Why do laptops still come with crappy 1x1 N cards?

[Adamm]

patiently waiting for something like a 4360 or another 3X3 to start coming available in a mini pci express format..........

im really suprised no one is filling this 3x3 ac card market...... asus has released the pce-68,and 66 but no smaller brothers for the laptops. most people dont need wifi on there desktop anyway............. so im just confused why asus hasnt released more 3x3 solutions?

Even if there was a 3x3 AC card released, good luck finding a laptop with 3 antennas. Unfortunately manufactures don't seem to care about the client side of things and are more worried about who has the biggest number on the routers box. Hopefully in the next year things start to pick up in the mpcie side of things.

 

[RMerlin]

patiently waiting for something like a 4360 or another 3X3 to start coming available in a mini pci express format..........

There are a few:

http://www.embeddedworks.net/wlan520.html
http://unex.com.tw/product/daxa-92

Not very common tho. First one isn't also mini format so it might not fit in many laptops, but the second one is.

 

[azazel1024]

Does HP whitelist? I want the Intel AC7260 card.

Yes. Not all of their laptops though, which is frustrating. Most of their laptops in the last 4 years though they have. I lucked out with my HP Envy 4t. No white list on it. Came with Intel 2230. I dropped my old Intel 1000 in to test because it isn't listed as an optional card for the laptop. Worked. So I got a 7260ac and dropped it in. Works like a charm, though I will note, on win8.1, it HATES my TP-Link routers with the newer drivers. It works GREAT on the initial Windows 8.1 driver (IE don't upgrade it to the latest Intel drivers, the 7.0.x.x series. Keep it with the shipping 6.x.x.x driver).

 

[remixedcat]

I have a 2000-412NR HP laptop. I hope it doesn't have a whitelist!

 

[KGB7]

I've always bought Dell laptops and even with them its been a miss or a hit with WiFi cards. Their inspiron line is a mess when it comes to WiFi cards.
One year they'll have 2x2, next year its 1x1. Single band or dual band. Cheaper models have better WiFi cards, yet the more expensive ones will have cheap WiFi cards.

Next.time call them and order a laptop with a WiFi card you want instead of buying of the shelf.

 

[Henningway]

Get an extra antenna!

Even if there was a 3x3 AC card released, good luck finding a laptop with 3 antennas. Unfortunately manufactures don't seem to care about the client side of things and are more worried about who has the biggest number on the routers box. Hopefully in the next year things start to pick up in the mpcie side of things.

There is an easy fix for that. Some time ago I added an extra antenna as well as an Intel Ultimate N6300AGN (3x3) for my Dell Studio 17. These antennas are inexpensive. A quick search $3.99 with free shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Pair-of...ectional_Network_Antennas&hash=item2c7f0d9920

It takes no time to find space for it in your laptop, and they have an adhesive side.

...Now I am waiting impatiently for someone to sell me a 3x3 .11AC dual band mini pcie card (that have been benchmarked), to match my ASUS RT-AC68U.

 

[stevech]

Or, manufacturers know that laptops undocked don't NEED more than 11n types of speeds.
When docked, they're on wired access.

 

[theveterans]

Or, manufacturers know that laptops undocked don't NEED more than 11n types of speeds.
When docked, they're on wired access.

They basically reserve the latest and greatest on premium laptops while most consumers buy low end stuff so they get low end WiFi. Gaming laptops OTOH care for ping so they opted to low latency N cards rather than an AC card like Intel 7260 and gaming does not need anything greater than N speed. I'm pretty sure if Qualcomm gets an AC version of the Killer cards, manufacturers will surely make them as their standard cards.

 

[stevech]

I'd think that serious gamers wouldn't use WiFi due to risk of delays caused by competition for air time among neighboring WiFi.

 

[sfx2000]

I've always bought Dell laptops and even with them its been a miss or a hit with WiFi cards. Their inspiron line is a mess when it comes to WiFi cards.
One year they'll have 2x2, next year its 1x1. Single band or dual band. Cheaper models have better WiFi cards, yet the more expensive ones will have cheap WiFi cards.

Next.time call them and order a laptop with a WiFi card you want instead of buying of the shelf.

The only OEM that I know that I can count on getting a decent WiFi card off the shelf is Apple... over the counter in the reseller chain, on-line, or at the stores... they have one SKU, and you can expect consistency here....

For Dell/HP/Lenevo/Asus - always buy online and configure to order - most offer 2*2 or 3*3 cards as perhaps an upgrade - in retail, it's very odd, as the intel WiFi cards are actually very cost efficient, and have very good driver support.

Go figure... if you buy off the shelf at worstBuy/FutureSHOCK (US/Canada), wifi cards are like a box of chocolates... and expect the worst...

sfx

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
My ASUS ROG costing almost $2K came with a crappy Atheros single band -N card.
MSI Detonator came with Atheros Killer 1202, -N card. I replace them both with Intel 7260. My utility laptop an old Dell E6410 came with 2 stream Dell branded card, surprised it has 3rd antenna built in. So this one got Atheros Killer 1103 -N card rated at 450mbps with built-in sort of QOS in it's firmware. To me laptop
price has nothing much to do with it. I am avoiding HP and Lenovo because their white list of cards. Can modifiy the BIOS to get around it but I almost killed my old
Thinkpad T61P patching it's BIOS(finger trouble). At present my favorite laptops are MSI and ASUS. But kids love MBPs.

 

[code65536]

Microsoft makes a point of pushing dual-band (and high-resolution) when they are able to. For example, the Acer Aspire V5s that you get at most places have crap 1366x768 screens and 1x1 SB WiFi, but the variants that they carry exclusively at the Microsoft store are 2x2 dual-band 11n with 1080p IPS screens. And they're pretty well-priced, too: 14" 1080p IPS screen, dual-band WiFi, Haswell ULV i5, backlit keyboard, and an aluminum finish--for $500 when on sale. (Also Microsoft Signature with no pre-installed 3rd party software--but I still nuke and reinstall anyway as a matter of policy.)

Sadly, Microsoft's clout doesn't extend very far.

But that's what a screwdriver is for! Oh, and this is why I avoid HP and Lenovo like the plague.

 

[sfx2000]

Hi,
My ASUS ROG costing almost $2K came with a crappy Atheros single band -N card.

Don't get me started about ASUS

Seems like left hand/right hand are totally disconnected there - they want to be awesome on the WiFi AP front (and they're doing well there), but the PC group seems to have a bit of a disconnect...

I have a recent ASUS ultrabook in my collection of devices, and it has a lousy WiFi/BT combo card - single stream and very Linux unfriendly at that...

oh well...

 

[code65536]

Don't get me started about ASUS

Seems like left hand/right hand are totally disconnected there - they want to be awesome on the WiFi AP front (and they're doing well there), but the PC group seems to have a bit of a disconnect...

I have a recent ASUS ultrabook in my collection of devices, and it has a lousy WiFi/BT combo card - single stream and very Linux unfriendly at that...

oh well...

Meh, I don't even bother to look at what WiFi cards things have.

An Atheros AR9462-based card with 2x2 dual-band 11n and Bluetooth 4.0 can be found for $5 or less on eBay, shipped (search for AR5B22). I've even managed to snag one for as low as $2.65 shipped (though that was also a lucky find). Alternatively, if you want to go Intel, go look for the 6250 cards--these cards go for pretty cheap on eBay because people seem to ignore them because of the WiMAX (you might also search by its full model name, the one with lots of annoying letters attached--it seems some sellers list them by that and not by the plain "6250"). But it's a perfectly good WiFi card, and I just disabled the WiMAX device in Device Manager without even bothering to install the drivers for it. (I have a number of various Intel 6xxx cards and a few AR9462 cards, and the Atheros cards perform slightly better with better consistency, in my experience.)

Every computer I buy gets opened up anyway for an SSD upgrade, and adding an extra few bucks to swap the WiFi while I'm at it is... well, a pittance.


But I agree, it's pretty sad that the average person is pretty much being screwed. But I guess that's their rationale: the average person won't notice, and the people who do will swap it out anyway. Unless it's Lenovo or HP. Those two can go jump off a cliff.

 

[KGB7]

The only OEM that I know that I can count on getting a decent WiFi card off the shelf is Apple... over the counter in the reseller chain, on-line, or at the stores... they have one SKU, and you can expect consistency here....

For Dell/HP/Lenevo/Asus - always buy online and configure to order - most offer 2*2 or 3*3 cards as perhaps an upgrade - in retail, it's very odd, as the intel WiFi cards are actually very cost efficient, and have very good driver support.

Go figure... if you buy off the shelf at worstBuy/FutureSHOCK (US/Canada), wifi cards are like a box of chocolates... and expect the worst...

sfx

And this why Apple laptops cost x2. You get the best of the best but you pay for it in the process.
My Dell laptop was $700 when I bought it new and it maxes.out my 50/50/FiOS with a cheap Intel n2230 WiFi card. I have no NAS and its faster to transfer files between the laptop and a desktop PC via usb3 stick.