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Wi-Fi 7 took off while everyone was looking at AI
- Giorgi 3y agoUgh. I hope there will be Wi-Fi modules available for current laptop upgrade..
- bigbillheck 3y agoHas that ever happened?
- saidinesh5 3y agoMy (current) 5-6 year old Lenovo ideapad came with some garbage wifi card that used to get disconnected every 2-3 hours. I swapped it out with an Intel card for around $30 iirc and still happy with it.
- robotnikman 3y agoYeah, lots of laptops have small wifi cards in them using a standard connector that are easily swappable (uses same connector as M.2 SSD's).
- aitchnyu 3y agoI was thinking Framework USB C modules but this is a good surprise.
- londons_explore 3y agomost non-apple laptops have a slot you can put a wifi card...
- megous 3y agoSome lock you to pre-selected card models via arbitrary BIOS whitelists. (Will not even boot until you remove the card again.) Beware.
- dewey 3y agoApple laptops used to have an extension slot like that too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort#AirPort_802.11b_card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort#AirPort_802.11b_card
- booi 3y agoused to be you could swap out mini pci-e wifi modules. Intel makes good ones as well as a number of other manufacturers. They sometimes have connectable antenna that snake around the case.
- zamadatix 3y agoSure, Wi-Fi modules are about as commonly upgradeable as storage in laptops.
- vel0city 3y agoThe last several laptops I've used have had swappable WiFi modules.
- zamadatix 3y agoYou can grab an Intel BE200 module (EDIT: which may be platform dependent, see below) or similar for about 30 bucks. For latest generation client side Wi-Fi cards Intel has traditionally had the better quality options on the driver side, not to give an illusion the cards and driver are perfect though. The limitation is you can't have a fully integrated system, like a MacBook. If the storage is upgradeable there is a high chance the Wi-Fi is.
- megous 3y agoIs it a real wifi? Or is it the same old ax200 story with AP only in 2.4GHz mode? https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000030429/wireless.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000... I prefer real WiFi.
- zamadatix 3y agoI believe it's another client only card. For the AP side I'd recommend a Qualcomm 4x4 but it's unlikely to fit in laptops.
- megous 3y agoRealtek RTL8922A and RTL8952A based cards will support AP mode, I'm sure. The driver (rtw89) got upstreamed a while ago and support for the new chip got added this Linux kernel release cycle. Hopefully the new generation modules will be available soon, too... I use the previous generation RTL8852A in my homegrown wifi router, and it works nicely as AP with the same driver and hostapd. The modules are small, and fit to laptops. (the ones I buy are actually some stock for laptops, that gets re-sold as spare parts I think) Cheaper than the Qualcomm wifi chips, too.
- zamadatix 3y agoYeah plenty of client cards have AP mode firmware, I don't recommend it though unless you want a particularly low end AP (outside of the use case of a fully open firmware AP, in which case fully open firmware older cards are generally the only way).
- dijit 3y agoit's pretty rare I see wifi cards in thin-and-light laptops these days unfortunately. Laptops, largely, have become SoC's; at least for the most popular lines of business laptops (and I include Macbooks in that). Things like the Thinkpad X1 Carbon and Surface's (incl. surface book) etc;
- MrFoof 3y agoI'd give it a few months. Both laptops (sans Apple) and desktop PCs (even USFFs) tend to use the NGFF M2.2230 form factor cards, typically with two antenna connectors. Yes, even your super fancy high-end desktop PC motherboard ultimately has an NGFF M2.2230 WiFi and BlueTooth combo card plugged in somewhere. It might be ultimately buried under a large VRM or other heatsink, but it's there nonetheless. Granted, replacing these sometimes necessitates entirely removing the motherboard from the case. Note for desktop PCs that you'll likely hook up an actual antennas to the RP-SMA connectors on the rear IO panel. Especially so if you're looking to take advantage of 6GHz spectrum. These antennas are a far less popular include with motherboards (even high end ones) than years ago, but they're generally only about $15-20 to purchase if you need better signal and range.
- kmfrk 3y agoAre there any wi-fi dongles - or even PCI extensions - for PCs that are worth getting? Everywhere I look, it's usually down to hoping the one that comes with your motherboard is any good, and those aren't easy to upgrade every now and then.
- Latty 3y agoThis is very much the opposite of my experience, M.2 Wifi modules are very standard, cheap and solid. All my motherboards have one installed for the wifi and it's trivial to swap it out. I have just replaced it when it stopped working or I wanted some Wifi/Bluetooth spec it didn't support. The Intel AX210 is the most recent one I've used, but I assume they'll release a WiFi 7 version. M.2 is just PCI-E at the end of the day, so should be entirely viable to adapt one if something didn't have an M.2 A-key slot.
- r1ch 3y agoIntel PCI-e cards are some of the best and quite reasonably priced (~$35 for 6E), unfortunately their Wi-Fi 7 card is only compatible with Intel motherboards so far.
- vel0city 3y agoI upgraded my previous laptop from an older intel ac wifi chip to a ax210 chip (6E). It really helped reduce latency and reliability especially on the 5G band. A good upgrade, it cost like $20 at the time. You can often find these mini m2 board to full size pci-e adapter cards or find these adapters pre-mounted on a board for sale.
- willio58 3y agoIt's insane to me that someone got paid to write this article. - No mention of the benefits of Wi-Fi 7 - No explanation of why AI headlines overshadowed Wi-Fi 7.. one is taking steps for changing what "work" looks like for Humanity while the other is..? - Bunch of links in the small article pointing to articles which are either promoted or have affiliate links I guess that last bullet explains it.
- Laaas 3y agoIt does talk about "Multi-Link Operation".
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pavel_lishin 3y agoUnless it's changed in the last 5 minutes, the second paragraph seems to have an explanation: > One of the biggest benefits of Wi-Fi 7 is that it allows for one device to connect to your router on multiple bands — a feature called Multi-Link Operation — which gives your laptop options when it comes to where to funnel its packets. That means that when your 5GHz band is at capacity, it’ll just send the data down the 6GHz pipe, and vice versa. The result should be lower latency when you’re on a busy network, which is critical when you’re not able to wire up with ethernet.
- lozenge 3y agoIt needs a supported device, which is not that common.
- yonatan8070 3y agoNot that common yet
- dewey 3y agoRead the comment before reading the article...but it wasn't that bad. It's not a technical deep dive but more a short commentary post as a heads-up that it's available now even if not everyone is talking about. It also lists the biggest benefit for gamers (It's posted in the "gaming" section of Verge) in the second paragraph. You are exaggerating a bit.
- itslennysfault 3y agoWifi7 is cool, but effectively no devices support it yet. So, having it launched is a good first step, but there is no reason to go drop a ton of cash on a new router until you actually have things that can connect to it. For me it'll be at least a year before wifi 7 matters (probably longer because I'm lazy, cheap, and perfectly happy with wifi 6 currently).
- dijit 3y agoI usually wait until their's Ubiquity prosumer equipment available before even thinking about a wifi upgrade. As such, I upgraded to wifi6 less than 18months ago, I don't think there's a meaningful reason to assume it will be soon for me to upgrade again.
- MrFoof 3y agoUbiquiti's U7-Pro has not only already launched, but mine was delivered a few hours ago. There's already reviews up (including YouTube) as well. If you want MU-MIMO (so 4x4 or more), I'd expect the U7-Enterprise later this year.
- sroussey 3y agoI’m waiting for Uniquiti’s Amplifi to go to WiFi7. I don’t think they are in a hurry, and neither am I.
- 8fingerlouie 3y agoNow if only Amplifi supported Site to Site VPNs, and wireguard road warrior VPNs, then i'd be completely on board. For now i will stick with UniFi, or possibly pfSense.
- kcb 3y agoUbiquiti just released the U7-Pro. There's some disappointment though as it only supports 2x2 on the 5 ghz band.
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- brcmthrowaway 3y agoWiFi is basically solved for 90% of people.
- jakderrida 3y agoYeah, seriously... How excited they expect us to get? Freaking AI made its debut and has accelerated nonstop since and y'all want us talking about new WiFi versions? I didn't know there was versions!
- eddieroger 3y agoWe don't need cars. Everyone has a horse already. Electric light? No thank you - I have all these candles already. Progress doesn't stop because we think a problem is solved.
- cesarb 3y ago> We don't need cars. Everyone has a horse already. This is not "cars versus horses", this is "fast cars versus slightly less fast cars".
- dgrin91 3y agoI'd dial it back a notch to reality. This is a small iterative step, not a revolution. Or to put it in your terms - Most people don't need sports cars if they already have regular cars Most people don't need smart lights if they have regular lights. Its progress, that doesn't mean we all need to buy it right now.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y agoAll of your examples have the new thing showing an obvious benefit over the old thing. Tell me, if I upgraded every device I own to Wi-Fi 7 - or any, for that matter - what benefit would I get exactly?
- adrr 3y agoI have 2GB fiber and can only get 250MB on WIFI. Faster speeds helps out with app updates, syncing/backing up photos etc. Especially noticeable on my PS5 when there are game/system updates.
- hnburnsy 3y agoGo check out the eye watering prices, example, $1599 USD... https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-BE95-AI-Roaming-3-Pack/dp/B0CN45QCBX https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-BE95-AI-Roaming-3-Pack/d...
- Casteil 3y agoUbiquiti U7 Pro is only around $200 USD.
- zamadatix 3y agoThat's a pack of 3 high end mesh APs though, about $550 per. Each AP has 2 10G and 2 2.5G ports as well as 2 separate 4x4 6 GHz radios so you can backhaul and transmit at the same time. Little of that price has to do with Wi-Fi 7. If you look at the price of 1x normal type AP instead of 3x BMWs the price really isn't that high. The story is the same on the client side where most any m.2 adapter should be less than $40 to upgrade to.
- zamadatix 3y agoAnyone who lives in a dense area and held out on Wi-Fi 6E should definitely look into Wi-Fi 7 this year. The 6 GHz spectrum is a fantastic addition to Wi-Fi performance (not just throughput) and Wi-Fi 7 adds a few other tricks too.
- Tommstein 3y agoMy Wi-Fi has already been working just fine for a long, long time, new developments there are irrelevant to approximately everybody. Recent developments in AI, not so much.
- 0xcde4c3db 3y agoAs someone with professional reasons to be interested in Wi-Fi 7, it's been a really weird ride. At home I'm still leaning on a consumer 802.11ac (sorry, "Wi-Fi 5") router that I bought in late 2016. I'm very much itching to upgrade to the latest and greatest. The big sign I've been waiting for is solid availability of commercial/enterprise Wi-Fi 7 access points, because I assume that the customer base for that product category demands a baseline of maturity/stability that I wish applied to consumer-grade products. But it's been frustrating. The norm that I've seen thus far has been for every goddamned AP vendor on the planet to put up a painfully condescending "What is Wi-Fi 7?" page (with an obligatory "cars driving on a wider highway" analogy, never mind that 320 MHz was introduced with Wi-Fi 6E) and paper-launch an AP product. I gather that Ubiquiti is shipping (or at least about to ship) a surprisingly midrange product for this early in a new tech generation, and Zyxel has a higher-end one that can currently only be bought from what looks like a scalper for about $250 over the intended MSRP. At some level, I was already sold on Wi-Fi 7 a year ago. I just wish someone could actually fucking deliver it as something other than a $1500 consumer mesh bundle.
- neurostimulant 3y agoAsus has sub-$1000 wifi 7 routers right now. None of them seems to be supported by asuswrt-merlin though, perhaps because they're still very new.
- aitchnyu 3y agoIME 5G and 5GHz is fast in perfect location and crap outside the blessed areas. I blame it on higher frequencies attenuation. Does Wifi 7 buck the trend?