How to Upgrade Wifi Card and Storage on HP 15-BA079DX

[PVO7717]

I was thinking to upgrade some things on my HP 15-BA079DX, to be precise the wifi card and the ssd storage so for the wifi card I'm thinking an Intel Wireless-AC 9560 or an Intel Wireless-AC 9260 but I don't know which one would be better, also I don't know what type of antenna could be connected to the card and if the antenna is similar to the one I already have. I suppose I could use the existing antenna for the wifi but wouldn't I need another one for the bluetooth? I'm quite confused about the bluetooth as you could see lol, if I need another antenna for the bluetooth can anybody tell which type of antenna it is so I could put it inside in the other side of the top-left of the screen?

The plan with the SSD is to install a new 500Gb SSD SATA 3 and use the current storage as a secondary storage using a caddy on the CD-ROM, there is no problem with the installation I just need to know if I'm going to be able to use the full 6Gb/s of a SATA 3 when the storage  SATA 1 (specs says 1 tb yet mine came with a SSD 500Gb.) Would I get the benefits of a SATA 3, the ones from a SATA 1 or maybe a little bit better than a SATA 1? Is the motherboard capable of assimilate the SATA 3?

I know the questions are not that easy and this more than a question looks like a chapter lol but I would be very glad if somebody can guide me or point me in the right direction... Thank you

Product number
W2M88UA
Product name
HP Notebook - 15-ba079dx (Touch) (ENERGY STAR)
Microprocessor
AMD Quad-Core A10-9600P (2.4 GHz, up to 3.3 GHz, 2 MB cache)
Memory, standard
6 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 2 GB, 1 x 4 GB)
Video graphics
AMD Radeon R5 Graphics
Hard drive
1 T
I was thinking to upgrade some things on my HP 15-BA079DX, to be precise the wifi card and the ssd storage so for the wifi card I'm thinking an Intel Wireless-AC 9560 or an Intel Wireless-AC 9260 but I don't know which one would be better, also I don't know what type of antenna could be connected to the card and if the antenna is similar to the one I already have. I suppose I could use the existing antenna for the wifi but wouldn't I need another one for the bluetooth? I'm quite confused about the bluetooth as you could see lol, if I need another antenna for the bluetooth can anybody tell which type of antenna it is so I could put it inside in the other side of the top-left of the screen?

The plan with the SSD is to install a new 500Gb SSD SATA 3 and use the current storage as a secondary storage using a caddy on the CD-ROM, there is no problem with the installation I just need to know if I'm going to be able to use the full 6Gb/s of a SATA 3 when the storage  SATA 1 (specs says 1 tb yet mine came with a SSD 500Gb.) Would I get the benefits of a SATA 3, the ones from a SATA 1 or maybe a little bit better than a SATA 1? Is the motherboard capable of assimilate the SATA 3?

I know the questions are not that easy and this more than a question looks like a chapter lol but I would be very glad if somebody can guide me or point me in the right direction... Thank you

Product number
W2M88UA
Product name
HP Notebook - 15-ba079dx (Touch) (ENERGY STAR)
Microprocessor
AMD Quad-Core A10-9600P (2.4 GHz, up to 3.3 GHz, 2 MB cache)
Memory, standard
6 GB DDR4-2133 SDRAM (1 x 2 GB, 1 x 4 GB)
Video graphics
AMD Radeon R5 Graphics
Hard drive
1 TB 5400 rpm SATA
[10,11]
Optical drive
SuperMulti DVD burner
Display
15.6" diagonal HD SVA WLED-backlit touch screen (1366 x 768)
Keyboard
Full-size island-style with numeric keypad
Pointing device
Touchpad with multi-touch gesture support
Wireless connectivity
802.11b/g/n (1x1)
Network interface
Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
Expansion slots
1 microSD media card reader
External ports
1 USB 3.0; 2 USB 2.0; 1 HDMI; 1 RJ-45; 1 headphone/microphone combo
Minimum dimensions (W x D x H)
38.43 x 25.46 x 2.43 cm
Weight
2.15 kg
Power supply type
45 W AC power adapter
Battery type
3-cell, 31 Wh Li-ion
Webcam
HP TrueVision HD Webcam (front-facing) with integrated digital microphone
Audio features
DTS Studio Sound™ with 2 speakers

B 5400 rpm SATA
[10,11]
Optical drive
SuperMulti DVD burner
Display
15.6" diagonal HD SVA WLED-backlit touch screen (1366 x 768)
Keyboard
Full-size island-style with numeric keypad
Pointing device
Touchpad with multi-touch gesture support
Wireless connectivity
802.11b/g/n (1x1)
Network interface
Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
Expansion slots
1 microSD media card reader
External ports
1 USB 3.0; 2 USB 2.0; 1 HDMI; 1 RJ-45; 1 headphone/microphone combo
Minimum dimensions (W x D x H)
38.43 x 25.46 x 2.43 cm
Weight
2.15 kg
Power supply type
45 W AC power adapter
Battery type
3-cell, 31 Wh Li-ion
Webcam
HP TrueVision HD Webcam (front-facing) with integrated digital microphone
Audio features
DTS Studio Sound™ with 2 speakers

[Huffer]

Not sure why everything you wrote got posted double but we will try to answer your questions. It will help for you to have the Service Manual:

Manual

It seems you have already opened the laptop and seen that you have a single wireless antenna. This severely limits your upgrade options. Right now it seems you have the dreaded Realtek RTL8188EE wireless only module (no bluetooth). It is not as simple as to say one antenna is needed for BT and one for Wi-fi. Dual antennas are needed even for an 802.11ac dual channel wireless only card. I would also say that for your AMD system, an Intel wireless card is not the best choice. If you want to upgrade to two antennae this is the part number of the HP kit:

Dual 854986-001

The part seems to be available in HP Partsurfer:

http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?searchText=854986-001

Putting an SSD in the 2.5 inch storage bay instead of the hard drive is a good idea and you can move the old mechanical drive to an ODD caddy but do not expect SATA-3 transfer speed. The optical drive SATA port is not designed to run at full SATA-3 speed and will not be bootable. It still works just fine for simple storage uses. You can stream video from it and it is generally useable just would not be ideal as the source location if you need super fast disk access like editing videos or such. 

Post back with any more questions and please accept as solution if this is the info you needed. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @PVO7717 

I will add that you cannot use the Intel 9560 in your model because it is a CRF (Companion RF card), and unless you have an Intel notebook with specific hardware that supports the CRF card it won't work.

From my limited knowledge of those type cards, part of the wireless circuitry is on the motherboard, and part is on the wifi card.

You can experiment with the 9260 because that is a 'normal' wifi card.

But as Huffer pointed out, not all Intel cards may work on AMD platforms.

I know the 3165 or 3168 will but I do not know first hand of any others that will.

The only AC wifi card that would work with one antenna is this one...and it has been plagued with connection issues...

Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11 ac 1x1 WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 Combo Adapter (MU-MIMO supported) HP Part # L17365-005.

That card has the same throughput as the 8723 on the 2.4 GHz wifi band and 433 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band with an AC router...150 MBPS with a dual band N router.

Unfortunately, that card has been on back order for months at the HP Parts Store, but you can find several of them listed for sale on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=L17365-005&_sacat=0&_sop=15

Here are the links to the latest wifi and bluetooth drivers for the RTL 8821CE wifi adapter...

Wifi: 2024.0.8.107/2024.0.4 Jun 5, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp96501-97000/sp96885.exe

Bluetooth: 1.6.1015.3008 Jun 28, 2019

If you add a second antenna, you can upgrade to the equally lousy RTL8822BE wifi card, which has twice the throughput as the 8821CE.