Upgrade G73 to 3-Antenna Wireless LAN?

There was a discussion a few months ago about updating the Atheros Wireless Network Adapter with a 3-antenna version. Has anyone done this or know which one would work? Any info would be appreciated. I have no problem doing the mechanical upgrade and soldering a few wires.

 

I literally just installed the Centrino Ultimate-N 6300

It's a 3 antenna card, but I only used 2. I'd assume u can just run a third wire up through the chassis to the screen body and add a third. Still works great with 2, always full signal.

 

Where did you end up getting the Centrino and is that the one? And you say the reception even with the 2 antenna is still better than the Atheros? I travel a lot and have problems mainly in hotels getting good, reliable signals with this Atheros and want something that would work a bit better.

Thanks and a any issue installing?

 

Swapping from atheros to intel 6200 is very easy. Installing 6300 (3 antenna) is difficult. You have to remove the display and route the 3rd antenna there.

 

Is there a difference (hardware-wise and operational-wise) between the 6300 vs the 6200 except for the 3rd antenna?

 

Not really. Waste of money to buy the 6300 and run only two antenna, honestly.

 

I'll do a search but where are you guys finding to purchace these? I don't think Newegg carries them. ;-)

 

PROVANTAGE Intel 6200
PROVANTAGE Intel 6300

 

Actually the 6300 is capable of 450Mbps while the 6200 is 300Mbps, both can run on a 5 or 2.4Mhz band.

Plus the 6300 is in stock and ready to ship at Pro Advantage while the 6200 WAS (in stock now) special order and can take an extra week.

So 10 bucks for more bandwidth potential, extra (and optional) antenna slot and you get it a week sooner.

That's the extra cost.

 

Did the upgrade to the 6300N. Works great! Easy. Two screws and pop the two antenna off then on the new card. Big wirless access upgrade.

 

Does the extra range apply to Wireless G (and B) as well, or just N?

 

I can't say 100% but yes I think so. For instance in my neighborhood of single family homes I used to pick up about 6 wireless networks with the old wireless card. After installing the 6300n, I pick up about 20. What are the chances that all of those new ones I"m picking up are Wireless N? Slim I think.

 

And the third antenna, what did you do about that?

 

Regarding the 3rd antenna of the Intel 6300, instead of taking apart the laptop to run the antenna through the display can't you just coil up the antenna and store it in the tray of the laptop?
Or would this have a negative effect to the signal strength?

 

The 6300 can't do that speed if you don't connect the extra antenna. Both are in stock. If you have no intention of running the extra antenna, as I mentioned, it's a waste of money. You're spending an extra $10 or more on the same performance.

 

I just hooked up two antennas. Where could one get an extra antenna? I think I could just stuff it up somewhere inside. I dunno?

 

If you're tech sawy enough and feeling confident, there's a G73 disassembly guide somewhere in this forum. Maybe you could actually place the third antenna behind the screen.

 

Link was in my sig- it's found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/475907-asus-g73-series-disassembly-guide.html

 

Thanks guys. Where can you buy an extra antenna?

 

In a different thread, David wrote:

However, if you want to use the 6300's full potential, you'll need to purchase an antenna. You can get them on ebay for a couple bucks. This is what I did when I installed a 6300 wifi card to replace an atheros card that only came with 1 antenna.

Internal Antenna for Wireless Wifi Mini PCI PCI-E Card - eBay (item 130393277208 end time Jun-20-10 01:41:50 PDT)
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I'm looking for another thread that had a different antenna. Unless someone beats me to it, if I find it I'll update this post.

 

I did the upgrade with the 3rd antenna running up behind the screen where the other 2 wires are located. Provantage is where I got my 6300, and I got my third antenna wire from ebay. Just make sure if you are going to run the third wire like I did behind the screen, get a wire that is long enough! You are going to need around 24in. By the way I did this while I was upgrading my cpu to i7-920xm .

 

Good but are we sure that the third antenna "must" be run up behind the screen. Worst case what if you just coil it up into a ball? Maybe it won't be beneficial but will it hurt?

I peronally don't want to get involved in taking apart my laptop but I would like to run a third antenna.

By the way what do you call these things to search for them on ebay? "Wireless antenna"?