New Acer Aspire V Nitro series

Definitely the AC version of 7265 - even if you don't own an 802.11ac class router at this point yet.
BGN versions cause more issues.

 

I just saw on Amazon that the 7265 has a 30 days delay for delivery. That's not gonna happen. I'm getting the 7260 then (specifically 7260NGW).

Is that good?

 

you need modded bios for that but the bios is lock down so it cant be modded

 

so bios can't be extracted from motherboard ? that is a shame

 

Yes it's OK unless it specifically states that it's meant for Lenovo or HP (these won't work due to white-listing in card's firmware)

 

In the end is it true that with linux the touchpad behaves correctly? Depending on the answer we will discover if it's HW (unlikely to ever have a solution) or SW related(a right device driver would probably fix)...

 

@Edgar83
For me, touchpad entirely doesn't work with Linux. (Linux Mint 17.1 KDE.)

 

where should the antennas be? maybe we could just buy antennas and put them somewhere else?

 

I don't think you can do that - antenna cables should be routed through one of the hinges (usually through the tight one since the cable connecting the LCD goes through the left one). Then the cables split - the right one goes to the top of the screen bezel and the left one (which is longer) goes around - from bottom right to bottom left and then up to the top left of the screen. Antennas are left and right top of the screen/bezel. Mind you antenna cables are not antennas - so it's not enough to be able to place the cable somewhere - you'd need to fit the antenna too. This is how it all looks.

It's pretty much impossible to retro-fit it to a display bezel if it wasn't designer to fit there.

 

it can be extracted only i dont know how to flash back because it keeps saying it only support secure bios even when i try flashing the bios after extract.

 

not an expert here but might it be related to secure boot in bios setting ? or something ...

 

Tried flashing with secure boot off says the same thing even in lagacy mode it will say smi flash fail. Also tried flashing using the bios recovery method the usb light blink for 3 secs then the laptop restart without flashing

 

So I bought this HDD caddy to replace my unused dvd/br drive to read other drives I have laying around and extra backup and keep the optical save for any future needs.

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00P98AX8C/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_bF5Tub1NM5H1A

It's under 10 euros and I'm really pleased, first time I use one of these. It's detected as SATA 3Gb/s drive not sure if this is a limitation of the mainboard or the caddy, anyone knows? Did some speed tests and it doesn't bottleneck any HDD speeds, it will for ssd but we have an internal drive for that with SATA 6Gb/s if we need to use one. Fits slightly tight compared to the ultra slim optical drive we have but it's not an issue. Just wanted to inform you guys.

 

Running Gentoo here (kernel >=3.15) and the touchpad works just fine for me (591g). Here's my config:

Spoiler

$ synclient
Parameter settings:
LeftEdge = 49
RightEdge = 1187
TopEdge = 48
BottomEdge = 850
FingerLow = 25
FingerHigh = 30
MaxTapTime = 180
MaxTapMove = 67
MaxDoubleTapTime = 180
SingleTapTimeout = 180
ClickTime = 100
EmulateMidButtonTime = 75
EmulateTwoFingerMinZ = 282
EmulateTwoFingerMinW = 7
VertScrollDelta = 30
HorizScrollDelta = 30
VertEdgeScroll = 0
HorizEdgeScroll = 0
CornerCoasting = 0
VertTwoFingerScroll = 1
HorizTwoFingerScroll = 0
MinSpeed = 1
MaxSpeed = 1.75
AccelFactor = 0.075
TouchpadOff = 0
LockedDrags = 0
LockedDragTimeout = 5000
RTCornerButton = 0
RBCornerButton = 0
LTCornerButton = 0
LBCornerButton = 0
TapButton1 = 1
TapButton2 = 3
TapButton3 = 2
ClickFinger1 = 1
ClickFinger2 = 3
ClickFinger3 = 2
CircularScrolling = 0
CircScrollDelta = 0.1
CircScrollTrigger = 0
CircularPad = 0
PalmDetect = 1
PalmMinWidth = 10
PalmMinZ = 200
CoastingSpeed = 20
CoastingFriction = 50
PressureMotionMinZ = 30
PressureMotionMaxZ = 160
PressureMotionMinFactor = 1
PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1
GrabEventDevice = 0
TapAndDragGesture = 1
AreaLeftEdge = 0
AreaRightEdge = 0
AreaTopEdge = 0
AreaBottomEdge = 0
HorizHysteresis = 7
VertHysteresis = 7
ClickPad = 1
RightButtonAreaLeft = 0
RightButtonAreaRight = 0
RightButtonAreaTop = 0
RightButtonAreaBottom = 0
MiddleButtonAreaLeft = 0
MiddleButtonAreaRight = 0
MiddleButtonAreaTop = 0
MiddleButtonAreaBottom = 0

Most of those are defaults. Here's a script I run when X starts:
synclient AccelFactor=0.075
synclient MinSpeed=1
synclient MaxSpeed=1.75
synclient PalmDetect=1
synclient ClickFinger3=2
synclient TapButton1=1
synclient TapButton2=3
synclient TapButton3=2
synclient VertEdgeScroll=0
synclient ClickPad=1

 

Yeah, it's tricky. Nasty touchpad. It's USB, and that is a bad thing(TM).
Should be better i2c. Didn't work for me in the beginning, too.
Didn't show up in /dev/input/...
Now it works, and lsmod shows hid_multitouch kernel module loaded
(kernel 3.18 here, but an older knoppix 3.x did it aswell, but I don't know
how -- knoppix is a little bit idiosyncratic),
and there is something like
/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:5:1.0-event-mouse.

It's most likely HW/driver problem, X handles it automatically
once it's detected.

@Jaggyjags: Thanks, looks interesting.

@him_who_repasted: How did you handle the display cable glued to
the case fan?

 

I used the tool you said.

Here are screenshots:
My V17


A friends cheap Compaq (it has a Atheros adapter too u.u )



Here's my Motorola G:



My network is "MERCOSUR 1".

It's 7-9 meters away from me.. It's sitting on the floor under a bed. Getting some dust and dog hair. I know that has something to do with the problem, The only thing that makes me think that it has something to do with the Atheros card, it's that my cellphone and other laptops in the house, get better signal, tho. Because sometimes it gets past 80DB.

Im going to get the router in better place and away from dust, to see if it gets better.


EDIT: I now read that lower means better signal. Lol.

 

@0meg4

Well this is gonna be boring so brace yourself.

First - it does seem that the antenna placement on the laptop is the problem so it can't be fixed but the situation can be improved.

Secondly the router should be placed at s similar height (or slightly higher) as the antennas of the notebook typically are. So it shouldn't be on the floor but some 1.2 -1.5 meters of the ground (and not in a drawer or anything like this).

Another matter is the wireless channel - on 2.4GHz there are only three non-overlapping channels 1, 6 and 11. Most routers use one of those by default so there are usually a lot of people using those three. Wi-Fi technology includes a mechanism that deals with other networks on the same channel so it doesn't cause disconnections, however it deals with them at the expense of speed.

What you should try is channel 6 and if that's not gonna do it, channel 11. After that there are only overlapping channels - Wi-Fi doesn't deal with those very well - signal from overlapping channels is just noise, so in theory it might cause issues. In reality it's sometimes better to be on a free channel with i.e. one overlapping network than to share a non-overlapping one with 6 other networks.

So please test channel 8 too - networks from 6 and 11 will overlap but still it might be better.

Those two actions have different goals - changing the channel won't improve your RSSI in a significant manner but it might improve your wireless speeds and connectivity anyway. Changing the location of the router will improve RSSI and as a result speed too.

For now that's all you can do. Admittedly none of the tweaks has anything to do with the laptop but antennas can't be moved, driver updates did not help and your are in process of buying a new card - so for now that's all you can do.

RSSI of -65 at 7-9 meters (I'm using Compaq measurement) is not very good. I'm looking at -44/45 some 5 meters from the router - so there might be room for improvement in your case by just moving the router.

 

Apparently it helped a little by just moving the router at almost the exact same height of the laptop antennas right now.



First time it gets so close to 60db.
Then i changed to channel 8, and it really improved speed.

Thank you very much @downloads, at least I'm doing a little better for now. I'm already shopping for the wireless card on amazon. This one in specific.

I'm going to wait for it to get here, to open the laptop and fix the camera too (hopefully), and repaste the CPU. I don't want to open it twice. In my experience, you always lose a screw, haha u.u

PS: It wasn't boring at all.

 

hey, it's me again :hi2:

I have tried a lot with the placement of laptop and router. Nevertheless, strongest impact on the WiFi-signal is the mode in which the aspire is running.

If it runs with accumulator and energy-saving mode the signal is about 15dB stronger.

If it runs with power supply and in high performance mode the signal is more weak.

This totally confuses me I have checked the energysetting for the WiFi-Adapter, but everything is assigned as it should.

So then i tried every combination and figured out, that the energysettings for the adapter are meaningless. The energysetting for the laptop is important, because as soon as i mark high performance mode the signal gets weaker.
power supply plugged in / energy saving mode/ adapter mode: high performance = good signal
power supply plugged in / high performance mode/ adapter mode: high performance = weak signal
power supply plugged in / high performance mode/ adapter mode: max power savings = weak singal
power supply pluggin in / balanced mode / adapter mode: high performance = good signal

I think the antennas get influenced by some parts which only get power in high performance mode such as gpu (i don't know).

So for now I think I'm going to run my vn7 in balanced mode, because if I'm surfing the web, the signal is now totally oke for me.

But I don't know how it looks with balanced mode while gaming. Maybe then the bad sigal comes back.

greetings, excuse my english^^...

 

I dont get why just buy a alienware or build PC. Its cheaper than buying a branded laptop Acer always has new models, its like apple but cheaper looking.

 

hehe you are funny.

alienware is branded, isn't it?

 

I'm thinking about buying the VN7-591G model but WIFI problems sound quite worrisome. This is the exact model I've been checking (the site is in Finnish. For specs, click Katso tekniset tiedot):
Acer Aspire Nitro VN7-591G 15.6"
and it says that the adapter is Acer Invilink Nplify 802.11 a/b/g/n, not Atheros. Does anyone know whether that Invilink is any better than Atheros or not?

 

@Joedo

It might be related to interference from CPU, GPU and RAM modules (which should work at lower frequency in power-saving mode causing less interference).
It's rather late here, so rather than try to elaborate on this myself - let me point you to this article, you might find interesting.

It's not a brand. It's just marketing talk that makes it sound good. Regardless of the card used they use those names on laptops since 2006.

 

Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you!

 

I recently got the VN7-591G through work as I needed a new laptop. It came with the Intel 7265 AC wifi adapter. Signal is pretty decent, also in locations where I normally see poor signal and so-so speeds. In most cases the signal strength seem to be around the same as that of my aging Samsung Note 2 smartphone. I.e. not wacked-out-of-this-world great, but serviceable. I also get slightly higher transfer speeds to my server at home compared to my private laptop running an Intel 6300 adapter and "proper" antennas in the screen beezel. My private laptop is a very high-powered one too with SSDs.

Also, picked it apart and used a thin layer my own high-end Noctua goop on the CPU/GPU. Did not seem to make considerable difference. One of the more fiddly teardowns I've done, it requires patience.and a careful hand. Replaced the m.2 with a Crucial M550 512gb and the SATA-drive with a Samsung 840 EVO 1tb.

The setup runs pretty well, keyboard is good and I have no stability issues despite a decent undervolt through Intel XTU (-75mV). The latter helps considerably with temperatures. Still cannot declare it stable after only 3-4 days worth of Photoshop, gaming and general use, but it's looking very promising.

All things considered this seems to be a pretty decent laptop for the money. I do hate the chassis construction, it's not one that lends itself well to regularly accessing harddrives, RAM and similar. If I could choose freely I'd get the Clevo P651s. I've had a good, proper look at a GTX 970M version of this machine and also done some internal work on one for a friend. It is a high-end laptop compared to the V15 Nitro, not only graphics, but also feature wise. Comes with a price tag though.

One thing! Would be nice to have some kind of control over the fans. Any hope with the Notebook Fan Control software?

Mac

 

I tried to use several fan control utilities on my VN7-791G. Some of them, incl. Notebook Fan Control, seem to be working, but they affect only one cooler (right one). Another (left) cooler always stays under BIOS control.

P.S. Here is one of working apps: http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/711908-acer-7551g-fan-control-utility-fixes-overheating.html

 

Hmm. Thank you for the links. That Acer 7551G utility works for the one fan. There can't be that much that needs to be figured out to control both. We need a tech savvy owner! I like though, that the laptop is perfectly capable of running in completely passive cooling/fan mode when doing light stuff like web browsing. It's been many, many years since I had a pc that could function with passive cooling...

Mac

 

I bought 591G three weeks ago for my son and I can cinfirm that this laptop's WiFi reception is very bad.
It is unusable when moved for more than 5 meters from router or behind a wall.
Since I'm pretty experienced user and already have few laptops (MacbookPro, Sony Vaio and Asus G750) I could very easily track my problems to hardware side of 591G and not to drivers or my router.
After I compained to the seller about this problem, they tried to repair the laptop but only confirmed that WiFi reception is very poor.
They replaced it with new one but situation is the same.
Then I proposed to my son to change 591G for some other model but he wants to stick with this one so I decided to try to repair it myself.
I ordered Intel 7265 ac WiFi chip.
Yesterday it came and I replaced existing Atheros chip with Intel.
Unfortunately, problem is not solved.
Signal is little bit better but far from perfect.
It is obvious that placement of antennas is very bad in this model.
I'm thinking about extending antenna wires to try to boost signal.
If anyone finds some other solution for this problem I will very much appreciate it.
For now my son is using external USB WiFi adapter.
It's signal is much better than with internal adapter.

 

In other matter.
I've got a copy of BF4 today. Honestly i bought this laptop to my school work (im a student photographer). Heavy image editing and large photoshop files. But also for playing games on vacations (i'm a long time Dota gamer).
Long story short, i got it to play BF4 as my main game.

This thing is really impressive on this game. On 1080, settings on medium, it got 60FPS average, even on huge multiplayer fights with smoke and stuff. And that was on "balanced mode" on power settings (since it was a temporary solution for better wireless signal).
I installed all my games (origin and steam library) on the HDD. But for the test i installed BF4 on the SSD, and man this thing loads up fast.
I'm really impressed (and satisfied).

 

How do you not know this brand?! Its well known and its has better specs than the New Acer aspire model.

 

@downloads

I have the chance to get my hands on the Killer N1525 on eBay.

Should I get the Intel 7260 or the killer?

I'm right on the fence waiting to pull the trigger.

 

My current laptop is dying (falling to pieces and seriously overheating) so I'm looking for a replace. My choice is between Acers v5 573g (i7 4510u+gtx850m) for 875euros and nitro (i5 4210H + gtx860m) for 925euros, and I feel completely lost. I can state the obvious that nitro has better specs, and v5 is lighter but none of these things is deciding for me. Is there any other important difference, like better build quality, cooling? I would love it to live for at least 4 years(as my last one did) and to be able to play future games, but not on high settings and this is not the most important factor and also I don't care about screen and speakers quality and could live with rubbish port placing.
I am using currently i5 430m with AMD radeon hd 5000series so both computers will offer me a great improvement gaming-wise, but I have no idea if i7ulv doesn't have any limitations over my old i5m? I am a computer programming student who has no idea what will be doing in the future and I don't know which of the processors will be good enough for me to work. Other than that I have a few questions to the owners of the nitro:
-I didn't find the answer, but can you completely turn off the keyboard light? I mean from BIOS, or from both win8 and ubuntu (I will be using both, but Ubuntu is more important)
-How do you find the rubbery surface? I am afraid after time and with such a heat it could get that sticky-rubbery feel, am I right? I have also been using my mouse on the palmrest area, won't I scratch it?
-Is the keyboard part you need to remove to get to the motherboard connected only by screws or by easly breakable latches?
-How much does the 15" i54210h with 1TB HDD weight? Some shops/reviews say it's 2.2 and some 2.4. The charger, is it really 455g? It seams like a lot, maybe there are some more lightweight versions available (I know Dell offered those)? I travel by bike, with my computer on my back so weight is crucial for me.
-I've read on one of the polish forums about a guy who contacted Acer and they told him to send his laptop to their service and they will replace the Wifi card. Is that that easy to fix the issues with connection?

Is there any chance of prices dropping? I live in non-euro country and everyone is saying about prices going up due to euro going up and I'm afraid to wait.

 

- For now, you can't turn off the keyboard light
- I haven't opened yet, but there's a search button on top of this post, I'm sure I've read somewhere the process.
- Can't comment on the body (I own a v17) but yes, the charger is that heavy.
- Most of us here solved just with the card replacement. The antennas placement is the main issue.
- Kind of hard to predict markets.

I recommend you to read the whole thread to really know about this laptop.
I did it myself before buying.

 

Since we've had this exchange about Killer and Intel a while ago I got another confirmation from another user who knows what he is doing that Killer is in fact doing better than Intel (he owns both). Admittedly it's better in terms of throughput so it only matters if you own 802.11ac router but it's better nonetheless.

Ignoring the price, Killer starts to look better. It's too expensive but other than that it seems there are no known issues with it at this point and it's faster.

 

Well, the price is not that different.
This is the one I'm looking at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Killer-W...62?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46310ae356

I don't plan to get an ac router tho. I just want it because of the "it's better" assumption.

 

Agreed, it's not that bad. I thought it would be even more expensive.

It's kind if hard to tell if you are going to see any improvement whatsoever considering you are not looking at upgrading to 802.11ac.

Let's put it this way - after several confirmations that Killer works very well from people whom I know to be competent and considering the fact that I know very well what Intel 7260 is capable of (I own one although I haven't had too much problem with it) - at this point I'd personally buy a Killer.

It might not be that obvious for you because for once - I already have Intel and secondly I have a 802.11ac router so throughput increase looks tempting to me.

 

I agree with you.
The fact that you already own the Intel one, makes the killer even more desirable to you.
But to me is different because I only have the mediocre atheros.
I'm also kinda biased but the fact that Intel is a recognized brand here in Argentina (who knows, maybe even I can get some service or warranty here) and killer is new for me.

I'm just trying to get better wifi performance, getting rid of atheros.

If the only difference is the throughput increase that I'm definitely not going to use (because I don't think I need ac router) then I should stick to the most known Intel.

At the end, whichever I get, I'm getting a huge improvement coming from atheros, am I right? :-D

 

It will definitely be a better card (whichever of the two you chose to buy) but I'm afraid antenna placement means you won't be able to surpass certain things.
There's yet another confirmation of this in that post that you haven't seen yet (it was made by a new user and it required my manual approval)

 

Just what you've been confirming, bad antenna placement.
But also (as you already confirmed too) he says he has better signal.

So, at least I'll drop my ping a little.

God this is frustrating.

 

- To my experience, if laptops can last 4 years or not depends mainly on amount (ab)use. This one is pretty sturdy compared to a lot of ultra light weight models. The V15 do not turn on the fans before it gets to a certain temperature level, a level that is higher than what you're likely to reach browsing the web. This means a couple of things, for one the cooling solution must be good enough to passively cool the unit. There's also reason to believe the fans will live longer and not get worn and noisy as fast since they are not spinning all the time. Overall I'd rate the cooling solution of the V15 as competitive and comparable to most similar laptops.
- The i5 is no sluch and will be a decent processor for years to come. Unless doing tasks that is very heavily dependent on CPU power like video or heavy image editing or games you probably won't notice much difference to the i7. One of the i5 models is a lot of bang for the buck.
- The keyboard light can be turned on/off with the FN + F9 combo.
- The top plate containing the keyboard is connected to the main chassis by screws and bits that click in. They are not latches of the long and easily breakable kind, but that they'd get worn if you take on off the top plate many times, sure. Not sure if that would be an issue though as there are so many screws bolting the plate to the chassis, keeping it in place.
- The surface is plastic, not rubber. It probably won't get "sticky", but worn and "polished" over time, yes. It feels very nice though. I prefer it to metal that scratches and dents really easily.
- The "15 weighs about 2.4 kg. A high powered laptop needs adequate power supply, thus the weight and size. It's rated for 135w. Comparable size GTx 970M/980M laptops will have a power brick of 150 or 180w thats even larger. You could probably get by with a weaker/lighter supply when not gaming with the unit.
- The reports in this forum regards to the wifi ranges from "horrible" to "ok". Not really sure what to think. Mine's usable but not excellent and came with an Intel 7265 AC adapter.
- You're not likely to see any huge price drops in the near future. Maybe when the model gets phased out for the next big thing in a few months.

Good luck!

Mac

 

I really tought that the keyboard light couldn't be turned off.

Maybe I misread it somewhere

 

It collects fingerprints, dust particles, epidermis particles, and it cannot be easily cleaned with dry duster - you will need a wet wipe. However, if your hands are always dry and perfectly washed, and your house is surgically clean, probably you will not have any troubles with that surface.

 

That is extremely good to hear. Fans turning on to quickly is one of the reasons why my laptop is so hot right now. I was afraid reading about those high temperatures during stress tests, but everyday web browser use is far more important for me.

Metal palmrests scratch easily? I had no idea, I've only seen those on shop displays.

And that will be in the end of summer probably. Thanks for a thorough reply, even though I wanted to hear that nitro or v5 is dramatically worse I'm still afraid of the latches, even if those are short, my current laptop has those broken and you can see big gaps between keyboard and the bottom part.
And the charger, I could just buy the lighter one and it will be good enough for showing projects at uni and using libreoffice? How many ampers would you recommend?

I've read the whole thread but I didn't see all the answers. I've read whole thread about v5 573g too and it doesn't help me...
I guess 5GHz router could help, right? I live in a building where all of the 2.4GHz channels are packed full of users, some of them have stronger signals then my Netgear standing 3m from me and I have a problem with speed even right now.

But people say it goes back on after sleeping.

 

Just another datapoint.

Info from a separate forum indicates new units arriving this month in Malaysia is coming with the Intel 7265 instead of the Atheros wifi card. Looks like Acer is aware.

Not sure whether if I sent it in for warranty I can get it swapped for the Intel card.

 

Well, normally metal means aluminium when it comes to laptops. Alu is a rather soft metal and when its thin.... Depending on the texture of the metal (generally paint will stick much better to a rough/brushed surface than a smooth one) and what quality the paint job is, you can scratch, ding and wear through the paint down to the metal pretty easily. Knocking over an empty coffee mug can ding a palm rest and dropping a set of keys on it can scratch through paint. Been there done that

Well, the stock power brick rated at 19,5v and 135w. You could probably (no guarantees) get by with a 80-100w brick with the correct voltage and plug of course. I haven't tested this so I cannot verify the theory.

I understand your fear of breaking plastic latches very well, had laptops with that problem. I don't think I'll have any issues like that with the V15 but its not a laptop that lends itself well to frequent disassembly and messing around internally. Doing it a few times should be ok but not on a weekly basis.

Mac

 

Mine, bought in Norway last week, came with BIOS 1.08 and the 7265 AC. Must be from that recent batch.

Mac

 

Is there a model like this:
Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition VN7-591G-74LK Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz) 8GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2 GB GDDR5 15.6" Windows 8.1 - Newegg.com
but with i5 cpu?

 

Poor wifi reception are problem with this model, as you probably all already know, so today i tried to find some way around that. First of all, sorry for my english, i hope you could understand everything.
So first of all, i've used program called WirelessNetView to objectively see what happens. Specifically i paid most attention at RSSI value. I should admit that i'm not sure if this value is most important, after reading what it means, i thought so.If i'm mistaken, please tell me.
So what i did and what i found out. I've used TP-Link external wifi adapter, and basically tried to compare it's performance to integrated module. Long story short, even though at first it looked like an improvement, after some more intensive testing, external adapter didn't show better results, in fact, RSSI was even slightly worse at most of the time. For some reason, though, wifi signal indicator at the right bottom toolbar liked external better - showed 5 bars almost all the time, while sometimes dropped to 4 with Atheros - i don't know why.
But yeah, what surprised me most, is that this time Atheros did pretty decent job and in area when i normally have only 3 bars, this time it was 4-5. That was strange.
Then i figured out, that only thing i did different was that i didn't have my laptop plugged.
So my readings of RSSI was about -55-70 using both adapters in different rooms in my home, which doesn't look that good at all, but well, for some reason i have about -40-50 while sitting next to the router, so... Most interesting thing was, once i unplug my laptop from charger - it drops instantly about 10-15 points (which is good there, you want your RSSI value here as small as you can), and i had solid 4-5 bars of connection in area, when i normally have 3-4, also i was able to get -33 RSSI next to the router, when with cable plugged it was aroud 50, so... charger cable interfer with wifi ???
Once again, maybe that RSSI thing isn't that important at all after all, i'm not sure, but anyiway it seems that charging cable creates some problems with wifi, and if you use without it, Atheros module actually performs not that bad? Or maybe disable/enable module like 10 times did something as well.. Anyway, what do you think?

 

@siluetaz

I think it has to be with the cpu power management, as was said a few pages earlier.
The power plan used by default when you unplugg your power adaptor is "Balanced".
That power plan uses less cpu power, and that results in less interference caused by the cpu voltage.
Don't really remember what @downloads said about it. I guess you can look at it with the search button.

 

@siluetaz


There's not error in your line of thinking and RSSI is indeed important (it stands for Received Signal Strength Indication which is self explanatory and plainly important).
See post made by Joedo here and a possible explanation by me here.

Note that I don't claim I'm right with this explanation. It's more of a "where to look" thing than a full-fledged explanation.

One more thing about RSSI- it's arbitrary so chips from different manufacturers might show different RSSI in the same notebook placed in the same location. It does not mean that signal strength is better - it just means that one manufacturer uses a different scale than the other. This makes things more complicated and not easy to compare.