Upgrade wifi adapter in P-7811FX

I realize this is an old laptop now, but I still use it daily. I was wondering about an adapter such as the Intel 7260 that would give faster download speeds. I'm getting about 130 Mbps now with the 5100n. I know a half-mini card with an extension bracket would fit, but my main question is would it recognize the on/off switch, i.e., or would I have to do the tape over pin 20 trick? If it's too much of a hassle, I can just hardwire the laptop to my router as I have one extra port left and the laptop doesn't move anywhere. Or, a USB adapter, but that would be a last resort as I don't like dongles.

 

Intel 7260 should work with no issues. In most cases it won't require taping over any pins.
Just make sure you don't buy one dedicated to Lenovo or any other laptop with whitelisting.

 

Thanks, downloads, I'll give it a try. AFAIK, Gateway didn't whitelist any cards, but I'll make sure it's not a dedicated card to some other brand. I replaced a card in a slightly newer NV59 and had no issues at all.

 

Just curious, did you ever get an Intel 7260 for in the 7811? I would like to do the same upgrade and I wondering how it worked out?

 

Yes, it worked fine with no modifications needed. It came with a half-bracket adapter (which you need). The Wifi on-off switch on the laptop works fine. Download speeds doubled from around 160 Mbps to nearly 300 in line with more modern laptops I have. If you have any issues, make sure you download the drivers from Intel's website.

 

Thanks for the info! I ordered one from Ebay, cost me a whole $15 with adapter. Did the Bluetooth work on the card? It is really too bad you can't put a quad core into this laptop. The dual core is really the only thing holding it back even for being 12-13 years old. Kind of amazing actually.

 

You're welcome. I didn't try Blueooth, but it should work. It shows in Device Manager as "Bluetooth Device Personal Area Network". Make sure Bluetooth is turned on in settings. It shows "discoverable as (PC name)". If you have any issues, let me know and I'll check further. Get the drivers if necessary from Intel's website.

Yes, a quad core would be great, This was an amazing bargain at the time.