2017 13" nTB vs 2017 13" TB wifi chips?

[sakabaro]

Does anyone know if there is a difference in wifi chips between the TB and the nTB in 2017 models?

I thought they were one in the 2016 ones.

 

[treekram]

The iFixit teardowns list the chips they find (search for "Wi-Fi") For the 13", for 2016 and 2017, nTB and TB have different chips (Universal Scientific Industrial 339S0250, Murata/Apple 339S00056 respectively). Neither have changed between 2016 and 2017.

 

[sakabaro]

The iFixit teardowns list the chips they find (search for "Wi-Fi") For the 13", for 2016 and 2017, nTB and TB have different chips (Universal Scientific Industrial 339S0250, Murata/Apple 339S00056 respectively). Neither have changed between 2016 and 2017.

I see, thanks! Do we know if there is a significant difference in performance between the two?

 

[treekram]

I've read that the nTB performance max is 867 Mbps, vs. 1.3 Gbps for the TB. But what you get in real-world use depends on a lot of factors. If you're interested, search "macbook pro 2016 867 mbps vs 1.3 gbps wifi" (or substitute 2017 if you wish). The Wi-Fi chip is only one factor in overall usability - the antennas and other support chips (if any) play a factor as well.

 

[leman]

I see, thanks! Do we know if there is a significant difference in performance between the two?

Yes, the touch-bar MBP has faster WIFI. The non touch-bar is really like a MacBook Air (same hardware tier as MBA has been traditionally using). If you have a good router and fast network, the difference is significant. MacBook Pros also have best in class wireless performance (very few other laptops can match them here). For instance, with my Synology RT2600ac, there is no distinguishable difference between WiFi an ethernet, which is great as I have a gigabit internet connection.

 

[sakabaro]

Cool, thanks for you guys' replies.

It will be interesting to see benchmarks (maybe speedtest.net ones?) also here.

I never saw Wifi being able to reach 1 gbps let alone 1.3. Wifi on my nTB works surprisingly well. It might the case that 2 antennas design work better than a 3 antennas design give the nTB better Wifi performance than the TB.

 

[peonies]

I do not know what is causing it but I currently have one ntbMBP (2.3ghz i5, 16gb, 256gb) and one tbMBP (3.1ghz i5, 16gb, 256gb) and their download speed is very different.

I tested both of them at fast.com.
Internest speed on ntbMBP is 48 Mbps and on tbMBP is 110 Mbps.