Comparing Wireless Quality in Laptops

thanksajdotcom

I have a real issue with my HP Probook's wireless. My Elitepad and phone were getting full bars where in the same physical locations my laptop had minimum strength. It's really odd...

nadnerB

My ASUS Transformer Prime (TF201) WiFi performance is horrendous.
Turns out it has a lot to do with where the antenna is placed. I have seen a work around for this by soldering a flexible 'tail' antenna onto the board but that would irritate the crap out of me.

Where is the antenna in the Yoga? Perhaps poor planning of it's location is also to blame.

@nadnerB Normally they have two antennas one will wrap around each side of the screen. I think it has to do more with bad RF shielding of other components or the case itself shielding signal to much than anything.

nadnerB

@thecreativeone91 Very true.
Here's some destructions on wifi card replacement with some interesting things to note (like the picky BIOS).
Youtube Video

nadnerB

An interesting observation that I made was that the antennas appear to run under the palm rests (near the track pad). The antennas run along the sides of the battery.
Non-upgradable RAM is a no go for me. Nice looking unit, but I don't think that I would ever buy one.

The WiFi card that Chappy McWhatzhisface, in the video, mentions is this one (link in the video comments):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GUNZUG0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00GUNZUG0&linkCode=as2&tag=2012mayandisa-20&linkId=PXO7KDVH5LM67I3Y

@nadnerB said:

Non-upgradable RAM is a no go for me. Nice looking unit, but I don't think that I would ever buy one.

Sadly even the almost $2,000 macbook pro I had was the same way. I couldn't upgrade it past the 4GB of ram it came with and that was as a 2014 model.

nadnerB

@thecreativeone91 said:

Sadly even the almost $2,000 macbook pro I had was the same way. I couldn't upgrade it past the 4GB of ram it came with and that was as a 2014 model.

So when the RAM gets faulty, you are left with a pretty looking paperweight...

@nadnerB said:

An interesting observation that I made was that the antennas appear to run under the palm rests (near the track pad). The antennas run along the sides of the battery.

I would hope the continue up into the screen. If not, that's likely the issue.

nadnerB

@thecreativeone91 said:

@nadnerB said:

An interesting observation that I made was that the antennas appear to run under the palm rests (near the track pad). The antennas run along the sides of the battery.

I would hope the continue up into the screen. If not, that's likely the issue.

Here's a screenie that I grabbed and "painted".

Here's the official picture from the manual

http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/lenovo_yoga_2_pro_hmm.pdf

I think they have placed them poorly.

Dashrender

After upgrading to the AC card on this laptop I've had no issues with the WiFi connection.

thanksajdotcom

@Dashrender said:

After upgrading to the AC card on this laptop I've had no issues with the WiFi connection.

I wonder if my laptop has any AC cards available...