Unlike iPhone 16 Models, Apple's M4 Macs Lack Wi-Fi 7 Support

[The_Gream]

Laptops aren’t mobile? lol whats upgraded more often, a laptop or an iPhone? If there’s one product that needs future proofing it’s a laptop not a phone.

Pretty sure you can pack your laptop around the house easier than a desktop or take it with you when you travel. Maybe my choice of the word “mobile” is your issues, or you know could look the word up in a dictionary and see what it says. Pretty sure mobile doesn’t mean stationary, and the term far outdates cell phones, or mobile phone if you prefer. 😆

 

[Dreamweaver12]

Well, at least the USB ports aren't on the bottom.

 

[TechnoMonk]

i just ordered the m4 max 16' with 64gb ram. it is frustrating to pay 6k for a laptop and not get wifi 7. i have already APs which is setup for wifi 7 and I was expecting the new mac to be compatible. what are they doing.

Don’t upgrade if it doesn’t have what you need.

 

[bLackjackj]

Typical Apple. You will never know why or how they make some questionable decisions.

Oh we know exactly why. With Tim at the helm, it's ALWAYS about saving $1.

 

[JohnC1959]

Yawn Ethernet is better anyway. Its a desktop run Ethernet youll be happier with lower latency, no radio interference , and consistent throughput

And you'd have to be in the same room as the router to get good use of the 6Ghz band anyway. I have my router in my home office so while I could get good use of 6Ghz, being in the same room also means I can used a wired connection via my hub. So I agree with people that its odd and unfortunate not to have wifi 7 but disagree that it's a big deal in practice.

 

[ChrisA]

I think most users only use WiFi for Internet access. If so then not having WiFi 7 only affects those who have multi-gigabit Internet connections. If you "only" have a 200 Mbit connection then you don't need even Wifi 6e.

But for those who are using Macs with a very fast NAS, WiFi speed could make a difference for things like editing 4k video over WiFi. But then, if network speed really matters you would order the Mac with 10Gbe Ethernet. It is worth it. I have the faster Ehternet and it is faster them My Synology NAS. So the network is not the bottleneck

My guess is that Apple did not have a good, fully functioning WiFi7 chip ready and waiting would delay the release of the new M4 Macs. I bet it was a schedule thing and not a cost thing.

And as said, how many people could actually use WiFi 7? Do you have a multi-gigabit Internet connection?

Finally, WiWi 7 is only fast if you have a direct line of sight to your router, meaning you can see it with your eyes and there are no walls in the way. If this is the case then you can run a 10Gbe wire and be even faster than WiFi 7.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I just upgraded my home network to WiFi 7 a few months ago. Once Windows got updated to support MLO (Multi Link Output - being able to have one WiFi network broadcast on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz at the same time, and have devices connect to all three frequencies at the same time, rather than just picking one,) my Windows system got significantly faster WiFi and far more stable. No more hunting frequencies, having one frequency be weak but the WiFi card doesn't switch to another, and other issues.

I was thinking about upgrading my Mac Studio - but even if it does get an M4 update soon, if it doesn't get WiFi 7, I'm skipping it. No reason to upgrade yet when it's missing such a huge feature that will almost certainly be added next year.

 

[kerro.p]

I feel like a lot of people are commenting that don't really understand why these incremental changes matter.

Advances in WiFi technology are not purely for throughput. Many people have jobs where they work in places with lots of wireless devices. Many people travel with their portable laptops. Large offices, hospitals, stadiums, conference centers -- it's not about individual throughput but being able to serve a lot of devices at once. The big news with Wifi 7, and too with Wifi 6 and 6E is less about the bandwidth (although it helps get people off the radio sooner) and more about handling more devices more efficiently. We not only got a lot of new spectrum but also tons of new features that maximize the number of clients getting usable airtime.

People saying things like "just use wired" on a laptop that hasn't had a wired port in, what, more than a decade, don't seem to be understanding pretty much anything about any of this, such as the most popular use cases for these devices and what the actual consumer demand is (wifi is everything for the vast majority of people)

 

[robertmorris2]

i was just reading about wifi7. i saw some advantages. MLO is one of them and the ability to transmit more data quicker is another. the broadcast bands are the same except that each one can be accessed separately at the same time so if you have multiple devices, which everyone does, the bands do not interfere with each other and negate any transmission.
Now i'm certainly no expert, or even close to one, but i can see if you have a lot of devices needing connecting , then this may be a good deal. as far as wifi7 phones and the like, i would say we already have them becuse there isn't a wifi 7 bandwidth....and your devices will only be handled by one bandwidth and not shared by the entire collection of devices.
please correct me if I interpreted it all wrong

 

[SlaveToSwift]

Oh, the same song as with M3 Pro bandwidth cut from people defending Apple, and it's getting really old. "Apple has done his research, most people don't use 200 GB/s, then it's sensible to cut to 150 and save costs." Curiously, Apple backtracked, and M4 Pro comes with 272 GB/s, because lo and behold, AI needs it.

Yet you can't rebut that 99% of customers wont' know the difference, or need it.

 

[mazz0]

Don’t worry about it guys. 1gbps on a Mac is equivalent to 2gbps on a Windows PC!

 

[mazz0]

Are Apple meant to be working on their pwn WiFi chips as well as their own mobile chips? I think I read somewhere on Macrumours that they were working on a one-chip-to-rule-them-all solution, but I can’t remember for sure. If that is the case, maybe they‘re holding off on adopting the current best-in-class so their solution doesn’t seem like a downgrade if it can’t match it, and then it can be an upgrade if they finally get it good.

 

[btbeme]

Oh we know exactly why. With Tim at the helm, it's ALWAYS about saving $1.

You might be too young to remember when Steve put 33.6k modems in the first, groundbreaking, bet-the-company iMac because they were about a dollar less than the 56k modem, against all advice. Look it up.

With Tim at the helm my AAPL stock has increased about 110x with very little concern that any dip or miss would be made up by the next quarter.

I am retired - quite comfortably - at 56 years old because of my employee (hired 2001) stock options and later stock purchases in a company that has led the way in innovation, reliability, and quality. These and other reasons are why it has grown into the largest company in the world. And why - regardless of edge and fringe and petty grievances - you actually have a smart phone and a tablet and a vertical system that simply works and makes information truly instant and global.

Were you in the room the night before the iPhone was launched? I was. And the words Steve spoke to the four dozen people there will never be forgotten. Or repeated, because of NDAs and other reasons. Believe me, he had you, or consumers like you, in mind every moment of every day.

Maybe one day I’ll tell some Steve stories - I sat across from him in the hot seat more than a handful of times. The very worst of those were tempered by a calm and logical Alabama accent telling me that I had nothing to worry about. Tim Cook may not please you every way you wish (I’m sure there are websites that can do that for you) but I promise you that his governance of this company will go down in the annuals of history as epic and groundbreaking.

 

[john1970]

Not exactly a deal breaker for me. Frankly, I am glad they gave us nano-texture glass option which is more useful. I was also pleased to see the M4 Pro 14 core chip have 10 performance core and 4 efficiency cores. I thought for sure it would be 8 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores.

With that said I did find it odd that the M4 Pro Mac mini can get 64 GB RAM while the M4 Pro MacBook Pro can only get 48 GB RAM.

 

[kerr]

Customers who plan on purchasing one of the new M4 Macs should know that these machines continue to offer Wi-Fi 6E features and lack the faster speeds and the latency benefits that come with Wi-Fi 7.

Potential customers for a tech device should check the specifications before they purchase? Wow, thanks for the reminder.

Specs clearly say:
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Bluetooth 5.3
etc, etc

People can read.

 

[Kbaegis]

I get a little tired of all the Apple appologia and other people speaking for usecases that were never their own to begin with.

Future proofing with a newer wireless chipset was a no brainer here, and Apple merely opted not to do it. Lazy engineering, or planned obsolescence, whatever the case may be.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

SAD! Might as well just buy a cheap Chromebook.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Oh we know exactly why. With Tim at the helm, it's ALWAYS about saving $1.

Apple's losing $200 on every Mac Mini M4 they sell to someone who would have upgraded to 16GB from a base 8GB Mini. So not putting in WiFi 7 they're only losing $199.

 

[boast]

I guess I need to wait until next year to enjoy all the hundreds I spent on my new Ubiquiti gear! 😜

 

[ArrayDecay]

You might be too young to remember when Steve put 33.6k modems in the first, groundbreaking, bet-the-company iMac because they were about a dollar less than the 56k modem, against all advice. Look it up.

With Tim at the helm my AAPL stock has increased about 110x with very little concern that any dip or miss would be made up by the next quarter.

I am retired - quite comfortably - at 56 years old because of my employee (hired 2001) stock options and later stock purchases in a company that has led the way in innovation, reliability, and quality. These and other reasons are why it has grown into the largest company in the world. And why - regardless of edge and fringe and petty grievances - you actually have a smart phone and a tablet and a vertical system that simply works and makes information truly instant and global.

Were you in the room the night before the iPhone was launched? I was. And the words Steve spoke to the four dozen people there will never be forgotten. Or repeated, because of NDAs and other reasons. Believe me, he had you, or consumers like you, in mind every moment of every day.

Maybe one day I’ll tell some Steve stories - I sat across from him in the hot seat more than a handful of times. The very worst of those were tempered by a calm and logical Alabama accent telling me that I had nothing to worry about. Tim Cook may not please you every way you wish (I’m sure there are websites that can do that for you) but I promise you that his governance of this company will go down in the annuals of history as epic and groundbreaking.

Great story! I read Ken Kocienda's book and it was very interesting. Maybe someday I'll read yours.

 

[btbeme]

With that said I did find it odd that the M4 Pro Mac mini can get 64 GB RAM while the M4 Pro MacBook Pro can only get 48 GB RAM.

There are some architecture issues that dictate some of the multipliers and limitations. The most nuanced of simple explanations is that there is a balance between what can be done and the cost/ return based on production returns. There is always room for producing exceptional performance from a die, and more than a few wafers that qualify. But to produce *reliable and perfect* chips at scale, you have to find the sweet spot and just go with it.

 

[fireguy286]

I will give $100 to anyone who can notice a difference in wifi speed for 6E vs 7 😂

I think you misunderstand what Wifi 7 is or how it works. In fact 6E isn't technically faster than 6. But 7 doubles the bandwidth and adds MLO, which absolutely has an impact.

 

[btbeme]

Great story! I read Ken Kocienda's book and it was very interesting. Maybe someday I'll read yours.

Maybe. I will say that those were some exciting, heady, long, agonizing days that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Those months and years nearly cost me a marriage, a fortune made and lost and made again, my entire self-confidence, and probably the only true regret I will take to my grave. But I’d do it over again in a heartbeat.

To be perfectly honest, TC and I did not see eye to eye on many things. But he is absolutely the most intensely focused and penetrating, operationally tightly-knit troubleshooter and problem solver that Apple or any company like it has ever seen. He was exactly what Steve needed to relaunch history, and exactly the person to manage the next 10-12 years of production afterwards.

Is he visionary? Not so much. Is it time again for a visionary? Mebbe so… but what Tim hath wrought is a n amazingly flexible, complex, bulletproof company that was $390B when he got is and is a magnitude larger than that now. My respect.

 

[Mr Dobey]

in theory, the WiFi 7 ability to bond 2.4, 5 and 6GHz together simultaneously and support full duplex is quite a technological improvement.

 

[Cervisia]

Yet you can't rebut that 99% of customers wont' know the difference, or need it.

While you might think the gpu performance uplift comes from upgrades to the gpu cores alone, a big part of the gains come from the increased memory bandwidth. With that extra 75% (!), the M4 Pro finally catches up with the entry level PC graphics cards.

Your 1% might be true for people noticing the memory bandwidth increase in cpu tasks, but what a lot of people seem to forget, that gpu bandwidths are much bigger. While the M4 Max has the biggest bandwidth by many factors compared to any other cpu manufacturer, it's only enough to match the mid-range GPUs. That's why almost everyone will notice.