though, but 11n 2.4 and 5GHz drop to like 3-4MB/sec). Disabling it has no noticable impact on battery life.

 

[jegesq]

Azazel

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I have terrific reception from my ASUS AC53 USB dongle, great throughput, whether at close, medium or long range. What I meant is that my range, throughput and speeds from the Intel 7260AC internal adapter are equally good. I don't see major improvements, but then my results were already excellent at medium distances and long distances.

Where I do detect a *slight* improvement in performance, and a difference between the USB dongle and the internal adapter is when I position my laptop literally within a few feet of my upstairs RT-AC66U router (Merlin FW 374.38_2) and doing online speed tests.

I'll keep this simple: My ISP service is "300/20" service from TimeWarnerCable. I get about 8% greater performance in download speed (i.e., 325+ download) when using my desktop connected to the router via GigE when running speed tests using Ookla's engine (specifically the AT&T speed test because it has the least overhead of any other online test site). I'm using an AC66U running Merlin FW ver. 374.38_2. It is rock-solid and stable.

Running file transfer tests, I see virtually no difference between either my desktop, or my laptop whether with the dongle or the internal adapter.

If I run online speed tests (testing upload and download speeds) on my laptop using the AC53 USB dongle, I can get the full speed from the ISP, i.e., 300MBs, but typically not higher, and sometimes *slightly* less (e.g., in the high 290's). These tests are repeatable, and running multiple tests gives results that are within +/-about 1%.

If I run the same test, again with laptop positioned in exactly the same place as with the dongle (about 2 feet from the router), but use the Intel 7260 instead, the results are literally identical to what I get using my GigE connected desktop, i.e., about 325+. In other words, the 7260 is slightly better, by about 8% than the USB dongle.

That slight increase in performance could, I suppose be related to the positioning of my laptop's internal antennas, but I doubt it, because the dongle speeds remain the same no matter how I position or orient the dongle (I use the dongle by connecting it to the supplied USB extension cord, so I can move it around and the adapter is not "fixed" in a flat horizontal position as it would be if it was directly plugged into the USB ports on my laptop).

BTW, I see no difference using a 3.0 or 2.0 USB port (which T. Higgins also confirmed with his recent tests of AC600 devices).

As for the "sleep/resume" issue with the Intel 7260 newer drivers, I'm happy to learn you have never experienced that issue. What drivers are you using? Did you install your 7260 as an upgrade, or was it stock on your laptop?
That you didn't experience the issue is good to know.

Also, I see no significant drop (from what I would otherwise expect) if I use the 2.4ghz band on my router. Unlike you, both the 2.4ghz band and the 5.0ghz band are good for me.

I don't know if you were referring to the adapter's advance power management configuration settings under Win8.1 found in Device Manager for the adapter. I think it's always a good idea with laptops to turn off the default setting of "allow my computer to turn off this device to save power". That default setting has been known to cause many issues with older Intel, Ralink and Broadcom internal adapters.

But I didn't mean that setting when I referred to the dongle being a battery hog. What I simply meant was that the USB adapter draws down the battery faster than the internal card does, so I would guess the dongle uses slightly more power than does the internal card.

 

[aldo]

To the OP:

You want the Intel Network 7260.HMWG WiFi Wireless-AC 7260 H/T Dual Band 2x2 AC+Bluetooth HMC .

You do NOT want the HMWB model. That's the 802.11n card, not the ac. I have heard about several Amazon sellers who mistakenly identify the -n cards as -ac. See, the HMWBN here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D69CINO/?tag=snbforums-20

This is the HMWG which is the -ac:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMCVKMU/?tag=snbforums-20

Obviously you're in England. Try to find one like this at Amazon.uk

EDIT: FOUND IT ON AMAZON.UK.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMCVKMU/?tag=snbforums-20

Trading24 (the seller) is the same seller I bought mine from (in Los Angeles). Very reputable. They say they have next day delivery in the UK if you use Amazon Prime.

What can I say?
Thanks so much for taking the time to share the result of all your research work, impressive
Indeed, I had stumbled upon and bookmarked all the models you mentioned but in the end I wasn't quite sure which one to go for. Thansk for clarifying things.
Amazon UK has not the one you are pointing me too, without the B. They have these two , clajming they are ac, so it's a lie?
:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E7QGHE6/?tag=smallncom-21

and the supposedly 'newer' BR version (which with amazon is always an hazy term, very seldom the seller will then explain what's so new about it):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00N7474CS/?tag=smallncom-21

I mostly use Ubuntu on my laptop, so if I find the one with no B at the end I might even be in luck, as drivers seems to be more reliable than some of the windows ones you mentioned.
Thanks for the link to the Intal drivers though, it will come up useful at some point.

Well, this point I guess I'll start by opening my laptop and see how many antenna it actually has, they might well be two, don't know.

 

[L&LD]

jegesq, it seems like the design / size of the antennae is the primary difference here?

The small USB adaptor is impressive for the performance it offers, but it cannot compete with a physically larger antennae with optimal placement (usually the top edges of an LCD display on a laptop.

http://www.mercenary.ca/articles/r30_antenna.php

 

[azazel1024]

Azazel

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I have terrific reception from my ASUS AC53 USB dongle, great throughput, whether at close, medium or long range. What I meant is that my range, throughput and speeds from the Intel 7260AC internal adapter are equally good. I don't see major improvements, but then my results were already excellent at medium distances and long distances.

Where I do detect a *slight* improvement in performance, and a difference between the USB dongle and the internal adapter is when I position my laptop literally within a few feet of my upstairs RT-AC66U router (Merlin FW 374.38_2) and doing online speed tests.

I'll keep this simple: My ISP service is "300/20" service from TimeWarnerCable. I get about 8% greater performance in download speed (i.e., 325+ download) when using my desktop connected to the router via GigE when running speed tests using Ookla's engine (specifically the AT&T speed test because it has the least overhead of any other online test site). I'm using an AC66U running Merlin FW ver. 374.38_2. It is rock-solid and stable.

Running file transfer tests, I see virtually no difference between either my desktop, or my laptop whether with the dongle or the internal adapter.

If I run online speed tests (testing upload and download speeds) on my laptop using the AC53 USB dongle, I can get the full speed from the ISP, i.e., 300MBs, but typically not higher, and sometimes *slightly* less (e.g., in the high 290's). These tests are repeatable, and running multiple tests gives results that are within +/-about 1%.

If I run the same test, again with laptop positioned in exactly the same place as with the dongle (about 2 feet from the router), but use the Intel 7260 instead, the results are literally identical to what I get using my GigE connected desktop, i.e., about 325+. In other words, the 7260 is slightly better, by about 8% than the USB dongle.

That slight increase in performance could, I suppose be related to the positioning of my laptop's internal antennas, but I doubt it, because the dongle speeds remain the same no matter how I position or orient the dongle (I use the dongle by connecting it to the supplied USB extension cord, so I can move it around and the adapter is not "fixed" in a flat horizontal position as it would be if it was directly plugged into the USB ports on my laptop).

BTW, I see no difference using a 3.0 or 2.0 USB port (which T. Higgins also confirmed with his recent tests of AC600 devices).

As for the "sleep/resume" issue with the Intel 7260 newer drivers, I'm happy to learn you have never experienced that issue. What drivers are you using? Did you install your 7260 as an upgrade, or was it stock on your laptop?
That you didn't experience the issue is good to know.

Also, I see no significant drop (from what I would otherwise expect) if I use the 2.4ghz band on my router. Unlike you, both the 2.4ghz band and the 5.0ghz band are good for me.

I don't know if you were referring to the adapter's advance power management configuration settings under Win8.1 found in Device Manager for the adapter. I think it's always a good idea with laptops to turn off the default setting of "allow my computer to turn off this device to save power". That default setting has been known to cause many issues with older Intel, Ralink and Broadcom internal adapters.

But I didn't mean that setting when I referred to the dongle being a battery hog. What I simply meant was that the USB adapter draws down the battery faster than the internal card does, so I would guess the dongle uses slightly more power than does the internal card.

What I was refering to is that the performance of my Intel 7260ac is significantly better, especially at range compared to the AC53 USB dongle. So either my dongle is defective, or else the router or antenna placement for my setup works a lot better than yours does, as I have a clear difference in performance between the two. I can get up to around 52MB/sec close to my router with the AC53 USB dongle...but I can get right up on 60MB/sec with the Intel 7260ac. At very long distance I lose the connection with the USB dongle, but I can still get around 3MB/sec or so on 2.4GHz out of the Intel 7260ac. Medium distances, I might get 20MB/sec or so out of the Intel adapter and only 14-15MB/sec out of the USB adapter.

The issue I mention is not band specific, it is protocol specific. with 11ac, I see no drop in speed with the 7260ac. With 11n I do. The power saving nit is disabling U-APSD. It is Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery (also known as WMM power save). If I have it enabled, speeds plumet, if I disable it, I get fat and happy >>>24MB/sec on 2.4GHz 40MHz and 5GHz 11n the same (11ac is uneffected the entire time).

 

[jegesq]

jegesq, it seems like the design / size of the antennae is the primary difference here?

The small USB adaptor is impressive for the performance it offers, but it cannot compete with a physically larger antennae with optimal placement (usually the top edges of an LCD display on a laptop.

http://www.mercenary.ca/articles/r30_antenna.php

Probably correct and hard to argue with that conclusion.

As for the DIY installation of antennae wires, every computer is going to be slightly different. All I was suggesting to the OP was that it's typically a task that's better done by a pro at a shop with the right tools, and by a tech with experience. I've seen people try to open up their screens (which is usually where the antennae wires need to be run) only to ruin a perfectly good laptop.

 

[jegesq]

What I was refering to is that the performance of my Intel 7260ac is significantly better, especially at range compared to the AC53 USB dongle. So either my dongle is defective, or else the router or antenna placement for my setup works a lot better than yours does, as I have a clear difference in performance between the two....

Why does that equate to your's working "a lot better" than mine? If I'm getting the same file transfer speeds and throughput (e.g., around 59MB/sec regardless of which one I use when situated near the router), I'd say that the performance on mine is working equally well at that range. And the fact that I don't see tremendous improvements in performance at middle and long distances from the 7260 over the USB dongle doesn't mean that my 7260 is "underperforming"; it could just be that my dongle is getting better reception than you get with your's since antenna placement/orientation is a two-way street. If for example, your dongle is plugged directly into your laptop (so that you can't move the position of the antenna on a horizontal plane without tilting or rotating the laptop), perhaps the difference in performance you are seeing with the 7260 vs. the dongle can be explained by the position in which you are orienting your dongle's antenna vs. how your laptop's internal antenna are positioned when using the 7260. So yeah, I guess I do agree with you that perhaps it all comes down to the antennas. Or at least that could be a major determining factor in how performance is perceived.

My USB adapter hangs free from the laptop, and I can move it and vary the position and orientation of the dongle without moving the laptop because I'm not plugging the USB dongle directly into the USB port, but instead I'm using the short extender cord that is packed with the USB device. Perhaps that flexibility also explain why I see results with the USB dongle that are comparable at medium and longer distances on both the USB and the internal 7260.

So, what drivers are you using for your's?
What kind of laptop is it?
Did the 7260 come pre-installed or did you upgrade?

 

[aldo]

Probably correct and hard to argue with that conclusion.

As for the DIY installation of antennae wires, every computer is going to be slightly different. All I was suggesting to the OP was that it's typically a task that's better done by a pro at a shop with the right tools, and by a tech with experience. I've seen people try to open up their screens (which is usually where the antennae wires need to be run) only to ruin a perfectly good laptop.

Indeed if it was a case of having to detach the lcd, I would steer clear of it.
That's the machine I use everyday for work, so better safe than sorry
Thansk again for all the advice!

 

[aldo]

EDIT: FOUND IT ON AMAZON.UK.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMCVKMU/?tag=snbforums-20

Trading24 (the seller) is the same seller I bought mine from (in Los Angeles). Very reputable. They say they have next day delivery in the UK if you use Amazon Prime.

I forgot to add, the link is for amazon.com, for some reason I am not finding the HMWG on amazon.uk

 

[jegesq]

Aldo:

If you have the ability to purchase and return the card with the HWB description, then you might want to give it a shot with the one you originally found on Amazon Europe (or wherever else you saw it) since I'm now reading that not all of the cards sold with the "B" rating are -n's. Seems there are some sellers on Amazon.com that have been mislabeling 7260's and selling -n's as -ac's, and several users reported that the "HMWB" designation were among the batch of mislabeled ones. If that's the only one you can buy or locate, then you should at least verify when you get it (or verify in advance if you can) that the label on the card contains text located just below the left antenna node that reads: "Model 7260 HMW" and immediately above that it reads "Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260" If the label contains this designation (without a "G" or "B" or any other letter after the "HMW"), then the card is probably an AC model and genuine Intel. Also, the real ones have antenna connectors that are labeled "Main" on the left and "Aux" on the right, and not "A" and "B" as is shown in some photos by some sellers on Amazon. If a seller doesn't at least have a picture of the real card, then I'd be somewhat leery of buying from that seller.

 

[azazel1024]

Why does that equate to your's working "a lot better" than mine? If I'm getting the same file transfer speeds and throughput (e.g., around 59MB/sec regardless of which one I use when situated near the router), I'd say that the performance on mine is working equally well at that range. And the fact that I don't see tremendous improvements in performance at middle and long distances from the 7260 over the USB dongle doesn't mean that my 7260 is "underperforming"; it could just be that my dongle is getting better reception than you get with your's since antenna placement/orientation is a two-way street. If for example, your dongle is plugged directly into your laptop (so that you can't move the position of the antenna on a horizontal plane without tilting or rotating the laptop), perhaps the difference in performance you are seeing with the 7260 vs. the dongle can be explained by the position in which you are orienting your dongle's antenna vs. how your laptop's internal antenna are positioned when using the 7260. So yeah, I guess I do agree with you that perhaps it all comes down to the antennas. Or at least that could be a major determining factor in how performance is perceived.

My USB adapter hangs free from the laptop, and I can move it and vary the position and orientation of the dongle without moving the laptop because I'm not plugging the USB dongle directly into the USB port, but instead I'm using the short extender cord that is packed with the USB device. Perhaps that flexibility also explain why I see results with the USB dongle that are comparable at medium and longer distances on both the USB and the internal 7260.

So, what drivers are you using for your's?
What kind of laptop is it?
Did the 7260 come pre-installed or did you upgrade?

Latest for both.
HP Envy 4t
No, upgraded (mine did not have a white list).

Absolute max performance I've seen on either, 54MB/sec on the Asus USB adapter, 62.5MB/sec on the Intel. There is absolutely a gulf of difference if I use a USB2 versus USB3 port for the Asus adapter (caps around 35-38MB/sec if I use the USB2 port). Typical close to my Archer C8 is 50-52MB/sec Asus and 58-60MB/sec Intel.

I guess I also shouldn't say that your Intel card is underperforming. Without you sharing anything more about your "file transfers", all I see you mention is your internet connection max of 300Mbps (envious by the way), which both my Asus USB and Intel pcie adapters would both easily be able to saturate resonably close to my router, as they have max performance of around ~400Mbps and 450Mbps respectively.

 

[jegesq]

Azazel:

You could be right about my Intel underperforming. Since yesterday, I've played around with a few different drivers for the 7260, and have discovered a rather unique thing going on: My connection rates (Phy Layer) seem to be moving all over no matter where I have the laptop located. If close to the router, I seem to get mostly 867, but it will occasionally dip to 702, 585, and even 502, and then it goes back up, but in a random order and not at all in any regular pattern.

I think this fluctuation may have to do with the "u-APSD Support" settings or some other "advanced" setting I might have played around with. I do not believe the cause of this is my AC66U at home, because this same thing occurred at my office (where we are using a TP-Link). I turned off the "u-APSD Support" and that seems to have stopped whatever was causing the fluctuating connection rates.

Right now, I'm running the Intel driver for Win 8.1, version 17.1.0.19 from July 21 (at the Intel Driver Download page for the 7260, it shows as the "Latest" driver for the wireless card. BT uses separate drivers and I've not loaded those since it seems to be responsive using just the standard MS BT drivers...I don't really use BT anyway and will probably just disable it). I tried other drivers (including some very recent ones that were available at the Intel message forum but are not yet "official") and this appears to be the most stable for me (I formerly was using the 16.xx drivers, but these are even better).

What 7260 drivers you are using? Did you get it from your laptop OEM, or are you using the generic drivers from Intel?

Depending on what you're using, that could also explain any performance difference between the USB and the internal card.

In any event, I've not seen any difference in performance with the AC53 USB dongle no matter what kind of USB port I use. I have one 2.0 and three 3.0's, and performance seems to be the same in any of them.

Let me know about the driver though because I'm very much interested in what you are using. Thanks.

 

[jegesq]

Aldo:

Let me wipe the egg off my face on the HMWG vs. HMWB designations. I just double-checked the product specifications sheet from Intel for the 7260AC cards, and lo and behold, there are several versions of the card out there. Maybe this will help you decide which one you really need to buy for your particular laptop:


If you look at the Intel "Product Brief" for the 7260, you will see that there are four different production versions of the card, and at least two (and possibly three) different form factors: Among the two you'll probably encounter are the HMC and the M.2 Form Factors.

The model numbers are:

7260HMW --- this is the "HMC" or the PCI-e mini-- You can find several pictures of this form factor at this link:

7260NGW -- this is the M.2 format, which is a different kind of connector. The Your laptop probably has this sort of connector if it was built within the last 5 or six years. It looks like the ones advertised all over Amazon.

7260SDW-- you will probably never see this on Amazon, since it's an OEM "solder-down" form factor.

Lots of Amazon sellers mis-describe the units they are selling. You just need to know which form-factor your computer uses and get the one that matches.

Yes, this sounds confusing, but most of what you will see out there being offered on Amazon (aside from bogus Atheros -n cards that are being sold by some with phony labels) are genuine Intels.

Even if you get the right form factor, the ID of the type of card you get (assuming it boots up if your computer has a whitelist) is hard-coded into the card, so just check to see what your Device Manager reports and you will know if your's is -n or -ac.

Sorry for any confusion, but the manner in which these cards are marketed has created some of that confusion.