lepermessiah
Discoverer
No. I think this one does https://www.amazon.in/Anself-2-5in-...&hvtargid=pla-1084401556707&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hi
I don’t know how good it is, though.
0-20k Mid-Life Laptop Upgrades
- Thread starter maxms
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No. I think this one does https://www.amazon.in/Anself-2-5in-...&hvtargid=pla-1084401556707&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hi
I don’t know how good it is, though.
My recommendations for op keeping his needs and budget in mind.
1. upgrade your ram to 8gb - 2x4gb dual channel. This will improve your usability the most. Take this as a minimum requirement to use windows 10 in 2021.
2. stick with your SSHD for now. Replace it when it fails or if you find another use of the SSHD.
3. buy a used usb wifi dongle as per your actual needs (2.4g, 5g, n, ac, mimo, etc) or upgrade the internal card.
1. upgrade your ram to 8gb - 2x4gb dual channel. This will improve your usability the most. Take this as a minimum requirement to use windows 10 in 2021.
2. stick with your SSHD for now. Replace it when it fails or if you find another use of the SSHD.
3. buy a used usb wifi dongle as per your actual needs (2.4g, 5g, n, ac, mimo, etc) or upgrade the internal card.
Titokhan
Galvanizer
@maxms
Keep in mind that your Lenovo Flex 2-14 comes with a built-in whitelist for WLAN cards in its BIOS. Unless you have plans to stick with Lenovo approved crappy units, you have to patch it beforehand in order to replace the factory-installed module with an aftermarket one. You may opt for a USB WLAN card to bypass this obstacle, but there will be a performance penalty.
Keep in mind that your Lenovo Flex 2-14 comes with a built-in whitelist for WLAN cards in its BIOS. Unless you have plans to stick with Lenovo approved crappy units, you have to patch it beforehand in order to replace the factory-installed module with an aftermarket one. You may opt for a USB WLAN card to bypass this obstacle, but there will be a performance penalty.
was checking this one again and looks like it has usb3. Does this needs to be connected to usb3 port or gives decent speed in usb2 also.
Will you be able to check in USB2 port and help with speeds you are getting.
Also I had been going through review for this specific model and they are either 1 star or 5 star. Not sure what to make of it. Most negative reviews are for connectivity issue in 5G band.
Hope its not
Not too clearly mentioned, so not getting sure if this will work or not.
ohh..Thanks for this info. Its only proper working system with me currently so do not want to take any risk playing with BIOS. Cannot afford right now to make it unusable.
Seems its better to go with external ones if performance penalty is not too much if using 1300 Mbps usb dongle.
If only adding 4GB RAM additional ram helps , that would be cheapest option for me. Though general consensus is that adding a SSD may help better.
What about adding a 2 GB ram module along with SSD? will that help in getting better performance compared to adding only 4gb ram OR only SSD?
Silent47Assassin
Forerunner
@Titokhan Can you share a guide or some pointers on how to do this? I have a couple of old laptops (one of them happens to be a flex 2-14) where I'd like to upgrade the wifi+bt module. Also, is this whitelisting thing appilcable only for Lenovo or even other manufacturers do it?
Do this, first get the SSD, install see if the performance is upto your liking. If not, open task manager and look at the Free RAM number. If the free RAM is very close to zero, get more RAM. If the free RAM is not very low, say close to 300-400 MB, then the problem is something else like a throttling processor due to less heat dissipation etc. But right now, a clear bottleneck is your HDD.
Titokhan
Galvanizer
@Silent47Assassin
Both HP and Lenovo are notoriously known for putting such whitelists on their consumer lineups, but the situation has been improved quite a lot since the Skylake days.
For further discussions, it would be better to take the PM route, IMHO. The topic itself is complicated enough for a complete thread hijacking.
Both HP and Lenovo are notoriously known for putting such whitelists on their consumer lineups, but the situation has been improved quite a lot since the Skylake days.
For further discussions, it would be better to take the PM route, IMHO. The topic itself is complicated enough for a complete thread hijacking.
@maxms - IMHO you need as much ram as you can get. 2gb might do but 4gb will make your ram work in dual channel mode. This is worth the difference between 2gb and 4gb. Here you have to add rather than replace.
You probably have a seagate firecuda SSHD. These are good performance drives. That said, swapping to a ssd would be next. Combined you will not find a limitation till windows 10 eol and your laptop will perform the best it can. Do not buy entry level ssd (wd green, crucial bx, etc).
Your lenovo will be whitelisted. If you can hack your bios get an intel ac7260. High risk but definitely doable. I am able to saturate 200mb airtel fibre internet on core 2 duo laptops with the ac7260.
My earlier recommendation was to save cost and not be stuck with a low capacity external. Your budget allows you to do all upgrades and you should.
You probably have a seagate firecuda SSHD. These are good performance drives. That said, swapping to a ssd would be next. Combined you will not find a limitation till windows 10 eol and your laptop will perform the best it can. Do not buy entry level ssd (wd green, crucial bx, etc).
Your lenovo will be whitelisted. If you can hack your bios get an intel ac7260. High risk but definitely doable. I am able to saturate 200mb airtel fibre internet on core 2 duo laptops with the ac7260.
My earlier recommendation was to save cost and not be stuck with a low capacity external. Your budget allows you to do all upgrades and you should.
So something bad happened few days back.
kid pushed the laptop from table , it landed on top corner and screen broke off from one side ...sort of killed my enthusiasm in process
.
Laptop is still usable , had put cello tapes on glass parts to avoid it breaking further and also to prevent it hurting kids. There were ghost touches happening and had to disable touch screen.
Display seems to be working fine, no visible black marks till now. But as per my experience with earlier broken displays, screen starts go worse to point it becoming unusable.
After few days of incident, bit calmer now but rather than 1.5- 2 year, now thinking of 1 year plan before i might need to replace laptop. So need to revisit upgrade plan.
May still upgrade but no longer willing to spend too much. Thinking of going with either RAM or SSD.
Is there any other compatible internal card which can be considered, But as I mentioned earlier if BIOS update is risky will try to avoid that. This being only properly working system cannot risk getting it unusable.
kid pushed the laptop from table , it landed on top corner and screen broke off from one side ...sort of killed my enthusiasm in process
.Laptop is still usable , had put cello tapes on glass parts to avoid it breaking further and also to prevent it hurting kids. There were ghost touches happening and had to disable touch screen.
Display seems to be working fine, no visible black marks till now. But as per my experience with earlier broken displays, screen starts go worse to point it becoming unusable.
After few days of incident, bit calmer now but rather than 1.5- 2 year, now thinking of 1 year plan before i might need to replace laptop. So need to revisit upgrade plan.
May still upgrade but no longer willing to spend too much. Thinking of going with either RAM or SSD.
Searched for intel ac7260 adapter. its around 4000. Is this the normal price? if so might go with external usb dongle.
Is there any other compatible internal card which can be considered, But as I mentioned earlier if BIOS update is risky will try to avoid that. This being only properly working system cannot risk getting it unusable.
Was thinking of WD Green or Crucial bx only earlier, to keep cost low. Are these not good enough? As i do not have very heavy use or gaming use . Will it still make sense to go with higher series SSD?
Titokhan
Galvanizer
@maxms
First of all, Intel Wireless-AC 7260 is a fairly legacy product, hence there's no point in investing in a retail card based on this chipset. Rather, try to locate a Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth 5 module like Intel AX200/AX210 or Killer AX1650/AX1675 from eBay to make your purchase future-proof. Of course you need to remove the whitelist before installing the card, but worry not - I can help you with that.
In case you don't want to fiddle with the BIOS, then your options are limited to the following:
First of all, Intel Wireless-AC 7260 is a fairly legacy product, hence there's no point in investing in a retail card based on this chipset. Rather, try to locate a Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth 5 module like Intel AX200/AX210 or Killer AX1650/AX1675 from eBay to make your purchase future-proof. Of course you need to remove the whitelist before installing the card, but worry not - I can help you with that.
In case you don't want to fiddle with the BIOS, then your options are limited to the following:
- Qualcomm-Atheros NFA345 (Lenovo FRU: 04X6023)
- Intel Wireless-AC 3160 (Lenovo FRU: 04X6034)
- Broadcom BCM943162ZP (Lenovo FRU: 04X6019)
- Broadcom BCM943142Y (Lenovo FRU: 04X6018)
@maxms - Sorry to hear. You need to take your laptop to a professional for repair. If you are going to use this laptop as is, then I would go back to my first recommendation.
1. 4gb ddr3l 1600 ram from @FXGalvatron.
2. Used 120/240 sata ssd in warranty.
3. Usb 3.0 case for ss hd or sell/trade the drive.
4. Used usb wifi. Plug and be done. Model depends on what existing wifi setup you have.
There is no point buying new. You will get everything here in the classifieds. Make your choice from what's available.
1. 4gb ddr3l 1600 ram from @FXGalvatron.
2. Used 120/240 sata ssd in warranty.
3. Usb 3.0 case for ss hd or sell/trade the drive.
4. Used usb wifi. Plug and be done. Model depends on what existing wifi setup you have.
There is no point buying new. You will get everything here in the classifieds. Make your choice from what's available.
Wow this is great and very helpful. Let me search if can find something decent.
thanks for suggestions.
Not too interested in repair option. Screen replacement might be decently expensive option. Also kids are not going anywhere so there will always be a risk of something going wrong again.
I mostly use with external monitor so not much problem, Other family members use with Laptop's screen, unless they are unhappy, will probably not change.
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