Upgrading a ROG Zephyrus 2022's Garbage Wifi Card

[shmoo92]

Hello, LTT Forum!

 

I have an ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022) with a MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 MT7921 Wireless LAN Card.

 

The internet has suggested an Intel AX210 Intel card is the way to go, but when I went shopping for such a card, all the listings (on Newegg, Canada Computers, etc) have strings of numbers and letters after "Intel AX210". I would love to learn all the ins and outs of WiFi, but I have to have my laptop in working order by June15 and I don't think I can learn, shop, have shipped, and replace between now and then.

 

Any guidance on what I should get would be very much appreciated!

 

AMD Ryzen 7 5800HS with Radeon Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU

[Crunchy Dragon]

The strings of numbers and letters most likely refer to the exact model number or specifications.

 

Can you post any links here? I've done a little bit of searching but I'm not sure if I'm finding the same items you are.

[Guest]

For about the same price, you can get an external USB external dongle with or without an antennae and not be required to disassemble your computer.

[shmoo92]

33 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

The strings of numbers and letters most likely refer to the exact model number or specifications.

 

Can you post any links here? I've done a little bit of searching but I'm not sure if I'm finding the same items you are.

There are two listings that I actually visited:

Intel AX210 IEEE 802.11ax Bluetooth 5.2 Tri Band Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo Adapter for Notebook Model AX210.NGWG.NV (https://www.newegg.ca/wavlink-690a5d-usb-3-0/p/0XM-00B5-00052)

WAVLINK WiFi 6E Wireless Card Intel AX210 Tri-Band 5400Mbps 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz Network Adapter with Bluetooth 5.3 for Laptop, Ultra-Low Latency, Support Windows 10/11 (64bit) M.2/NGFF (https://www.newegg.ca/p/0XM-009Y-001P1)

This second one says "6E" which I've heard a teensy bit about (but all I can remember atm is about WiFi 7). I have Windows 11 on my laptop so it's definitely good that it's supported.

 

But then the search results look like this:

 

And my brain melts out of my ears.

 

That second thing looks like a router; I know I don't want that. I do know I want "M.2" (my new SSD is "technically" M.2, according to my partner). For card-shaped things, does the brand matter? What about this "802.11ax" business? I've never see "NGFF" before; is it important? Some titles brag about their megabites per second; does that really matter at this scale? (I'm playing Genshin Impact and FFXIV.) Bluetooth I only care about in so far as I can connect a PlayStation controller but that's always hit and miss so I just dismiss it on principle.

 

I'm not concerned about disassembling my laptop: my partner built a Framework a while back, I have an LTT screwdriver, and I can (among other things) hang drywall, install shelves, and assemble even the most complex of IKEA furniture!

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 hours ago, shmoo92 said:

That second thing looks like a router; I know I don't want that. I do know I want "M.2" (my new SSD is "technically" M.2, according to my partner). For card-shaped things, does the brand matter? What about this "802.11ax" business? I've never see "NGFF" before; is it important? Some titles brag about their megabites per second; does that really matter at this scale? (I'm playing Genshin Impact and FFXIV.) Bluetooth I only care about in so far as I can connect a PlayStation controller but that's always hit and miss so I just dismiss it on principle.

 

I'm not concerned about disassembling my laptop: my partner built a Framework a while back, I have an LTT screwdriver, and I can (among other things) hang drywall, install shelves, and assemble even the most complex of IKEA furniture!

The brand shouldn't matter a ton, as long as you get something with good reviews.

 

M.2 is just a form factor, basically any WLAN card that can be changed in a laptop is M.2, so no worries there.

 

802.11ax is the WiFi standard, you can read about those here if you'd like: https://www.lifewire.com/wireless-standards-802-11a-802-11b-g-n-and-802-11ac-816553

It's not something you should worry about, if you're buying a WiFi 6 or higher device, it will be 802.11ax and just fine.

 

NGFF is another name for M.2, stands for Next Generation Form Factor. Not something to care about. Megabits per second are also not something to pay a ton of attention to, you will get up to the speeds advertised, but your limiting factor with that is your router and network moreso than receiver.