How to know if a wifi card is compatible in a laptop? Change Mediatek mt7921 for Intel AX210?

[Oscarito]

Hello.

I have a Mediatek MT7921 in my Lenovo Laptop and since I purchased it, the Wifi Card worked very very bad. I tried to contact Lenovo to ask compatibilities between the laptop and different wifi cards, but they can´t help me with this, they said that is not possible at 100% if a different wifi card is compatible.

I was looking a lot of information about this topic, and I think the Intel AX210 is a good candidate. Especifically the AX210.NGWG.NV

I discarded some options like the AX211 and some VPro variants of the AX210 because I have an AMD processor.

I read too, that sometimes manufacturers have a white list in the BIOS to allow only that components to work in the Laptop, is this true nowadays and very common between manufacturers? 

Can someone tell me if it is possible to know something about compatibility before buying the wifi card? I would like to know if there is a better option in this case, maybe a Wifi 7 card or something newer than the AX210, but I can´t  find any quality information. 

Thank you a lot in advance.

[AlHill]

For any wifi integration, you need to discuss this with Lenovo.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[W10 is this generation's XP]

[Oscarito]

Could you please help me understanding the doubts I have about compatibilities? Just the general concepts I need to know about wifi card compatibilities or where can I learn this?
Is mandatory for Lenovo to solve this compatibility problems or what can I do to receive their help if they are not interested in solve it?
Thank you.

[AlHill]

Read this:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005687/wireless.html

[n_scott_pearson]

First of all, Al was simply pointing out that integrating new adapters, like the AX210, could have a problem - namely, that the 6GHz band might not be available. The problem here is that, if the previously-integrated adapter did not support the 6GHz band, then the BIOS might preclude the enablement of this band regardless of its support within the current locale. In most cases, supporting the 6GHz band does not improve the maximum throughput of the adapter (these are dual-band adapters; you either use 5GHz or 6GHz, not both), but it may get you closer to this maximum throughput due to lower contention on the 6GHz band. If you are content using only the 5GHz band, then this isn't really an issue, is it?

Secondly, stating it using the latest P.C. terms, it is possible that the BIOS utilizes inclusion/exclusion lists to preclude the use of unknown/unsupported adapters. [Aside: better stated: ...to preclude the use of adapters not purchased from the manufacturer at some ridiculous markup.]

Thirdly, since your previous adapter utilized a standard M.2 Type E connector (as opposed to one supporting CNVi adapters), you cannot use any of these CNVi adapters. This means that your choices are (WiFi 6) AX200, (WiFi 6e) AX210 or (WiFi 7) BE200. [Aside: I leave out the BE202, since it's half the performance of the BE200 and yet the same cost.]

Finally, regarding vPro support, it simply doesn't matter. If your system is not vPro-enabled (i.e. has both vPro processor and vPro chipset), then any vPro support in the adapter simply doesn't get enabled.

Hope this helps,

...S

[Oscarito]

I don´t know a lot about 6GHz bands, so for now is not a problem for me if the card works only at 5 GHz.

Is there a way to see easily if the BIOS utilizes any inclusion/exclusion list in that way? I contacted Lenovo in their forum but a Lenovo technician could not solve this doubt, because in the laptop parts web is only included the original MediaTek wifi card. 

I discarded all CNVi and vPro cards when I started the search but I didn´t know that the options were so closed. Is there any possible incompatibility or anything to worry about if I choose the Wifi 7 card, the BE200? Need I have co confirm something about what antennas I have or something like this or just the things you wrote before? 

Is there anything more I need to look for before choosing the wifi card?

Thank you a lot in advance, your information was very useful for me.