Upgrading realtek RTL8723DE 802.11b/g/n PCIe Adapter to a compatible dual band wifi adapter

[thegreatv]

Hi my laptop is HP 15s-eq0007au (system board 86FD 99.36) with the Ryzen 3-3200U chipset, 4GB RAM and 256GB SSD. 

The Wi-Fi adapter of this laptop Realtek RTL8723DE 802.11b/g/n which supports only 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi band. I want to upgrade the adapter to a dual band one which supports 5Ghz band too. Any help would be highly appreciated. Thank you all in advance!

[banhien]

@thegreatv 

The series supports following wifi adapters

1. Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac 2 × 2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 part # L44796-005
2. Realtek RTL8723DE 802.11bgn 1 × 1 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 part # L21480-005
3. Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 802.11ax 2 × 2 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5.0 part # L35282-005
4. Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac 1 × 1 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 part # L17365-005

Your machine has the #2 above. I highly recommend the #3 above.

Regards.

[thegreatv]

Thank you for your prompt reply. 

Is the Intel AX200 plug and play or will I need any more components?  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @thegreatv 

You would need to add a second wifi antenna for the AX200 to work, or you would not have bluetooth, and perhaps not so good wifi reception.

That would require a lot of work to run the second antenna, if you do it right.

The only wifi card from the list you can upgrade to with a direct swap is this one, which also works with only one antenna cable...

Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac 1 × 1 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 part # L17365-005

[thegreatv]

Thank you very much for letting me know.

I think I shall go with the Realtek RTL8821CE since I want it to be a simple plug and play option and don't want to mess with any wires/cables. 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

The Intel cards would only work if your notebook already has an Intel card or the Realtek RTL8822CE wifi adapter, which also needs two antenna cables to work correctly.

The other three Realtek cards work with one antenna cable, but the RTL8821CE is the only dual band model.

[thegreatv]

I replaced my older wireless adapter card with the Realtek RTL8821CE wireless adapter card and it works excellent now. Thank you guys for your help. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.