I just bought an HP Envy m6-1125dx online from Best Buy. When I got it home and started it up, the wireless card did not work well - at all. I could connect, but any real usage would cause the connection to start dropping every 30 seconds or so, and it would be really slow. Taking another look at the reviews on the Best Buy site, it seems only a few others had this problem, so I took it to my local Best Buy and exchanged it for another unit. Got it home again and the card had the same issues. Which leads to my dilemma.

First: does this model have several different cards that it could come with? Mine is a Ralink RT5390R (on both units I received). If it does, then I can keep exchanging until I get a unit with a different card. I wouldn't ask this, except it seems weird that only a few people mentioned this issue, so I thought that might be one possibility.

I looked in to replacing the card with a different one myself, but it seems that HP blocks certain wireless cards. However, some people reported success in replacing the card, and this site said it was only an issue on "older HP computer[s]". Can anyone confirm this?

Finally, if that fails/will not work, does anyone know what I can get through Best Buy? I am concerned that they will not put any different card than the Ralink, and after two of those, I don't want that. Can I ask Best Buy support to use a different card? Can they even get another card from HP?

I guess the base question is: should I attempt to replace the card myself (two days via Amazon to get a new card), should I try to get the laptop repaired through Best Buy (two - four weeks), should I go for a different model laptop from Best Buy, or should I try a different unit of the same model (three's the charm?).