“Your column writes itself,” was the shrewd observation of PC Pro’s features editor, Barry Collins, when I posted a picture of Oscar’s laptop. His machine was rather curious and a reminder that as I extol the virtues of repair and upgradability from a well-stocked workshop, the reality of doing tricky tweaks at the kitchen table, with only YouTube for guidance, is often a breeding ground for unpredictable results.
Oscar felt his laptop was lacking in the Wi-Fi department. When you listen to the PC Pro podcast, you’ll hear our frequent mutterings about PCs being factory-fitted with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, but here in the shop, I have suppliers offering machines with the latest and greatest CPUs backed by Wi-Fi 5. For many users, it’s an unimportant detail of their technological life, with most consumers being blissfully unaware what level of Wi-Fi their router and devices are using. Oscar knew and hoped to upgrade his Wi-Fi 5 chip to Wi-Fi 6. Dutifully he read and researched and ordered an Intel AX200 wireless card, which was compatible with his machine.
Wi-Fi upgrades are reasonably straightforward on modern machines with easily accessible innards. I won’t mislead you by claiming that manufacturers place them in a machine with any consideration for upgrades, but their handy placement to ease mass production bottlenecks is a convenience for which I’m grateful. That
