Y560 Lenovo ideapad Hardware Upgrading Questions

I have recently purchased a Lenovo notebook Y560 ideapad and would like to update some of the hardware;

Wifi Lan Card, have not opened this laptop, but noticed it is only producing 75mbs . The Lan Card Mini bus is an Atheros AR9285 , would like to Know if the Atheros 9380 would work in a Lenovo, and if i could get a driver that would work or if i just need to swap out the wifi lan card and be ok?
Here is some of the information on the Atheros AR9380

Any help would be appreciated.

One of the salesman at the Store who sold me the Notebook was trying to upsell me, saying the CPU i7 was not the latest generation or sandy bridge type cpu.
And, that the graphics card was not that good to work with gaming either.

So, when i got home i noticed the wifi card was not what i wanted, and i did not take apart the back panel to check the wifi card, to see if it was a mini half pcie mini bus lan card.
Although, i imagine its one of those half cards.

so far the laptop works fine.

Here are the specs;



Lenovo Y560 15.6" Notebook
Mfr: LENOVO Model: Ideapad Y560
FRYS.com #6449002 UPC: 885976052709




Core i7, 4GB, 500GB,HD5730 1GB
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Price: $699.99
Click Here to Buy It!




Lenovo Y560 15.6" Notebook
Other Categories with this or similar products
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Detailed Description
(Manufacturer # Ideapad Y560 )

Lenovo Y560 (064654U) - MOBILE MOVIE THEATER


Fun is a notebook that brings multimedia to life. Introducing the IdeaPad Y560 notebook with OneKey™ Theater II.

The Lenovo® IdeaPad™ Y560 notebook can automatically adapt its performance to your needs, thanks to the Intel® Core™ processor family with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

This multimedia notebook also comes with OneKey™ Theater II to deliver sharp and vibrant video with stunning clarity on a 15.6" HD widescreen, while Dolby® Home Theater™ surround sound and JBL® speakers make for an exhilarating sound experience.

And with SlideNav, an intelligent touch-sensitive slide bar, there’s a new way to navigate your favorite desktop shortcuts. The IdeaPad Y560 also features Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows® 7, which provides faster boot and shutdown times, plus a richer multimedia experience. Best of all, it’s from Lenovo, makers of the award-winning ThinkPad.


GET ENTERTAINED

*

Dolby® Home Theater™ surround sound with JBL® designed speakers
*

Entertainment on the move: just 1.3” thick and 5.9lbs.
*

HD graphics support and HDMI output
*

OneKey™ Theater II - intelligent one-touch audio-visual optimization for clearer, brighter images and richer audio
*

DVDRW drive
*

SlideNav - intelligent touch-sensitive slide bar for easy desktop navigation
*

VeriFace™ face recognition - a fun way to log in to your PC

REST EASY

*

Ambient Light Sensor protects your eyes by automatically adjusting screen brightness based on ambient light conditions
*

Lenovo Energy Management protects the long-term durability of the battery and uses advanced energy-saving technology to increase time spent between charges
*

OneKey™ Rescue System makes data backup and recovery simple so you can spend time on more enjoyable tasks


Specifications:

Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Processor: Intel® CoreTM i7-740QM processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5730 Graphics with 1GB dedicated memory

Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz, maximum 8GB

Display: 15.6" high-definition LED (1366x768), 16:9 widescreen

Hard Drive: 500GB HDD

Optical Drive: DVDRW Drive

Audio: 2 JBL® designed speakers with Dolby® Home Theater™ surround sound

Camera: 1.3M integrated web camera

Card Slots: 6-in-1 card reader (SD, SD pro, XD, MMC, MS, MS pro), ExpressCard slot (34mm)

Ports: 3 USB 2.0 and 1 eSATA / USB combo port, VGA, HDMI, Ethernet (RJ45), mic

Communications: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet

Battery: 6 cell battery

 

This laptop is well over a year old now and doesn't have the latest and greatest hardware. If you're happy with the performance, then don't worry about it. It'll game alright on most games. (Medium settings on new games.)

As far as the wireless card is concerned; Lenovo has a whitelist and won't allow certain wireless cards in their laptops. I would do a Google search and see if the card you're looking at would work in the laptop.

 

If you want to upgrade it, the only thing I would really think is worthwhile is to get a better resolution screen.

First disassemble the display assembly and pull the cord out of the bottom of the screen. Check how many pins are there and, if you can, check how many copper traces are in the ribbon cable. If all 40 pins are there, it should be a dual-channel cable, and is likely compatible with a 1920x1080 display.

No guarantees, but it's much more likely to be compatible if all 40 pins are on the connector.

 

Well, for the price and the processor, i thought i did oh okay, the next model up that was the same as mine, but seemed more up to date was this one here for 1000 plus in costs, HD6570 1gb w7 Hp 64Bit, Raedon Graphics, Y560 PC i7-2630QM , PLU 6548103
I could always upgrade this one i purchased as planned, and i would save money doing it, and cut costs selling off the parts i swap.

Where is this whitelist, lol i need to know which ones will work in a lenovo, i will do the google search thing, hope i can get the results im looking for.
thanks for the input.

As for the resolution screen, will look into this too. thanks. I see the issues they had with this display, but perhaps that was a beginning issue that has been fixed, i am not seeing any issues so far?


I am going to assume before i do any research, a whitelist is meaning the wifi card is on the list to be enabled or installed on the laptop through the bios menu to run a check.
And the BlackList is anything that may not work as well or not listed in the BIOS ?

Now on this whitelist link, not sure if this is still applicable, will check into this , but was wondering if this would still leave the entire whitelist disable thing off, and the new wifi card if installed not findable with the wifi whitelist disabled in the bios menu , after installing a new wifi card. not sure on any of this??? as of yet.

So if a wifi lan card puts out 54 kbps, and one puts out 3-45- mbs, which pc would be quicker ? why would it not make much of a difference?

Update; I have noticed today which is only 5 days or less, the amd graphics driver fails to load on displaying youtube often.
The error i keep getting is, Display driver fails on start up when loading a page, from time to time, and it says it recovered from failing to load. I dont like this.
Should i send this laptop back to the manufacturer?

UPDATE; Display Driver was downloaded from manufacturers website, Have not had a single problem since with the display failing to load anymore. must have fixed it.

Next, the Wifi Card, ok, i just ordered the Wifi Card a 633 Card, I hope it works, and I just dont know why the Laptop Manufacturers dont let people upgrade their laptops with the wifi cards they want, instead of whitelisting only some to work and others not.

I will update this post as soon as i get it and install it. Hope there are no issues bios wise after disabling the wfi issue whitelist. and if i need a driver, hope i get everything with this card needed if not , i will be searching for a driver some where .

 

633 card went good,,, anyone need help with that just ask, very easy very simple.
got a different laptop, no more display failure errors.
next is the HDD the one in it is cheezy after swapping out the one on my old acer and using it... can tell the difference easily.
then the processor is last, i like to change the graphics and display if i could. but not sure if i could.
i am really happy with changing the wifi lan card to the new intel 6300 ultimate N card. what a big difference. love it.
I am sure the HDD will be like night and day too.
so far so good, im loving this laptop.

 

take a look at the hardware manual for compatible devices for upgrade.

Lenovo Ideapad Support & downloads

 

Adventures,Can you kindly help i got 633 card today.

 

Adventures! Glad to hear ur success~
Recently, I had the same Atheros ar9285 wifi chip on my Lenovo Y560 laptop like urs and it disconnects alot. So I tried to updated the driver from the Lenovo site but then it stopped working. I tried to reinstall my default driver back from my comps LENOVO (D: ) and still it wont work. I went online and read all the problems they have with the Atheros ar9285 chip. So I tried to buy another chip, Intel Ultimate N 6300 633ANHMW. Right now since I'm a noob at this, I having trouble moding BIOS's whitelist. It's been a month and I really could use some help please!

Happy Holidays and Thank you for your time!