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Upgrade wireless on Gemstone AS8920-6048

post #1 of 15
Thread Starter 
I am quite tempted to buy the AS8920-6048. This model is available in the USA now and comes with 802.11a/b/g wlan. Due to my need to stream HDTV I'd like to have 802.11n. The AS8920-6671 comes with it and is almost double the price. So the question is can I get the AS8920-6048, replace the a/b/g mini-pcie card by the 4695AGN and be done with it? The latter has 3 antenna leads, while the former only 2 antenna leads. It boils down to whether acer uses the same anteannae setups for all the 8920s and just varies the card, or do they actually put in extra antenna in the as8920-6671?
post #2 of 15
Check this one out, it apparently has only two antenna wires
http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html
post #3 of 15
in all the acers with the intel 4965 card, none have had 3 antennas installed. just two
post #4 of 15
Thread Starter 
Got the notebook from Meijer.com. Guess what, it came with a French keyboard. They cannot exchange it since they no longer carry the as8920-6048. But I got a great price on it. So what to do? Should I risk sending it in for Acer warranty repair?

Can someone with an as8920-6671 confirm only two wires for N? I highly doubt it.
post #5 of 15
can u just pop the cover at the bottom and look at the wifi card urself?

cheers ...
post #6 of 15
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
can u just pop the cover at the bottom and look at the wifi card urself?

cheers ...
Good one ;-) I have the 6048 with abg and obviously had already opened it up to find 2 antenna wires. I think the 6671 is going to have 3 but if anyone has one and can cofirm it would be great.
post #7 of 15
Just curious as to what makes you think that there will be three antenna wires when the general consensus is that there will be two
post #8 of 15
Thread Starter 
Wireless N uses Mimo and generally requires 3 antennas to reach the maximum gross data rate of 300Mbps. I've seen reports that with 2, one obtains lower speeds.

I returned the gemstone unfortunately due to French keyboard and high noise. Anyone out there whose 8920 has low noise? The one I got had a whiny pitch in the fan noise. Wonder if it is just this one or a general problem with this notebook.
post #9 of 15
I put and Atheros based N card into my friend's TravelMate 8200, two antennas, connected to main and aux, middle connector is unused. Win XP shows 130Mbps. Works wonderfully.
post #10 of 15
good to have a confirmation Darth!

cheers ...
post #11 of 15
Thanks for letting us know
post #12 of 15
i think that is an xp deal. when running xp mine shows 130Mbps, under vista I connect at 270Mbps.

I use a broadcom based 802.11n card. only 2 connectors for antenna
post #13 of 15
You are right, Michelle, Win XP built-in Wireless Connection icon shows that. Using Gigabyte's own utility (the card is Gigabyte GN-WI06N), I could see higher speeds up to almost 300 under ideal conditions. Unfortunately, that utility used to crash regularly.
post #14 of 15
so, lady and gents, concensus is ok/& possible to swap to a more powerful card, but no (really) gain. correct?

cheers ...
post #15 of 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
so, lady and gents, concensus is ok/& possible to swap to a more powerful card, but no (really) gain. correct?

cheers ...

indeed!
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