G73SW-A1 - 2 questions

I purchased a referb G73SW-A1 and all seems to be OK as I am adding my software.

Q1: I have a dual band D-Link router with G/N (2.6GHZ and 5 GHZ). When I look at the wireless connection, it only shows one D-Link option with g/n in the info box. On my 4 year old HP laptop, it sees D-link G and Dlink - Media for the N, 5GHZ. I can select ether one. Why am I not seeing the same thing on the ASUS? Is it automatically taking the better of the 2 speeds?

Q2: I am pretty sure that I have a post Sandy Bridge laptop. I have heard of people checking this by entering the serial number on the ASUS site but I haven't been able to find any such reference. Any ideas.

Thanks.

 

That wireless card should auto detect and work on the faster network, unless you indicate otherwise. As for the Sandy Bridge check, I haven't seen an online check but if you call ASUS support they can double check the serial number for you and indicate which version it is.

 

Because you need to have a dual-band wireless card in the notebook. Assuming you bought the system from a retailer (eg Newegg), it probably has a fairly standard configuration, which includes a single band 2.4 GHz card.

Fortunately, it's really easy and inexpensive to upgrade the internal wireless card to dual band. You can easily pick up an Intel 6200 card for about $20-25. For even better performance, the Bigfoot Killer-N 1102 can be had for about $40-45. I bought a Killer-N off eBay, and it works great in my cheap little Asus K53TA.

Uninstall any software/connection managers, then uninstall the drivers by going into device manager/network adapters, right-clicking on the wireless card, and selecting uninstall, making sure to check the delete drivers box if it appears. Follow the guide posted here to remove the RAM cover and expose the adapter, carefully disconnecting the antenna and removing the securing screws. The adapter should slide out just like a stick of RAM. Reverse the procedure for installing the new card, boot up your machine, install the drivers, and you should be good to go for connecting to your 5 GHz network.

 

saturotaku,
I'm a bit confused. The wireless spec shows a 802.11 a/g/n adapter. My 4 year old HP laptop see both the Dlinlk g and the Dlink Media n. I would be very suprised if that old a laptop has a dual band card. The 1 model year old ASUS G73SW, I would expect to have all the latest hardware, considering the price and performance point, being a gaming machine.

Brett@XoticPC,
Am I missing soemething here? You said the laptop would pick up the faster wireless connection. Does this mean it's a single band wireless card that just sees a/g/n fomats and selects just the fasted. In my case that would be the 5 GHZ N which doesn't have anywhere the distance (range) as the G. Higher band with, but less range.