Best PCI-e Mini Wireless Card/Wireless USB Adaptor?

Hey guys,

I'm on the lookout for a well-recommended Wireless Card.

I've previously asked on Toms Hardware however I only had one response which wasn't completely helpful and didn't answer my questions.

At the moment I have an Acer laptop (P253-M) with a rubbish 'N' Card in it which only achieves up to 72Mbps (Rarely). It is a 2nd Generation Core i5.

The first question is; would upgrading to a named make such as Intel make the signal stronger?

The second is: Is it worth getting a PCI-e card rather than a Wireless USB Adapter? I've always maintained that PCI-e is always better than USB, but I'm not sure on the range.

The third is: What one to get? I've seen "INTEL CENTRINO ADVANCED-N 6230" and "Intel Wireless-AC 7260" but I'm not sure what one to get. I've seen the 7260 is designed for haswell chips but would it still perform better than the 6230?

The WAP is a very expensive business one made by Alcatel:

Alcatel Omniaccess 105 (Click for PDF)

I'm guessing one of the reasons my signal may be horrible at the moment is due to the Card being cheap and not having very good features. All I could find printed on it that made any sense was: "t77h194.10".

Would purchasing a well known Wireless Card from someone like Intel give me a laughable boost in performance and range? Bearing in mind the specs of that WAP?

A friend with a MacBook Pro (Late 2012/Early 2013 - Can't remember) can get around 180Mbps on the network - Throughput. Not sure what adapter they have though.

I think I'm about 10-15 meters away from the access point and it has to go through one wall.

Any ideas what I should do?

EDIT: The laptop is ONLY compatible with PCIe Mini Cards!

Cheers,
Chris

 

1. yes, the difference depends on how crap is your old card
2. yes, due to antenna build in your laptop.
3.get a 6200/6205, if you need bt get 6230/6235. 7260 is the lastest but not the most stable, and the performance is similar.

 

Thank you for your reply! I'll look into getting a 6200/6205 but just out of curiousity is the 7260 compatible with Sandy Bridge processors? I've heard of some compatibility issues.

 

It will work fine, but there are driver issue and give no practical benefit(bt4.0 vs bt 3.0 maybe? never use bt device) unless pair with an ac router.

 

Aha okay, well I'm trying to get something that will last me quite a while and will be the most powerful. So the 7260 would work without many problems but I just wouldn't be able to access the driver suite? What benefits would I miss out on by using the 7260? (I don't really care about the bluetooth compatibility - Only the Wireless).

Thanks again!

 

It have some problem with losing connection, not exactly "widespread" but also not isolated case . Which most of the time could be solve by simple logging off or restart.

Otherwise, it is pretty much the best card with all the "future proof" function build in.

 

Okay I think I'll go with that - It's only £20 anyway. Out of interest what do I lose from not having a Haswell Processor when using the 7260?

 

Nothing, it work independently as far as I can tell.

P.S Maybe there some performance difference regard to WIDI, wireless display thingy.

 

Lovely.

Thanks for your help!