I’ve got a B250M Bazooka motherboard that doesn’t have wireless capabilities, which is making it tough to use my mouse and keyboard. I’ve got a spare WiFi card from an old laptop lying around. Can I install that on my PC?
Not sure if you can use the laptop wifi card on your motherboard, but you can get a USB stick for WiFi. I use the TP-Link AC600 Nano, and it works for basic stuff like your mouse and keyboard. It’s not great if you need strong/stable WiFi, though.
Thanks! I’ll look into that. Sounds like a simple fix for now.
I’d say no. Laptop parts generally aren’t swappable with desktop parts, except maybe CPUs or storage drives. Your laptop’s WiFi card likely won’t fit into a PCI-E slot on your motherboard. You’re better off buying a WiFi card designed for desktops. For Bluetooth, just grab a USB adapter. Those work universally.
Gotcha, that makes sense. I wasn’t sure if there was a workaround, but I’ll just grab a proper WiFi card then.
You can get USB WiFi adapters too. I’ve used a D-Link one before, and it worked well enough for basic connectivity until I had wired internet set up.
Some laptop WiFi cards come in m.2 format. If your motherboard has an m.2 slot, it might work. Just double-check the card type.
Interesting! I’ll have to check if I’ve got an m.2 slot on the board. Thanks for the tip!
Your motherboard has an m.2 slot, but most laptop WiFi cards use A and E key slots, while your motherboard has an M key. So the card might not fit or work directly. You could get a PCIe card that acts as an adapter, though, or possibly even a USB adapter. Worth checking out!
Thanks for explaining the key difference! I’ll look into adapters and see if that’ll work for me.
From what I can see, that motherboard doesn’t have the right slot for your laptop’s WiFi card. I’d recommend getting a PCIe WiFi/Bluetooth card from Amazon— they start around $26. There are also USB WiFi adapters if you prefer those.
Looks like I’ll be getting a PCIe card then. Thanks for the recommendation!