I like your humour. Those speeds are marketing fluff though and simply not possible yet. I explained it in a previous post. I haven’t seen a single real world test where 6E has exceeded 1.5Gbps, likewise on 7 around double that. Why… it’s a client hardware limitation and the hardware to exceed that simply does not exist commercially.
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Unlike iPhone 16 Models, Apple's M4 Macs Lack Wi-Fi 7 Support
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yep. I think the main advantage of wifi 7 or 6 is that a larger number of devices can (theoretically) each have a higher speeds than the older standard. And even that may not be realized since in such cases many users may be using the internet and limited by ISP limits anyway. In a work environment you have many users using lots of data against local NAS and such but those are almost always wired to high speed ethernet. Even still, who wouldn't prefer the latest standard whenever possible
It’s sad that the marketing of WiFi 7 is so deceptive by all the big brands selling it, fuelling this FOMO around products that don’t have it. Who has truly ever achieved any claimed speed over WiFi that was written on a router box?
I’ll get WiFi 7 one day as it will be great, but right now it is pointless for me as 1Gbps internet cannot come close to saturating my WiFi 6 and even my 5 drive NAS cannot utilise all the bandwidth. Remember your speed is always limited by the slowest client, not the network.
It’s why I laugh when I hear people building 10Gbps networks, to hardwire their TV to and their 1Gbps fibre, yet all TV’s only have a 10/100Mbps port so that is your max speed for the TV. 90% of that network bandwidth is never used. Similar with WiFi, by the time TV’s actually use more than 1Gbps in bandwidth, plus most people have internet connections exceeding 2.5Gbps, WiFi 8 will be out, possibly even WiFi 9, and that WiFi 7 you complained about not getting was never even utilised.
Anyway, if you want to actually understand WiFi, the limiting factors and all the BS being fed to you, this is one of the best, correct explanations I have read on the web.
Wi is Fi
I’ll get WiFi 7 one day as it will be great, but right now it is pointless for me as 1Gbps internet cannot come close to saturating my WiFi 6 and even my 5 drive NAS cannot utilise all the bandwidth. Remember your speed is always limited by the slowest client, not the network.
It’s why I laugh when I hear people building 10Gbps networks, to hardwire their TV to and their 1Gbps fibre, yet all TV’s only have a 10/100Mbps port so that is your max speed for the TV. 90% of that network bandwidth is never used. Similar with WiFi, by the time TV’s actually use more than 1Gbps in bandwidth, plus most people have internet connections exceeding 2.5Gbps, WiFi 8 will be out, possibly even WiFi 9, and that WiFi 7 you complained about not getting was never even utilised.
Anyway, if you want to actually understand WiFi, the limiting factors and all the BS being fed to you, this is one of the best, correct explanations I have read on the web.
Wi is Fi
I had been eagerly awaiting for Wi-Fi 7. I have a 13" 2018 Macbook Pro that I have been using for 6 years that I wished to replace. I had planned to buy the M3 Macbook Pro's last year but waited another year thinking the M4 Macbook Pro's will have Wi-Fi 7. I replace my Macbook's after many years as this one lasted for 6 years so I wish to future proof my next purchase. I know Wi-Fi 7 is not widely available now but within 3 years it will be very widespread. My current 2018 Macbook Pro is in bad shape as it overheats a lot so I can't use it properly while charging among other issues.
So, with all of that in mind, should I just go for the M4 Macbook Pro's now or wait for the M5 Macbook Pro which will surely have Wi-Fi 7?
Thanks!
So, with all of that in mind, should I just go for the M4 Macbook Pro's now or wait for the M5 Macbook Pro which will surely have Wi-Fi 7?
Thanks!
Personally I think the advantage of wifi 7 is more about the advantages of having many wifi 7 devices with a wifi router and not so much for any one of those devices. wifi 7 can handle a greater total load from many devices but any one device has other factors limiting your network speed. So whether to upgrade or wait likely depends more on how much you need other upgrades.
Then again, the fastest WiFi 7 router you can get for your home tops out at around 10Gbps — and that only if your device is sitting right next to the transmitter. Plus, to get that 46Gbps theoretical limit requires devices that don’t exist and will likely never exist because they would drain your phone battery so quickly you’d never twice connect to a router that would support that rate.
[TL/DR: Don’t upgrade until you have a true need.]
The performance marks coming out for the M4 Pro chip are impressive. They are faster than my M2 Ultra Mac Studio. The M4 Max will be faster still. My M2 Ultra is a blazing machine. So, if you are using your MacBook Pro professionally (e.g., compiles and AI development, or streaming media creation), you will find the M4 Max a figurative couple of light years beyond what you currently have.
Geekbench 6 gives a 2018 MacBook Pro Intel-i7 a single-core score of 1422 and a multi-core score of 4794. By comparison, the M4 Pro benchmarks for Mac Minis are coming in at 3584 and 21898. IOW, 2.5x on single core and 4.5x on multi core.
But, notice, my praise for these new books is the compute performance. It isn’t about network performance. If you need high throughput you’ll use a hardwired solution: 10Gbps Ethernet or up to 80 Gbps Thunderbolt 5. WiFi 7, even if WiFi 7 is widespread in 3 years (which I doubt), will not be giving you the same speeds. You may get 10Gbps downloads if you are sitting right beside the transmitter. But, in all practicality, you’ll get lower due to signal power and attenuation, and pretty much the same speeds you will get from WiFi 6E due to router and device implementations.
All that said, if your current laptop is working for you and you don’t need the speed, then it is safe to wait another year. But don’t wait just because of WiFi 7. And don’t lock yourself into another 6 year commitment to a model just because of WiFi 7, especially if your laptop isn’t your main work machine. I mainly use a desktop for my work, so my laptop has been used only to provide convenience. Because of that, my 2013 laptop was still giving me decent service until Apple EOL’d it. I only replaced it earlier this year. Same went for my desktop. My 2013 ash-can Mac Pro served well up until a couple of years ago when I needed an Apple Silicon machine for what I was doing.
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And both the speeds are theoretical limits. Great post in the thread by a poster that highlights that getting 46Gbps requires the use all all 16 6Ghz channels and one 320 Gbps channel. No consumer grade hardware today supports using more than 2 channels.
Wifi6E is the latest "standard". Wifi7 is not fully baked, its a draft standard.
Well that is true. But every bit helps when mobile especially on a laptop. Yes I won’t get 25 Gb like my Mac Studios do, but it can help just a little if I need to bring down a large file from my NAS.
Haha, well we can't all be living the dream like you. Must be nice having all that free time not sitting around waiting for transfers. Good play sir 🧐
True, but WiFi 6 and 6e both had hardware out long before the standards were completed and all it took was firmware updates to reach the finalized standards. I suspect the WiFi group finishes the hardware long before the feature and software standards, which is why all these companies like Linksys, TP-Link, Asus, and Netgear can put out these routers way in advance and why companies that make devices can put out WiFi 7 hardware ahead of time.
I bought my WiFi 6 and later 6e hardware long before the standards were completed and had no real issues outside of standard WiFi complaints that every standard has had since the beginning of wireless. I just upgrade to WiFi 7 during October Prime Day because things were half off. I figured why not? It’s been good so far with range actually improved over my 6e routers. Stability has also been slightly better, too. I’ve been getting far fewer WiFi disconnects than I did with my 6e routers, so I’m happy with my purchase.
Most of you guys are literally never fully using your WiFi anyway , bet 90% of you guys use default “free” router your isp give you lol
