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    re: self wireless card and bluetooth upgrade

    Discussion in 'HP' started by drjoestan, Jul 10, 2009.

  1. drjoestan

    drjoestan Notebook Enthusiast

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    Dear Community,

    First, thank you for your help on my questions in this forum thus far. I truly appreciate your advice and help. I have a question concerning self-upgrading of the wireless card and bluetooth.

    Long story short, I have a Lenovo T61 that has bluetooth and the Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card. However, both the inverter and graphics card (nVidia quadro 140M) have failed. I have determined it is best to buy a new laptop.

    I am planning to either buy a HP Pavilion dv6t or dv4t. However, I would like to know if it is possible to forgo getting bluetooth and the wireless-n card when I order this laptop and install these components myself as I already have them from my Lenovo T61. My Lenovo T61 is just going to collect dust, and I am willing to take it apart for the individual parts.

    Is it worth the work? I believe I will not have problems taking apart the HP Pavilion and the Lenovo T61 as I am aware of the websites that show you how to take apart these models. But will the HP Pavilion motherboard support the wireless-n card and bluetooth if I originally did not order such components? Will the warranty be affected?

    Additional information: I shall be buying the HP Pavilion from Costco.

    Thank you very much for your time and help in this matter. I appreciate all the help and advice you have given me.


    Sincerely,
    Joe
     
    drjoestan, Jul 10, 2009
    #1
  2. brianstretch

    brianstretch Notebook Virtuoso

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    No. HP locks out "unapproved" internal wireless cards in the BIOS. Bluetooth might work but there's the question of the antenna, whether the module will fit, etc. I recommend buying with 802.11n and Bluetooth installed.

    I've had good luck selling notebooks that I didn't want to repair as broken on eBay. Let the big parts merchants chop it up.
     
    brianstretch, Jul 10, 2009
    #2
  3. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    ordering an HP laptop with the bt/wifi modules pre-installed costs $60 or so.
     
    newsposter, Jul 11, 2009
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