Jen,
Many thanks for your reply, and apologies for the delay. Very busy elsewhere, but would really try to get this otherwise nice Sony laptop up and working.
The model is SVP13215PXB. It has an i7 core processor with 8 GB RAM, 64-bit, etc. Nice solid state stuff.
It occurred before the upgrade to Windows 10 as well.
I am 20-30 very open feet from the router. That should be fine.
The drops usually occur when I'm still (sitting here in the cold morning hours at the kitchen table trying to drink my coffee and login to the office).
I will try to send you the detailed settings of the wireless device for more perspective. By general engineering principles, this should be an easy and quick fix. The problem is either the router or the laptop. If the router, then why do the other devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad) stay connected when the laptop does not? (Connection status judged by the little "wireless" logo on the top of the screen.) Perhaps the router is being fickle, but with the number of posts about wireless adapter concerns, I lean to the laptop as the problem. I wonder if engineering just put the wrong adapter in or something. I dunno. I just want to reliably connect, and not get cut off when I'm logged in to the office.