Photos of Likely 802.11ac 'Gigabit Wi-Fi' Card From Next-Generation iMac Surface

[Lancer]

iMac ? Already ?

I was thinking the same thing, at first I thought it was for the next iPad or iPhone... so my 2012 is already outdated

I must say my WiFi does fell slow at times, especially when doing local networking stuff like transferring files, takes twice as long as Ethernet, which I now have plugged in but that's not an option for many.

 

[Tech198]

Yes... ac in upcomming Macs at WWDC next month. but useless without support routers.

 

[magicsleeper]

Has anyone ever replaced their wi-fi in their mac? Has it been done before?

 

[AtomicGrog]

Useless to most. You'll never see real world usage above 802.11n, and hard drives need to move to solid state before this is really taken advantage of.

Beg to differ, I easily saturate my 'n' capability with a single NAS and the data to/from it i.e. a combination of media and backups from 3-4 clients (at times all simultaneously) and as a result have to hard wire...

 

[mrmarts]

This may secure my purchase of a new iMac, otherwise if i can i will try to bear out next years hopeful updates to the usb and lightening ports.

 

[Exhale]

AC will behave similarly to that of N, correct?

No. As I said, first of all an additional modulation scheme for extra-short-range is introduced. (Realistic usefulness is extremely limited due to the extreme SNR requirement)
Furthermore, without that modulation scheme its only comparable if you're running your current N network in 5GHz mode. This is not the norm.

And the reason I state 'reduced range', is because it means that the SNR quickly reduces over range. With a lower SNR, the system is forced to use a modulation scheme with fewer bits per signal. (Lower effective throughput)

It'll quickly drop from 256-QAM to 64-QAM, and over a much lower distance drop from 64-QAM to 16-QAM. Your throughput speed is now considerably slower.

That is to say, the 64QAM range of standard N might be 5~ meters indoors. For AC (or 5GHz N), the range of 64-QAM could be just 2-3 meters, and less than 1 meter for 256-QAM. That 1 meter range is the only range where speed would actually improve with AC. It would be identical to 5GHz N at all other ranges, and worse than 2.4GHz N beyond 2-3 meters.

(Note: I'm being somewhat harsh with the ranges here, you're best to test N yourself)

Though there is one exception, AC permits bandwidths in excess of 40 of N, up to 160. That would give theoretical improvements that are still ~4x over 5GHz N. But the question is how viable running with that bandwidth is. In addition theres the question whether the card even supports this bandwidth.

As for power, the concern is less on the access point -and more on the (portable) device. AC speeds heavily emphasize MIMO - and the downside of MIMO is that you multiply the number of antennas. This means that such rigs require significantly more space, and many times more power.

Also keep in mind there are legal limitations on signal power output. And to my knowledge, that limit is already the norm.

If you want improved wi-fi speeds on iOS devices - I suggest you push for Apple to actually make proper use of the N standard first. As is, it doesn't handle Short GI or 40MHz bandwidth resulting in a max throughput of 65mbps rather than 72 (or 150 for 40MHz bandwidths). In addition, its inability to handle MISO means its less capable of error detection and correction (means it has to downgrade its modulation earlier).

 

[Rocketman]

Just installed AC routers in 2 locations. Linksys AC 750.

 

[justperry]

Yes, it will include beamforming, which means it can focus the power to the location of the devices to give you more strength.



Companies are grabbing the chips now with firmware updates planned to support the final draft. Same thing happened with 802.11n, we adopted it years before the draft was standardized.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamforming

You don't get beamforming from a single antenna. 802.11n and 802.11ac products have a lot of antennas, they divert power to specific antennas that devices are "connected" to, thus increasing the strength of the connection and makes it slightly faster.

MBP has 6 antennas, 3 on transmit and 3 on receive, they can be adjusted to focus its beam to the router your are using rather than other routers in the building that you don't use.

Thanks for the link.

In a way I don't think it is beamforming, Directional divides have beams, this is more or less a way to achieve a beam without actually being one.
A speaker is directional, a flat panel antenna is directional, a omnidirectional antenna isn't, that was my point.

I think this will improve the signal but my no means by much, might only be something like 1-10%.

 

[iMikeT]

Can I put this in my 2011 iMac?

 

[k1121j]

no kidding

I do not even know what to say to the two of you

Current theoretical Speed of 802.1n = 300-450 Mb/s ~ 30-50 MB/s
Real World Speed Approximately(lets say half) = 150-225 Mb/s ~ 15-25 MB/s

Theoretical Speed of 802.1AC = 850 Mb/s - 1300 Mb/s ~ 85-130 MB/s
Real World Speed Approximately(lets say half) = 425 - 650 Mb/s ~ 42-65 MB/s


How can you not see the difference? More than double the speed?

Not to mention the 450 Mb/s on n is only if you have the 2-3 antennas and the high end routers. Bring the actual speed of the current standards down to less than 10MB/s

The difference is HUGE for those that have a NAS at their home. Wifi AC makes NAS useable over Wifi, not to mention computer to computer transfers amazingly faster. Especially useful on Mac's with Airdrop.




Standard HDD Read Theoretical = 80MB/s
Actual = 60MB/s

SSD Theoretical = 250-500 MB/s
Actual = Varies to much between drives

Current theoretical MAX of Wifi n = 45 MB/s
Actual = 30 MB/s

Starting theoretical speed of AC = 85 MB/s
Assuming actual will be half = 40 MB/s +

Wifi AC makes standard HDDS Useable over Wifi

No kidding buddy. So... as you stated yourself there will be a speed increase none the less so for that i am excited. It's the same as the MPG rated on a new car i did not return mine because it did not get was was posted on the window i was smart enough to know its was an estimate.

 

[dannys1]

My iMac and Mac Mini are wired up with gigabit ethernet but i presume when the rMBP is released with this card, we'll be able to pick one up and put it into our current rMBP as well?...

 

[iCaleb]

AC is pretty useless right now unless you have google fiber or do lots of file transfers.

 

[fatlardo]

My iMac and Mac Mini are wired up with gigabit ethernet but i presume when the rMBP is released with this card, we'll be able to pick one up and put it into our current rMBP as well?...

I hope the rMBP is plug n play with the new card.

 

[EddieCurrent]

The CApiTALizatioN iS corRECT.

It is just a poorly worded headline.

Actually it is not a poorly worded headline and a year ago would have been perfectly easy to understand. As a technology website the author or editor should have caught this, but it is still understandable.

 

[JediTora]

I don't think most people are going to care about 802.11ac for a long while. Give it a couple of years for internet providers to catch up (Canada's providers like Rogers and Bell for example), that taking bloody forever to get on the bandwagon. Granted, they'll claim it's the latest and greatest at that point. But, what can you do really? *shrugs*

While I definitely understand where people are coming from with the "speed benefits" in regards to wireless data transfer, I know I'm not going to run out anytime between now and the next year to get a new computer, AppleTV, etc...just so I'll be ready for/can take advantage of 802.11ac. Hell, I just bought an AppleTV unit a few days ago!

To reiterate my point: wait until you see all Apple devices, tablets, PCs, routers, smartphones, etc...advertising that their products support 802.11ac. Then start looking at new stuff (if you're an AppleGeek, as always, wait 'til after WWDC).