Upgrading the WiFi card on my wife's laptop

[Bobbo50]

My wife's HP Laptop is pretty much as it came out of the box, other than software updates.

The Laptop is:  HP 15-bs020wm

The WiFi Adapter is:  Realtek RTL81888EE 802.11 b/g/n PCIe Adapter

Bluetooth is via a USB adapter

The Bios version and date are:  Insyde F.60, 5/17/19.

The current Windows 10 Home version is: 10.0.18363 Build 18363

I want to upgrade the WiFi adapter, because current throughput is slow.

Our Wireless Router in a Netgear N750 Dual Band Gigabit Router, 300 + 450 Mbps Max Speed.

Our internet provider is Comcast/Xfinity, and we upgraded from the basic speed package.

                             Ping           Download            Upload

My PC                 12 ms        196.36 Mbps       5.77 Mbps

Her Laptop        13 ms          56.07 Mbps        5.69 Mbps   (difference was insignificant between wired and WiFi)

I've read about the HP White List, and hardware incompatibility.  I also read that changes occurred in 2016 that affected the White List.  I remain confused!

I understand fastest adapters are AC, but then I would need to replace my router as well.  I also understand that in order to take advantage of Dual Band, I would need to install a second internal antenna.  I haven't looked into how difficult that might be.

I'm looking for suggestions from the community.  Short of replacing the laptop, what are your recommendations?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

There should be no whitelist in your model, but there is only one wifi antenna which limits your wifi card upgrade options to this one only...

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

This card works with only one antenna.

The only place I have been able to find this model is on eBay.

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

The Realtek RTL8821CE wifi card will have a maximum throughput of 433 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band with an AC router.

[Bobbo50]

Thanks Paul, I appreciate the quick response and the link.  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

With a dual band N router, that card will have a max throughput of 150 MBPS on the 5.0 GHz wifi band.