Intel AC-7260 vs 6205

[dandreye]

Hi All,

A long time ago I upgraded the WiFi card in my X60s and in a bunch of my X61s laptops all running W8.1 to Intel 6205. These days Intel AC-7260 cards are likewise cheap. Are there any benefits at all from such swap other than AC support, e.g. less power consumption and/or heat or perhaps a longer 802.1N range? No need in BT as I already have BT4 DCs in them all. The Internet speed of 100Mbps is just fine for my needs and it'll probably take several years before my SP force upgrades it to anything near the 802.1N limit in an attempt to justify the price hike

Thanks in advance!

[TPFanatic]

I don't think it much matters, I just throw in whatever I've got, better to save the money, labor, and logistics. Most of my collection has 5100, 6200, 6205 or 6300 leftover from parts machines, I have a few laptops that came with 7260 or the newer ngff AC, when traveling I generally just tether to my 4G. I'm glad tech has gotten faster but the old tech that worked then still works just as well now. The primary bottleneck of X6x series is the CPU. For fun I sourced a Chinese T8100 motherboard for my X60s, which gave me 64-bit support and a noticeable graphics performance boost, so at least I can run the latest Windows now on literally the oldest ThinkPad capable and access the internet with the latest browser. I grew up with Windows and know how to control the beast, I don't have time or compensation to attain the same finesse with Linux.

[dandreye]

Understood: thank you. Will probably stay on 6205 then, at least for now. I'm likewise a Windows person myself although W8.1 looks like the optimal one for that HW in my opinion: forced W10/11 updates are the 1st nuisance I can think of, and also W10 that I once tried on an X61s felt somewhat too heavy for it. For Linux I find it easier to have a spare SSD with a desired Linux distro that goes in whenever I need it (btw we can now call such "easy disk swapping" a sadly no longer available feature in this "micro everything" world). Agree that the CPU/chipset is their main bottleneck these days for anything more serious than a typical netbook use like light Internet browsing and Youtube audio/video.

[axur-delmeria]

IMO Windows 10 is only suitable for CPUs with four or more threads-- at the very least, a dual-core with hyperthreading like the Core i3 (1st to 7th generations), or actual quad-core processors.
The reason is that Windows 10 does lots of stuff in the background, and can easily tie up an entire CPU core. On a Core 2 Duo, that means losing half of your CPU until the background task is done and over with.

Another issue is the lack of proper drivers for older hardware, resulting in sub-optimal performance. I remember trying out Win 10 on a spare X61 Tablet and experiencing BSODs caused by the Intel 4965AGN driver.

Then there's the issue of Windows 10 being a RAM hog. 4GB is barely enough.

[TPFanatic]

Disclaimer that this is probably a worst practice but you can neuter a lot of Windows spying and bloat by using O&O ShutUp10, manually going into regedit and Denying SYSTEM access to various services, and blocking outbound connections through the Windows Firewall (add an exception for your browser). Then there's a Github tool to remove Edge. Vantage is not necessary for setting Charge Thresholds, unlocking Power Manager with Windows ADK will accomplish this without the bloat and unintelligent engineering of Vantage. All in all this gets Win 10 running leaner than Win 7 and XP and with better software and hardware support. Lastly installing OpenShell restores the superior NT6 start menu and search. I have Win 10 running like a top on the aforementioned X61, I prefer it to 7 for no other reason than being able to run the latest Firefox. My workstation runs 10 because it needs DX12 and Thunderbolt working, 7 isn't capable.

I've heard of the 4965 incompatibility. Downgrading to the 3965ABG or upgrading to anything else is the fix.