Pls help: HP M6 w/Atheros wifi unreliable connections

Guys I have a recent vintage HP M6-1035 with Atheros AR9485 wifi card. The WIFI connectivity is really unreliable with this device and I can not figure it out thus far. I compare it to my daily-driver thinkpad x120e, a couple of ipads, three android handsets, another laptop [gateway] running windows 8, my HTPC, a xp workstation - all of them handle the network sublimely with no drama.

the behavior is simple: from a fresh boot or disable/re-enable or other fresh connect, it will often show 150mbps - then after a few minutes or tasks, the connection will just drop, I get the yellow caution notice from windows 7, it will show disconnected. whether or not I manually intervene, it will eventually reconnect, and show 72.2 mbps.
when it is connected its almost as fast on internet d/l u/l as the others - maybe 20% less but acceptable.

I've tried various versions/vintages of driver but none offer real improvement - its about the same.
the driver carries very limited settings in Device Manager driver properties - i'm not seeing much to work with there but maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can suggest such.

I attach a couple of screen images. will be glad to capture details if someone gives me direction

thank you!

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