NIC Card Upgrade to 5G

[Sunrider5]

Is it possible to upgrade the NIC card for a 15-d079wm TouchSmart Notebook to 5G? If so, what NIC card needs to be purchased?

[Dudefoxlive]

After looking through the service manual and looking at all the wireless cards available for your machine i dont believe any support 5GHz.  

Service Manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04341736

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Sunrider5

First, verify that your notebook currently has two wifi antennas connected to the wifi card in there now.

The parts list states your model come with a Realtek RTL8188EE 802.11bg/n 1x1 WiFi adapter.

Many notebooks only have one antenna present and connected to the single band wifi adapters.

Dual band wifi adapters require two antennas to work properly, if at all.

There should be no BIOS whitelist in your model series, so if your notebook has two wifi antennas connected to the wifi card, this would be the best option for your Intel chipset-based notebook...

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

The card is readily available on Amazon or eBay.

Do your search by the HP part number, not the model of the wifi card.

[Sunrider5]

Thanks, Dudefoxlive, for the info.

[Sunrider5]

Thanks, Paul, for your response.

However, I'm left a bit confused.  Dudefoxlive is saying that there are no NIC cards for my notebook that support 5G. Are you saying that my notebook can be upgraded by replacing the current card with HP Part #710661-001? 

[Dudefoxlive · Accepted solution]

as Paul said your machine should not have a block on wireless cards.  so you can install the one Paul said in his post even though it is not in the service manual.  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you can install the Intel 7260, but only if your notebook currently has two antennas you can connect to it.

And the only way you will be able to determine that, is to physically inspect the wireless card location.

Using the service manual that Dudefoxlive posted above, the wifi card R&R procedures can be found in chapter 4, starting on page 59.

I do not recommend that you rely on the picture shown in the service manual indicating the two antennas are present.

[Sunrider5]

Thanks again, Dudefoxlive and Paul, for your clarifications. Both of you have been very helpful. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.