Can I upgrade my ethernet card and wireless card to maximize my 400mbps internet service?

[jfleischman]

Laptop Details:

Pavilion 17 - e116dx Notebook PC

Serial #: 5CD412514Z

Product #: F9J37UA#ABA

Wired LAN: Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller

Wireless LAN: Realtek RTL8188EE 802.11 bgn Wi-Fi Adapter

System board: 1977 96.33

Microprocessor: Intel Core i3-4000M CPU @ 2.40GHz

System Memory: 4GB Hynix 1600MHz

My internet service is 400mbps. I can only get about 94 mbps download speed on my laptop via wired ethernet connection. My WiFi download speed is about 60 mbps.

I have 3 questions...

1.) Is there a way to upgrade my ethernet card to obtain faster speeds? If so, what type do I need to get, what specs do I need to look for?

2.) Can I upgrade my WiFi card to support 5g? It currently only supports 2g wifi connection which I understand is the slower of the two. I opened the back of my laptop and there are 2 cables (1 black and 1 white) connected to the wifi card. If I can upgrade the card, what type of card do I need to get?

3.)If I'm looking to multitask with multiple programs running I need more RAM correct? Currently, I have 4GB RAM. Will my laptop support more than 4GB RAM, say 8GB?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You can upgrade to this model wifi card which would be the best one possible...

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11 ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.0           HP Part # 710661-001

The card has a maximum throughput of 867 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band using an AC router.

The card is readily available on eBay or Amazon.

Search by the HP part number, not by the model number of the wireless card.

You cannot upgrade the ethernet (wired) adapter as it is an integral part of the motherboard.

However, you can purchase a USB to RJ-45 gigabit ethernet adapter and plug it into an available USB 3 port to achieve a gigabit ethernet connection.

Something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Ethernet-Adapter-Supporting/dp/B00BBD7NFU

Doubling up the memory would help considerably for two reasons...

1. The obvious...double the memory from 4 to 8 GB.

2. Adding another 4 GB memory module will allow the memory to run at the better performing dual data rate (DDR) mode.

Right now it is running at the less efficient single data rate (SDR) mode.

If you really want to go wild, you can install 2 x 8 GB of memory in your PC and max it out at 16 GB.