Can I upgrade internal WiFi adapter in ASUS N550JV-DB71?

I want to run 802.11ac in my home. My laptop's internal card only supports b/g/n. Is it possible to upgrade the internal card of my ASUS N550JV-DB71 so I don't need to use an external USB adapter? If so, what is it that I need to look for?

 

See:
Newegg.ca - Intel 7260HMW IEEE 802.11AC, dual-band, 2x2 Wi-Fi plus Bluetooth 4.0 Mini PCI Express combo Adapter - 867 Mbps+300Mbps - Internal - Wireless Adapters


Recommend you're running Win8/Win8.1 for the most straightforward swap of these cards (drivers may still be buggy in Win7).


I just upgraded an Asus U30Jc myself (from early 2010...). Very worthwhile @ $30 and even a better 'upgrade' than the Intel Centrino 6235 I did just last year to the same system.


I would recommend that you're running Win8/Win8.1 for the least headaches though (Win7 drivers may still be buggy).


While the AC connected speeds are obviously much faster than anything I could compare to before in this machine; even the N speed connections are noticeably more fluid and with less 'stuttering' on various WiFi networks that I connect to.


I would agree 100% to find an internal card instead of a dongle to get those AC speeds (there is nothing to recommend right now in USB products overall):

See:
AC1200 USB Wireless Adapter Roundup - SmallNetBuilder



Also consider the top two routers right now; Asus RT-AC68U and the NetGear 7000 if you're 'only' interested in 5GHz performance.

If you can wait to see what early 2014 brings, it will really be worth your while. Especially if you'll be settling into this network for the next 3-5 years.


Right now, the Asus RT-N66U with the RMerlin firmware is still the best game in town for 'N' WiFi.

See:
Asus RT-N66U Wireless N Dual Band Gigabit Router at Memory Express

See:
Asuswrt-Merlin - custom firmware for Asus routers - SmallNetBuilder Forums


With specifically this firmware for best speed and range:

See:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/mm97rqarp75nuel/RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.35_2-sdk5.zip



What will you get if you can wait for Wave 2 AC and the certification it will bring?

Basically this: up to now, all wireless products have been half duplex 'hubs' where one computer/device talks to the router and EVERYONE else is left waiting for their turn (even nearby routers that are not on your network).

MU-MIMO will allow an AC class router (with up to 8 antennae) to communicate with up to 8 (single antennae) devices at once.

Wave 2 will also introduce/allow 160MHz bonding for a 2x improvement in speed from anything we can buy now.

And while we have Beamforming now to various degrees, it will only become more effective as the standard is ratified and the clients become better too.

Finally, with per frame selection of channels, we don't have to choose 20MHz wide channels or 40MHz (or 80/160MHz) width with all the tradeoffs that will bring - the router can make all these decisions on the fly, multiple times a second.


And this looks like one of the components that will be driving 'wave 2' devices (imagine two of these in a single router):

See:
Quantenna's new chip turns 802.11ac Wi-Fi up a notch | Reviews - Peripherals - CNET Reviews



Myself: I'm waiting for the Wave 2 routers - but that doesn't mean I can't upgrade my clients to AC class levels before then.



Hope this helps.


Good luck.

 

Just a little update for anyone like me waiting for AC Wave 2 devices.

After clicking the following link, search for '4x4:3' or '4x4:4' to know when the new devices become available.


See:
http://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_802.11ac_Hardware#Automatically_updated_tables


Seems fairly complete and offers granular differences between the devices available now.


Also a little update with the U30Jc and the 7260 AC card:

The snappier internet performance is noticeable on every network I've used since installing it (over 50 so far) - even better; when connected to an AC router - the performance is incredible. Not the surfing (although that is still snappier than over 'N'), but when actually transferring files. At one client the same set of files transferred over 'N' WiFi was just over 6 minutes (~3GB) whereas with 'AC' WiFi the same files transferred in just over 2 minutes. Both these tests were done with the 5GHz network (no other 5GHz networks visible).


Of course, this is still a far cry from wired GB Ethernet speeds (the same files above transfer in ~23 seconds) - but progress is progress and 'without wires' is even better progress in my books.


Hope someone finds this useful (the OP seems to have disappeared).

 

I thought this dropped off. I setup the thread subscription but never received the notification. I by chance checked up on it woah.. lots of awesome info. Thank you much for all of that. I really appreciate it, all of it.

Until recently, I have been running almost entirely 1Gbps wired networking at home. For the past 4 years I've had my phones on WiFi and occasionally my work laptop but that was for email and that was about it. Now my wife has a laptop and she's really doing LAN heavy things. I never knew my WiFi was topping out at 5mbps!!! Seriously... it's that awful. The router just sucks. I need a fix now so I can't wait for tech next year. I just ordered the Asus RT-AC68U and the network adapter you recommended. I didn't even know if I could replace the WiFi adapter in the laptop, and you went ten steps beyond what I was hoping for, and it was all exactly what I wanted. So sorry for the delay in responding. I need to figure out why my notifications aren't coming through.

 

Ha! There you are!!!

Glad some of this was helpful.


The RT-AC68U will be great with the new firmware that is being tested now (don't give up on it in the meantime - unless it has any (real) hardware issues, of course).


See:
RT-AC68U and RT-AC56U: Beta firmware feedback - SmallNetBuilder Forums



Please let us know how you make out with this.


Take care.

 

Ugh... I'm still not getting notifications from this forum and I swear I have them configured properly.

With the stock WiFi card my wife's laptop had 3x improvement in performance, which is still terrible by today's WiFi standards. I never realized how bad our WiFi was when we just had our phones and Kindle's on it. The range and penetration of the Asus RT-AC68U is incredible. It pounds through our entire house very nicely and we have a lot of house to go through in some situations.

Last night I received and installed the Intel 7260MHW card in my wife's laptop. Holy shmokes does that make an improvement. I understand the performance isn't all that great from what I should get, but it's definitely acceptable. Downstream rate is easily 350mbps. The upstream isn't all that hot though. It seemed to want to max out around 50mbps. My wife is extremely happy with the improvement. I still might run a 1Gbps Ethernet drop to where she normally uses the laptop for the times when she really needs solid upstream such as uploading a lot of pictures and videos.

Is that beta firmware for the RT-AC68U stock firmware? I have been running TomatoUSB on my other routers because stock router firmware always seems to neglect very basic capabilities that I enjoy such as NAT loopback, static DHCP, and a wireless MAC filter that also includes the hostname. I'm using the AC68U as an AP only using the latest stock from Asus. So far I am happy with it.

 

Hey thanks for the update. Good to hear how much improvement in wireless performance you and your wife are enjoying.

You may want to try the latest firmware and see how suitable it is for your setup (many people find it rock stable). Do note though that Asus pulled it because a few people still have some problems (hope you're not one of them).

See:
New firmware - RT-ac68u - Version 3.0.0.4.374.454 - SmallNetBuilder Forums


(Please read entire thread to find download links from Asusnet...).


On another thread at snb (sorry, can't find it now), Asusnet has stated that a newer firmware (beta) will be released soon - hopefully resolving the last of these issues for the RT-AC68U.


But this is what you can expect from your router with the firmware currently available:

See:
www.hardwarezone.com.sg - View Single Post - [Maylyn's Preview ~ Networking] ASUS RT-AC68U



Glad to see you are happy with your new network.


Take care.

 

A quick update on AC WiFi: the AC spec has now been finalized.

See:
802.11ac Specification Is Final - SmallNetBuilder


The most important point to make here is that to get the full goodness of these future products (with 4 stream/4 antennae and higher) is that they will need a 10-GbE LAN connections (on the router and their switches/devices) to even attempt to get close to the maximum (with 8 stream/8 antennae) speeds of 7Gbps that is advertised.


Do note that Linksys already has a 4 antennae model introduced which is only 3 streams... and I would guess is not MU-MIMO capable either.

See:
Linksys Goes Back To The Future For New AC1900 Router - SmallNetBuilder


Yeah; the marketing/lying/implying without delivering full 'AC' has already begun.

Buyer beware!

 

Have you replaced succesfully your wifi card from ASUS N550JV laptop ?

What wifi card had you in laptop ? Qualcom Atheros AR9485WB-EG or other modell ?
Have you replaced it with Intel AC 7260 ?

What drivers and windows version have you use it ?
The Bluetooth it work from first time ? In BIOS have you setup something, or you don't need it to setup nothing in BIOS ?

The ASUS laptop doesn't have whitelist in BIOS ? So you don't have problem with whitelist, and you don't need it to mod the BIOS ?

Everything worked fine for you ?

I have me to an ASUS N550JV-CN163D laptop, and i wish me to , to change the wifi card with Intel AC 7260 .

 

I too would like an update from original post... am planning to purchase N550-JV and wondering if wifi card needs/should be upgraded and with what?