Lenovo Thinkpad X230 BIOS embeds a whitelist of WLAN cards. If a card is not in the whitelist, it is rejected by the laptop.
Are there any 802.11ac cards that would work on Lenovo Thinkpad X230?
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TL;DR
No, but that wouldn't stop you from installing one.
Official Way
The official whitelist for Lenovo Thinkpad X230 contains only 4 wireless NICs ("WLAN"s, "wireless cards"), none of which is 802.11ac:
- 60Y3233 -- Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6300 WLAN -- 802.11a/b/g/n
- 60Y3247 -- Wireless LAN Mini-PCI E420/E425 -- 802.11b/g/n
- 60Y3249 -- Wireless LAN Mini-PCI E420/E425 -- 802.11b/g/n
- 60Y3253 -- Intel Centrino N-6205 Wifi Card -- 802.11a/b/g/n
Unofficial Way
BIOS for Lenovo Thinkpad X230 can be replaced with an "unlocked" version, overriding the whitelist completely and allowing you to install any physically compatible WLAN card, including 802.11ac ones. The path isn't that easy, but if you really want the feature, here is a list of steps:
- Obtain a modded version of the latest BIOS
- Obtain a BIOS flashing kit (something like this)
- Disassemble the laptop
- Flash the laptop using the kit
- Replace the Wi-Fi card with the new one
