Upgrading an Old Dell Latitude Laptop With The Intel 7260 HMW 802.11ac Wireless Card
Upgrading Your Computer’s WiFi Card to 802.11ac
Our Dell Latitude E6410 has been a workhorse in the Legit Bunkers since we purchased it a few years ago. It was never designed to be a desktop replacement, but it is very capable in the field as it is light and is just solid with everything we throw at it. Lately, we have been working with very large video and image files in the office and since we connect via wireless, we are starting to get a bit impatientespecially when we compare it to any of the Gigabit-connected desktop machines or even our 3-antenna Alienware M17x came equipped with an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 AGN adapter that worked at WiFi-N speeds of up to 300Mbps.
For less than $30.00, we were able to pick up an Intel 2-antenna 802.11ac wireless adapter from Newegg. The Intel 7260 HMW Dual-Band Mini PCI Express combo adapter is rated to work at speeds up to 867Mbps over 5.0 GHz and 300Mbps over 2.4 GHz bandwidths. The 7260 also features dual mode Bluetooth 4.0 technology where you can pair one of the newest low energy Bluetooth devices to the computer. This adapter also includes Intels WiDi (Wireless Display) where you can watch the multimedia content that is on your Laptop or PC on your Living rooms HD screen.
Intel WiFi-AC 7260 Featured Specifications:
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Essentials |
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Status |
Launched |
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Launch Date |
Q2’13 |
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Board Form Factor |
PCIe Half Mini Card/ M.2 (NGFF) |
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Weight (in grams) |
4 |
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Operating Temperature |
0to 80 |
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Supported Operating Systems |
Win7, Win8, Linux |
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Networking Specifications |
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TX/RX Streams |
2×2 |
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Bands |
2.4 GHz, 5 GHz |
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Max Speed |
300/867 Mbps |
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Wi-Fi CERTIFIED* |
802.11 ac/a/b/g/n |
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Compliance |
PCI, CISP, FIPS, FISMA |
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Integrated Bluetooth |
Yes |
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System Interface Type |
PCIe/ USB |
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Advanced Technologies |
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Intel Wireless Display |
Yes |
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4G WiMAX Wireless Technology |
No |
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Supported Under vPro |
Yes |
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Intel Smart Connect Technology |
Yes |
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So lets go ahead and see what it takes to install our new Intel WiFi card in our Dell laptop.