Thinkpads Forum

I'm fixing up my laptop. I figured i won't be upgrading any time soon, no reason to.

I was looking at what wifi cards would be the best option now. I don't mind changing the antennas, and I already have the whitelist removed bios.

I don't want anything external, everything must be internal.

Upgrading the bluetooth to 4.1 or 4.2 would be a big bonus.

Must be supported by Windows 7, and just stable.

I'm not sure what is exactly possible to achieve on these older laptops, but looking to go past the intel 7260.

There's a lot of good advice that you wont find anywhere else about 11ac wifi.

Problem is its sprayed over T61 T400 W500 etc. forums.

I think there's some atheros broadcom proper 11ac 3x3 cards out there... $50 though.

There's this 4x4 card:
http://shop.compex.com.sg/wireless-modu ... v5-20.html
You would need to figure out a way to fit it in the T420s.

Here's a "List of 802.11ac Hardware/Wireless Adapters":
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_802.1 ... s_Adapters

A list of 3x3 and 4x4 chips from Qualcom atheros:

4x4
QCA9980, QCA9982, QCA9984, QCA9990, QCA9992, QCA9994

3x3
QCA9580, QCA9590, QCA9860, QCA9880, QCA9890, QCA9982, QCA9992, QCA9550, QCA9556, QCA9558, QCA9561, QCA9563

the 4x4 obviously wont fit into any laptop given the format and heatsink.

TonyJZX wrote:the 4x4 obviously wont fit into any laptop given the format and heatsink.

I came to the opposite conclusion; that it obviously would fit a T420s! Granted, one would have to chop away parts of the frame, the PCI express mini slot and the wifi card's heat sink and, having done all of that, realize it doesn't work well with Windows 7. Among the 4x4 cards, the one I'd listed was the only one which might work.

The Intel 7260 is "abgn+ac, 2x2:2".

A step up would be 3x3:3. There are plenty of 3x3:3 cards available but, the few I checked anyway, don't mention support for Windows 7.

Search around for: AW-CB160H, AW-CB161H, BCM94360HMB
https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/B011SI4544/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/251969999335

Well, I have to put this on hold for about two months.
Life came up.

I defiantly have to revisit this topic since I'm getting a new router, and probably in a few months, a new modem.

Thank you for all of the info everyone.