What gives? I really thought they would go to 6E similar to the Pros. I guess we have to wait for the M3 at this point for a noteworthy upgrade.
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No Wifi 6E?
- Thread starter Ent
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The M2 mini got 6E and that’s their budget desktop more or less.
At the rate things are moving WiFi 7 will be generally available before 6E is even across the entire Apple lineup.
Considering how crowded the 5GHz spectrum is now and how reluctant rollouts are to utilize DFS (and apple devices are bad for bunching up on non DFS APs that are worse signal strength as they don’t scan for DFS channels as often) it would be awfully nice to see this as standard across the entire line by now or last year even. Not to mention all these devices are only 2x2 since the move from intel to m1 onward so it’s pretty much a downgrade in wifi performance without it coming from older intel laptops like a MBP.
Then again 6E requires WPA3 and Apple hasn’t fixed some terrible fast roaming bugs under it yet after about a year of reports. Just feels like it isn’t a priority.
My 15 inch air came to almost $2k , I wish they would make pro features available in that form factor even if they were add-ons. Technologically it is absolutely possible.
More like a strategy to over charge for a good fit and those that can't afford the upgrades end up with "less" and likely to buy again within 2-3 years. For some of us, this strategy is an ugly way to do business (though successful).
I feel like if this was really the reason for no 6E on the airs you’d likely not see 6E on the mac mini to push people to the studio.
You certainly may be correct. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple creates these venues to force buyers.
I don't even have Wi-Fi 6 and people are flipping out about not having Wi-Fi 6E...
Are people really buying a new router every time a new version of Wi-Fi comes out? Should I be doing this? I feel like I'm missing out on something 🤔
For home users sure but it’s a big deal for larger or high density deployments in the enterprise or smb world. Most larger deployments are stuck on 20 or 40MHz 5GHz due to spectrum constraints. This is the first time 80MHz (and potentially 160MHz depending on the density of the deployment) is viable outside of the home. It’s a huge improvement for air time being able to utilize wider channels more so than just the bandwidth to any one client.
It makes the 15” air a lot less desirable to those markets imo. It also feels like a poor investment as a home user if I'm going to be stuck on legacy 5GHz when out and about at locations deploying 6GHz. I was all for day one purchasing the 15” air as I don’t enjoy lugging the 16” mbp around for dealing with deployments but without a 6GHz radio it’s dead on arrival for me.
It’ll also be a boon to home users that live in wood framed higher density structures where the spectrum ends up completely saturated. That was already miserable over half a decade ago the last time I lived in one and I can’t imagine it’s gotten any better as DFS channels aren’t widely used to this day. Not to mention mixing DFS and non-DFS channels results in less than ideal client roaming as apple devices don’t probe the DFS frequencies nearly as often.
I’ve already swapped my 802.11ac wave 2 APs at home for 6E capable ones just for the benefit of leaving 5GHz on 40MHz channels for reduced power consumption and improved SNR / range on mobile devices where more bandwidth isn’t as important and using 6GHz on 160MHz for those where it is. Not having to tether for gigabit or better on the laptop is pretty nice when dealing with transfers to and from the NAS.
Unless you feel your spectrum is saturated and your bandwidth, latency or reliability of the wifi is not where you want it you aren’t missing out on much. Majority of the benefits to WiFi 6 / 802.11ax over 5 / 802.11ac are moot unless you only have client devices on the same version. If you have older WiFi 4 / 802.11n devices it gets even worse.
Most people would probably be better served adding more access points at lower transmit power levels than running out and replacing whatever they have now unless they live in a small apartment one easily covers.
Boy do I miss small apartment living… I’ve got 5 APs here and it’s expensive upgrading them. Worse yet I don’t even have ideal coverage in some areas between the two structures and common outdoor areas. Cellular to fill the outdoor areas isn’t viable as the higher LTE and 5G bands attenuate too much to reach through the trees around this property. It’s a shame they axed 3G so quickly as it was at least serviceable here.