VPC-Z11 - Intel WiFi Ultimate-N 6300 AGN Upgrade (+pics)

Just upgraded the WiFi card from 6200 to 6300 AGN in my new Z

Also, I used the Mini PCI-E WiFi Antenna from ebay:

2x MINI PCI-E Antenne Wireless WiFi 802.11N A/B/G/N AGN bei eBay.de: Komponenten (endet 20.05.10 22:20:07 MESZ)

Antenna fits nicely into disassembled/"lightened" Lenovo UltraBay III adapter and can be bolted with a small screw so it is completed fixed.

Pic attached.

So, any gains you ask?

I didn't do any scientific tests unfortunately - but I can definitely confirm improvement in my typical use case of bedroom surfing. As I am using 5 GHz spectrum (which penentrates walls etc... less efficiently compared to 2.4 GHz) I had numerous interruptions before while using WiFi from bedroom, and the signal was going down to 16 Mbps and even got lost sometimes.

After upgrade, signal is allowing 30-45 mbps and connection is always available w/o slowdowns.

So, some improvement definitely is there. Whether it warrants the costs and hassle... it is up to personal preference.

ALSO - the screw which fixes the Mini PCI-E WiFi card seems to be fixed with glue along with the element that provides the screw-hole I was not able to unscrew it with any (reasonable) amount of force, so I decided to perform an extreme measure of "ejecting" the entire screw assembly out of the motherboard (basically force it out of the hole drilled on the mobo). It worked, but with itself it also detached small part of the motherboard - nothing serious and without any contacts... but still, I do not recommend this course of action to anyone.

 

what do you gain by switching to that card?

 

10chars.....

 

I read that...my question is whether or not there is a spec or feature difference between the cards. The (quite) informal testing he did could be attributable to the antenna he added.

 

Google helped me...6300 supports 3 antennae

 

Yep, 6200 is 2x2 and 6300 is 3x3

That's why I had to buy the mini PCI-E WiFi antenna from ebay

Japanese VPC-Zs are having 6300 AGN with three antennae available as CTO option, but this is not available anywhere else.

WiFi card alone is $40 on ebay... add ~$5-$10 for the extra antenna+wire

You can probably sell the old WiFi card on ebay (which I will anyway) so the total costs will probably be in order of ~$25-$30 max.

What you get is a small bump in reception robustness and probably some small gains in available bandwidth (of course, assuming you have appropriate router as well)

 

does it work for the wireless widi netgear?

 

@psyq321
Any chance of getting that ebay site in English...?

Assuming that antenna works with the Intel 5300AGN half-height, I was wondering if you know whether the antenna end can be placed 'anywhere'?

That is, I have no idea where the third antenna should be routed to in the older Z (which I'm modding). Pretty much the entire inside of the old Z has metal contacts, and I'm guessing that placing the antenna 'anywhere' is out of the question with the risk of shorting the mobo. Any idea how the third antenna is routed in the Japanese older Z CTOs? Thinking that I'll need an extra screw, or possibly use an exisiting one inside somewhere (just superimpose the new antenna over another part with that exisiting screw...). I see you have the optics drive removed which pretty much lets you put anything metallic there...

A member here (ZugZug) had a novel method of routing it, but would of course prefer knowing the 'official' route before using anything else.

 

Asian model comes with 6300

the antenna is placed near the left bottom edge. where ur pal sits.

 

Sure - here is the US ebay address:

Universal Apple Mini PCI pci-e wifi Wireless Antenna - eBay (item 320497581982 end time Jun-03-10 21:48:52 PDT)

Or, just search for "mini PCI-e antenna" in ebay search, there are tons of these available.

Location-wise, it is best to put it somewhere near the edge - e.g. like in my case, where aftermarket HDD/SSD bay was a good spot. I recommend making sure that the antenna does not touch any other electrical component (tape can be used to prevent that if need be)

 

Just to confirm.
Laptop Wireless Mini PCI PCI-E Internal Antenna HITACHI - eBay (item 250460469222 end time Jun-02-10 22:40:27 PDT)

Does that seem compatible? From the images (yes, granted, they are just images) the antenna does not have a 90 degree output shape; rather, it comes out straight from the connection, which I'm not too sure will fit well inside the Z.

Regardless, all I'm looking for is a non-aftermarket Intel 5300AGN half-height card now... Thanks heaps~ (+1 rep)

 

Nice Upgrade i think

What does i need exactly?

- MINI PCI-E Antenne Wireless WiFi 802.11N
- Intel 6300 AGN Wifi Card
- Lenovo UltraBay III

Is this all? I have to disamble the Lenovo Ultrabay? Please describe with much details

 

Very cool, thanks for posting

 

@5ushiMonster,

I wouldn't take that type of antenna ("flat") one as it might be harder to find the place to "stuff" it. Rather, I'd get the smaller ones with 90" degree output shape.

There are really lots of those available on ebay - you even might want to order two or three different ones as they are as low as $3 - and then experiment which one fits the best in your case.

The one I linked at the beginning (from German ebay site) is a very nice fit for people that also added one extra SSD with UltraBay III adapter as it can be bolted on the adapter directly.

@VaioZ21,

You don't really need the UltraBay III adapter actually (it is needed for connecting 2.5" SSD/HDD to the slimline SATA connector used for the optical drive). You would need to find a different spot to fit the antenna, though.

If you do buy the UltraBay III adapter (or you have it already thanks to SSD upgrade) the procedure to "lighten" it is relatively simple, you just need to remove the extra aluminium plates and cover plate/shield which sits around the slimline SATA connector.

Basically it involves removing the screws and applying some force to detach the plates which are glued to the plastic frame. BEWARE: plate edges are >very< sharp. I managed to cut myself.

After that, the bay will be much lighter and you don't really need any of those plates etc... Additional bonus is that you can bolt-on the antenna in the space that would otherwise be inaccessible due to the plates.