New Wi-Fi card for X230

Hello,

I have a Lenovo THinkpad X230 notebook (not tablett). The built-in wi-fi card stopped working. I see directions online for how to change it, and I see replacement cards available on Ebay and Amazon.

The original wireless card was Intel N6205. Do I have to replace it with that same card. Or can I upgrade to a newer model wi-fi card? (For instance, on the Intel site, I see that there newest laptop wi-fi card is
AC 8265.)

Input would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

This should help you: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/52jhk3/best_x230_wifi_upgrade/d7lbrbg/

Other wireless cards will probably require you to bypass a whitelist of approved wireless cards in the BIOS.

Also take note of the kind of slot the wireless card connects to internally.

 

Thank you for the info. So are there different kinds of slots for wireless cards on laptops? I wonder why they made that whitelist in the BIOS? (which prevents one from upgrading to a newer card, that was not available when the laptop was designed)

Is the best of those three cards the N-6300? What difference might I notice with the N-6205 that came installed on the computer? Wider range, perhaps?

 

FYI, I ordered N-6300 on e-bay.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Intel-Ultima...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Advantage from specs is that 6300 has max speed 450mb/s and 6250 has speed of 350mb/s and $2US difference, N-6205 300mb/s

Apparently it's supposed to be a big improvement from my T430 Centrino 2200

Personally. I am choosing to upgrade because of constant dropped signal and modern wifi cards beating my 2200 single band.

Meaning if there is a superior wifi machine next to my laptop, the superior machine gets more/better wifi reception and transfer simply because it can transfer data quicker, unless the router allocates for each machine. For example, a modern iphone beats out my laptop wifi, so I am expecting faster and higher preference in wifi access.

Last, wifi "range" wouldn't change since the antenna is the same size.

 

I'd consider flashing a modded BIOS, and putting a proper modern card - 802.11ac & Bluetooth 4.0 Intel 7260 AC - inside. Yes, flashing x30 Thinkpads is a pain compared to straightforward x20 and older machines, but getting rid of WLAN whitelist is totally worth it, IMO.

 

N-6300 arrived this morning, and it's been working very well. Excellent boost in speed at Eduroam network, but no boost at home network(dual channel router).

As for stability. N2200 was glitchy, disconnect every hour or so at least, N6205, no disconnects, N6300 no disconnects yet.

Also the 1600x900 monitors for T430 has 3 WLAN antennas for 6300 + 2 WWAN antennas.

 

Or you could put in a DW1515 and run OS X

 

DW1515 is 802.11n, there are much better options for OS X - all costlier than 7260 AC, though.

 

Technology advances, new connection types are developed. Sometimes they are just made smaller.

A laptop is certified to specific specs electronic emissions wise. Remember the noise old phones made near speakers? Especially these business laptops that are sold to government and health and whatever important places. Sometimes laptops are sold originally without wlan cards and retrofitting those with something outside specs may have funny side effects with delicate measuring equipment. Something like an MRI machine produces unreliable results twice a week, when an intern next floor writes his reports with IT department's spare parts bin special laptop. That would be fun to troubleshoot. It could be interference on TV/radio broadcast, or granmas pacemaker But in most cases, nothing would ever happen.