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Hi JiTee, I purchase the Intel 6235N Wi-Fi adapter myself. As others have pointed out, you will need to mod your BIOS however to remove the whitelist. The switch from 2.4 Ghz 802.11n to 5 Ghz made a world of difference in connection stability and speed. I did run into a snag with the Bluetooth stack becoming corrupt. Windows won't detect or load the Bluetooth portion of the 6235N. If I reinstall the driver and reboot it will work; however a subsequent reboot will fail back to the previous behaviour. A reinstall of Windows 8 was able to correct the issue. A quick Google search indicates this is not uncommon. The 6235N adapter was only $19 CAD from a local computer retailer.

So I finally got around to modding my BIOS and I have installed the Intel 6235N Wi-Fi adapter. I ran into a snag with the Bluetooth stack being corrupt. Windows won't detect or load the Bluetooth portion of the 6235N. If I reinstall the driver and reboot it will work; however a subsequent reboot will fail back to the previous behaviour. A reinstall of Windows 8 was able to correct the issue. A quick Google search indicates this is not uncommon. As for wireless performance, I honestly haven't noticed much in the way of improvement of throughput or range of 802.11N over 2.4 Ghz. It seems a little more stable. With the default adapter watching the Windows 8 file copy graph the connection was not constant. It would dip to nothing and then pick up speed only to dip to nothing again. The same connection behaviour could be observed when watching videos and sometimes general web surfing when it was bad. The 6235N does appear to have improved upon this behaviour but throughput and file copy times remain about the same. I wouldn't recommend upgrading Wi-Fi adapters if you only have 2.4 GHz wireless network. However as expected the switch to 5 GHz was phenomenal in terms of increasing throughput and stability. Again watching the same file copy graph, it would remain fairly constant without dropping. This is what I was looking for in replacing the adapter. I hope this helps anyone looking to do the same.

Hi Kamnnoriel, I haven't modded my BIOS yet. Truthfully still working towards unlocking the features of my account here on the TechInferno forums. As soon as I do, I will run a series of tests and capture the data for everyone. First with the 2200 adapter and again with the 6235 adapter. I'll specifically compare the 2.4 GHz range. I know for myself personally, the move to 5 GHz will make all the difference in the world.

Hey N1smo, just wanted to say thanks for the break down. I ended up using your break down when I received my Y500. I slapped a Plextor M5M 256GB SSD drive into it replacing the 16GB cache drive. I kept the spindle for additional storage. I recently bought an Intel 6235N wifi card to put in too. For anyone looking to take apart their own or other electronics, you should definitely pick up some cheap nylong spudgers. They are life savers and they prevent scratching and damaging of the plastics when you are prying things apart like the plastic clips when taking the bottom panel off of the Y500.

Thanks for the great info guys. I too bought a 6235 as a replacement. I have had nothing but grief with the stock card and operating over 2.4 GHz. The bluetooth can be sketchy some times as well. I have to mod my BIOS first but I'll report back on my findings. I imagine the switch to 5 GHz will make all the difference. My X201t doesn't have any wireless issues and is on 5 GHz.

I wish I had a picture of my original/first gaming laptop. It was a Toshiba Satellite 5200-s703. It was a 15.6" 1600x1200 laptop with a mobile Geforce FX 5200. It also had the really unique Synaptic C-pad, which turned the touch pad into a small LCD screen that could run applications. This is someone else's picture. http://home.online.no/~g-almo/computers/toshiba-satellite/2005-10-22-Toshiba.JPG I transitioned from that beast to a Dell XPS M1710 which had a mobile GTX 790. I remember running Crysis 1 on it and just the sense of awe. Though the later levels with the snow effects really killed the framerate.

I'm here for the same reason Bizkit. I picked up my Y500 in May, just before the launch of the Y510p. I have to admit I am impressed with the bang for the buck. It doesn't feel terrible cheap. I have owned a Dell XPS M1710 and an Alienware M11x previously. My only gripe is the lack of an unlocked bios and no 5Ghz N. I bought myself an Intel 6235N card and am hoping to unlock my BIOS thanks to svl7.

My first thought was wow what a very cool and easy mod. My second though though was the same as Andrea, I would worry a little about the temps. Often times the manufacturer will use the metal enclosure for heat dissipation.

AWOLNation - SAIL...

Yeah DieHard5 was really bad. Worse than I expected. I recently saw IronMan3 and was really impressed. Like most, I enjoyed that it was more about the man than the suit.

Howdy folks, I am new to these forums. I came here by way of the progress on unlocking the Lenovo Y500 BIOS. Down the rabbit hole I shall go.