Is it possible to change the Wireless Network Card in a VPCEB1Z0E/B?

I was just wondering if it is possible to change the Atheros AR9285, that came preinstalled in the laptop with a better one, i.e. Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200?.

 

Yes. It's actually a pretty simple thing to do.

EDIT: I should also say that the AR9285 is a half-miniPCIe, so that's what size you have to replace it with.

 

Would it void the warranty, if I were to change it?

 

Do you think Sony will warrant your replacement card you put inside? I would say, if you are careful when opening your laptop and changing parts and you replace the card with the original one in case you have to send the unit for repair - they probably won't notice that there was something changed inside and you may be lucky.

 

No, I don't think that Sony will warrant the replacement card, if I put one inside it. What I wanted to know was if it would void the warranty by me opening the laptop up and changing the card, or by just opening it up.

 

Are you sure a Centrino 6200N is an improvement? This because I just replaced the 6200N with a half height AR9280 adapter and the Atheros has notably better range and performance (throughput). Comparing the AR9280 vs the AR9285 in my HTPC shows that under Linux the AR9280 has better performance on the same network, but the reception is similar between the 2.

 

As I mentioned, officially you will void the warranty by opening the laptop. If you do it carefully (so you won't notice that it was opened by you) - I guess there will be no problem with the warranty.

 

Yes. The Intel 6200n is an improvement over the AR9285. The AR9285 is a 1x1 card where it can only handle one spacial stream at a time, providing a maximum of 150Mb/s. The Intel 6200n is a 2x2 design that can handle 2 multiplexed spacial streams at the same time, providing 300Mb/s speeds. 300Mb/s can be achieved with most any N capable router, but negotiated speeds and range are most certainly different depending on which router or access point you have. Also, it will NOT void your warranty. Replacing a wireless card is akin to replacing a stick of RAM. They won't warrant the replacement part, and if you send it in for service you're supposed to put the OEM part back in if you don't want it lost.

 

I know the specs of the cards, as I said, I have all 3. That was why I asked the question, because it seems to me that if you want to have better range (use a lot of long range or low power links) it might be better to stick with the AR9285. And if you want 2 stream throughput get either an AR9280 or an Intel 6200. Provided your laptop will have 2 antennas build in (luckely just about every laptop I've come across has that).