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July 24th, 2016 12:00

Are Dell Laptop Wi-Fi cards Upgradeable?

I am the recent owner of a Dell XPS 13 w/ Intel 8260.  I also recently purchased a Linksys EA9500 router w/ MU-MIMO capability.  Currently, there is only one card on the market with this capability.  In the future, if I want to upgrade my Wi-fi card, I want to confirm that Dell doesn't place hardware ID limitations in the BIOS that would prohibit this.  I had an old Lenovo computer that was very disappointing to find out that when 802.11ac protocol was introduced I was unable to upgrade the internal Wi-fi card due to BIOS restrictions (computer wouldn't boot unless Wi-fi card was Lenovo part...and computer was several years old so hardware IDs were old).  I have heard about people upgrading Dell laptops and just want to make sure I've been fortunate enough to get the benefit of Dell being upgradeable.  Thanks. 

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16.7K Posts

July 25th, 2016 11:00

MCCAINMW,

You can replace the intel 8260 wifi card in your computer. You cannot replace wifi cards if the are inbedded on the motherboard.

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20.1K Posts

July 25th, 2016 11:00

You have more choices now that wifi usb adapters are available. It is an easy upgrade. Plug it in and disable the onboard wifi. See this bundle at Amazon-- www.amazon.com/.../ref=sr_1_5

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