16” is 2x2 802.11ac?

[Howard2k]

According to Apple Insider.

Apple's new 16-inch MacBook Pro reveals its future direction | AppleInsider

Apple's decision to radically redesign its largest and most powerful MacBook Pro just six months after its last refresh tells us a lot about how the company plans its hardware strategy and what factors drive its engineering.

appleinsider.com

That’s surprising.

The new MacBook Pro does, however, support a dual antenna design, allowing it to maximize the data throughput of its hardware.

The use of “maximize” is surprising. Won’t be a big deal in many circumstances, but a real surprise. This makes it Apple’s slowest MacBook, equal with the Air and the 1.4Ghz Pro. Or maybe the guys at Apple Insider are wrong.

EDIT: AppleInsider article was wrong. It’s 3x3.

 

[idark77]

I think that they are wrong. IMO Apple used the same Airport card 3x3 Mimo of previous MBP 15.

 

[Howard2k]

I think that they are wrong. IMO Apple used the same Airport card 3x3 Mimo of previous MBP 15.

I certainly hope they’re wrong.

 

[Nacho98]

I have a 2TB Time Capsule (tall version, think it was the last version) and I'll use it til it dies.

Based on that, would I need to care about this?

 

[Howard2k]

I have a 2TB Time Capsule (tall version, think it was the last version) and I'll use it til it dies.

Based on that, would I need to care about this?

If it’s true that the new Pro has reduced wifi, it means it won’t be able to push your Time Capsule to it‘s full potential in terms of performance.

It won’t be super slow, it’s just that the 15” would have 50% more bandwidth available.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Apple Insider gets things like this wrong all of the time, but will be interesting to see. I can't imagine that it isn't the same as previous, but you never know.

 

[poorcody]

Any way to check this on an actual machine?

I will say, I have a 2016 MBP sitting next to my new 16" MBP here. Same spot, same router. My old machine reports a Tx Rate of 878 Mbps consistently, the new 16" is getting about 1050 MBps. Slightly better RSSI and Noise values. 802.11ac (5GHz).

 

[radus]

Interesting, my 2018 15" is 1300 / 1053 Mbps

5 GHz / ac / 80 MHz, 3 x 3

 

[Rafterman]

More surprising is that its not AX. The iPhone is AX, how could their flagship Macbook Pro not have it?

 

[BarrettF77]

Simply the intel bin processors do now have AX support built in and would. require a different processor 10th get or a separate chip which real estate on the logic board is likely limited. And honestly, who cares. I have a strong mesh network and who has internet fast enough today that will take advantage of AX. The minimal return ins battery savings isn't worth fretting over and a solid mesh network will handle this anyways.

 

[terraphantm]

You can clearly see 3 antennas in the ifixit teardown

 

[Rafterman]

Simply the intel bin processors do now have AX support built in and would. require a different processor 10th get or a separate chip which real estate on the logic board is likely limited. And honestly, who cares. I have a strong mesh network and who has internet fast enough today that will take advantage of AX. The minimal return ins battery savings isn't worth fretting over and a solid mesh network will handle this anyways.

These aren't iPhones that you might replace every year. These are multi thousand dollar machines that you keep for a while and should they have some level of future-proofing.

 

[BarrettF77]

Wifi 6 is still early in it's arrival and again, Intel processors drive the wifi support, 9th gen intel processors do not do that. It would require a separate chip. They aren't going to redesign the logic board for something that when the next revision with 10th get processors arrives will have. And I was looking into wifi 6 heavily for my own house and went with a full on wifi 5 setup from Eero and have been more than pleased and eero develops their own chips hence why they will support them for a very long time as it's their own silicon.

Explain to me what wifi 6 is going to drastically change for anyone now or in the next few years. I don't keep a computer over 3-4 years tops. I am retiring my 2016 pro currently. I still don't lack for internet speeds when I'm on it. And ISPs aren't getting their speeds up over gigabit anytime soon and upload bandwidth isn't even close to infringing upon wifi 5 speeds.

 

[konqerror]

It would require a separate chip. They aren't going to redesign the logic board for something that when the next revision with 10th get processors arrives will have.

Both systems require nearly the same chip. The separate Intel AX200 module wires into PCIe lanes on the southbridge, the integrated support requires the AX201 module that wires into the specific PCIe lanes that support CNVio2. It's merely a cost issue as all that is missing is some digital logic on the AX201.

Won’t be a big deal in many circumstances, but a real surprise.

It's been coming. Apple's supplier Broadcom has basically quit the WiFi client market because Intel's bundling (via vPro and now CNVio) has taken over the market. Same situation as wired Ethernet. The current Broadcom AC chipsets are actually ripped from routers, I was expecting at some point that either Broadcom would give up or Apple would put a cell phone chipset in a laptop.

Intel's only done 2x2 because there is a legitimate claim that 3x3 doesn't work that well on a tightly packed laptop to justify the extra antenna, cable, and radio.

 

[BarrettF77]

I get everyone wants wifi 6, it's nice, but again, what is the huge benefit. It's geared at high congestion and smart homes that haven't gotten close to encroaching on current needs.

 

[terraphantm]

Wifi 6 is still early in it's arrival and again, Intel processors drive the wifi support, 9th gen intel processors do not do that. It would require a separate chip. They aren't going to redesign the logic board for something that when the next revision with 10th get processors arrives will have. And I was looking into wifi 6 heavily for my own house and went with a full on wifi 5 setup from Eero and have been more than pleased and eero develops their own chips hence why they will support them for a very long time as it's their own silicon.

Explain to me what wifi 6 is going to drastically change for anyone now or in the next few years. I don't keep a computer over 3-4 years tops. I am retiring my 2016 pro currently. I still don't lack for internet speeds when I'm on it. And ISPs aren't getting their speeds up over gigabit anytime soon and upload bandwidth isn't even close to infringing upon wifi 5 speeds.

Based on iFixit's teardown, it already using a Murata wifi/bluetooth module. Which does fit with system profiler showing a broadcom vendor ID for the wifi chipset rather than Intel.

 

[Rafterman]

Explain to me what wifi 6 is going to drastically change for anyone now or in the next few years. I don't keep a computer over 3-4 years tops. I am retiring my 2016 pro currently. I still don't lack for internet speeds when I'm on it. And ISPs aren't getting their speeds up over gigabit anytime soon and upload bandwidth isn't even close to infringing upon wifi 5 speeds.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." --Bill Gates, 1981

833MBPS vs 3.5GBPS. For 4K/8K streaming for example. That stuff is here now, and AX is rolling out now. I even have it in my house now, courtesy of a NetGear Night Hawk.

 

[LoganT]

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." --Bill Gates, 1981

833MBPS vs 3.5GBPS. For 4K/8K streaming for example. That stuff is here now, and AX is rolling out now. I even have it in my house now, courtesy of a NetGear Night Hawk.

802.11ac is up to a gigabit. I have a 350mbp connection that I pay $90 a month for and I stream 4K just fine. By the time I get an 8K television and have more than a gigabit of speed to see the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 I’m going to have a new Mac and it’s probably going to be Wi-Fi 7.

 

[Rafterman]

I love how people argue for less features and that, somehow, its better for us.

 

[Howard2k]

To avoid any confusion - AppleInsider was wrong, it’s 3x3.

 

[konqerror]

I love how people argue for less features and that, somehow, its better for us.

It's called not believing marketing lies.

802.11ac had a number of features that were crammed in that simply didn't work. I suspect they were added to increase the number of patents and therefore licensing revenue that companies got. Famous one is MU-MIMO. Real world tests show that it actually decreases performance in pretty much all cases. It was a great excuse to sell everybody new APs and clients, and then promptly tell people to leave that feature off. AFAIK, Apple never fell for that one.

 

[anticipate]

It is 3x3 I think, maybe. It certainly isn't what's in the iMac Pro (4x4?)
I get 1Gbit sustained perf off the iMac Pro over wifi (FAST.com, 8 streams), whereas the 16" MBP at the same exact spot gets 400 tops.

 

[BarrettF77]

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." --Bill Gates, 1981

833MBPS vs 3.5GBPS. For 4K/8K streaming for example. That stuff is here now, and AX is rolling out now. I even have it in my house now, courtesy of a NetGear Night Hawk.

We are going at the speed that the Internet service providers are granting bandwidth not at the speed the industry is capable of giving us connections to an access point. Let’s just be clear that just because you have it doesn’t mean you’re going to benefit from it. And this talk about 8K televisions, LOL! We are so far off from anything even being able to use that little loan power that

 

[terraphantm]

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." --Bill Gates, 1981

833MBPS vs 3.5GBPS. For 4K/8K streaming for example. That stuff is here now, and AX is rolling out now. I even have it in my house now, courtesy of a NetGear Night Hawk.

Where are you getting 833 vs 3.5gbps from? From what I'm seeing, ac is 433mbps per stream, and ax is 600mbps per stream. And considering that so far there are not any 3x3 ax devices out there, max throughput would be about the same as what our 3x3 macs can do.

 

[BarrettF77]

Where are you getting 833 vs 3.5gbps from? From what I'm seeing, ac is 433mbps per stream, and ax is 600mbps per stream. And considering that so far there are not any 3x3 ax devices out there, max throughput would be about the same as what our 3x3 macs can do.

Exactly, its like the 8k television comment. By the time it’s mainstream the tech is outdated. I’d be fine if iPhone is AC but I’ll never use AX on it likely. And 5G mm wave is so lacking to derive any benefit it’ll be a long while on that front. Now getting a QUALCOMM modem back, that’s an entirely different story

I think some people like to just complain about something. The older I’ve gotten the more you realize patience and to step back from things and the immediacy.

Vote with your wallet if you really feel strongly. But no one on here is going to make a difference.