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Yeah, I was looking to upgrade my Mac mini and MacBook Pro. My Mac mini for sure, my MacBook Pro I was probably going to wait until the display comes out in full OLED. I don't understand why Apple is always the last to release their devices to the latest wifi.
Probably because nobody really needs those capabilities
 
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It’s really strange to put Wifi 7 in a smartphone but not in much more expensive and powerful Macs. But it’s not like this is the first time this year that Apple has made eyebrow-raising updates.

One major improvement in WiFi 7 over WiFi 6E is the addition of multi-link operation (MLO). This is pretty much the WiFi equivalent of carrier aggregation in 4G/5G mobile networks: it allows the device to connect to the AP on multiple frequencies simultaneously.

Besides more aggregated bandwidth, MLO offers additional benefits to highly mobile devices like a phone, since it should mean more seamless handover between bands as you move around a building. That is, it will naturally move from 5Ghz/6Ghz to 2.4Ghz as you move far from an AP and then back again as you get closer. Low-latency services like video calls and gaming should be uninterrupted, unlike older WiFi standards where you can get glitches and pauses during the handover.
 
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Typical Tim Cook—always trying to find a way to give customers less in order to maximize profits for sharefolders.
 
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Yeah, I was looking to upgrade my Mac mini and MacBook Pro. My Mac mini for sure, my MacBook Pro I was probably going to wait until the display comes out in full OLED. I don't understand why Apple is always the last to release their devices to the latest wifi.

OLED is junk. Not sure why people like it. It suffers burn-in like crazy. It's crap, but it looks good.

WiFi 7 is not the end of the world. Most people still do not have decent internet, and in the UK, the average is only 30 Mbps.

I have 1 Gbps internet, and still can't max out my WiFi 6 connection with it.

If absolute speed (and let's not forget latency!) matter, then you'd be wired - no question.

Not sure what the problem is.
 
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I run WiFi 7 at home because running cables isn't really an option, and I need the speed for backing up hundreds of GBs of data from my desktop PC to my NAS and other things on a regular basis. If someone is in the same situation, and wants to move a lot of data wirelessly with this Mac Mini, then I can understand their frustration with the lack of 7. But 6E is still pretty darn good to be honest.
 
I run WiFi 7 at home because running cables isn't really an option, and I need the speed for backing up hundreds of GBs of data from my desktop PC to my NAS and other things on a regular basis. If someone is in the same situation, and wants to move a lot of data wirelessly with this Mac Mini, then I can understand their frustration with the lack of 7. But 6E is still pretty darn good to be honest.
if youre really doing this, you should really run a cable.
 
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I will give $100 to anyone who can notice a difference in wifi speed for 6E vs 7 😂
Well gimme then, easily noticeable for local network transfers. Bundling of 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz with Wi-Fi 7 sometimes more than doubles the data rate I get.

That being said, I don't really care which Wi-Fi version desktop Macs have, I'd use an Ethernet cable anyway. For a laptop, I'd like to get the latest available though.
 
only talk for yourself. I pay 6k to a laptop because I use it. The difference with latency and speed is very clear if you are using anything realtime e.g. doing airplay to the appletv (atv is already on GB ethernet) so wifi of the laptop needs to be top notch.

Getting mad because the Mac only supports WiFi 6E and not 7 is like getting mad that your McDonalds Big Mac has one less slice of pickle than a Burger King Whopper: you will literally never notice the difference. 🍔

...I say, typing this from my phone while I get dinner at Wendy's
 
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Ok but can someone explain to me how Laptops still don’t have a mobile data chip for 5G in 2024?
Probably because of Qualcomm’s licensing terms. Remember that the reason Apple sued Qualcomm in the first place was because they thought it was unfair that Qualcomm demanded a percentage of the total value of the product, not just the value of the chipset they provide. Essentially, Apple has to pay a percentage of the full cost of every iPhone they sell, including the cost of all the components Qualcomm didn’t provide. To me, that always seemed unfair. Why should Qualcomm get a percentage of the cost of the display or the SoC or the SSD, etc? I don’t know the percentage, but Apple would have to fork over a ton of money for every laptop they sell. Imagine having to pay a percentage of a $7,000 laptop versus a $1200 phone. With phones, they had no choice but to fork over the money after they lost the lawsuits because Qualcomm is essentially a monopoly.

It’s quite likely Apple won’t put in a cellular modem into their MacBook lines until they have their own chipset and they don’t have to pay those onerous fees to Qualcomm.
 
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Your isp may be willing to upgrade you for free. Not as cool of a router as the fancy ones but probably better than what you have now
Part of the problem is that I have a synology router, and I have a hard drive hooked up to it for (albeit slow but perfectly fine for media streaming) remote storage. My Centurlylink router has no such ability for a hard drive. I’d get a NAS as I really like the Synology setup but there again I’d spend a good $600 but my movies aren’t gonna stream any faster…
 
If your wifi router is running mixed mode your messed up anyway. Unless every device on the network runs the same modes everything will run what ever the lowest and slowest mode is like n-mode or ac-mode.
If every device is 6E or the new 7 good on you most are not.
Not saying this to be true on all routers. But a lot are. Cross-modes don't play well together on some.
Wired or fiber will always be the best.
 
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That is disappointing not to have 7. I recently upgraded my WiFi 6e system to WiFi 7 when Amazon had its last Prime Day. I picked up TP-Link routers for 53% off. WiFi 7 is a major improvement over WiFi 6e even if a device doesn’t support 7. On my previous system, my iPad with 6e would get about 400Mbps over the Internet (I have a 1.2Gbps plan). With 7, that same iPad gets a tiny bit over 1Gbps. The range is also improved with the far corners of the house getting improved reception. We have only one WiFi 7 device on the network, which gets 1.4Gbps Internet speed, the same I get for wired Ethernet. As an aside, my max speed is supposed to be 1.2Gbps, but I guess I’ll take 1.4Gbps.

I don’t have anything to test internal network speed, though I do have a 2.5Gbps network. I’m guessing a WiFi 7 device would be able to reach that fairly easily since YouTubers report getting 7-9Gbps internally with their devices.

Fortunately, I don’t plan to upgrade so it won’t matter. I already have an M3 Max machine and an M4 Max just wouldn’t be worth the expense.
WiFi 7 would have been the cherry on the cake feature, but sadly for allot of Europe most people don’t have a connection anywhere close to utilising WiFi 7, most friends and family have 50-250 Mbps connection. I’m a rare one with a 1Gbps plan (no one I know offers more). I imagine it’s 3-5 years out before most users could benefit from the new standard.
 
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WiFi 7 would have been the cherry on the cake feature, but sadly for allot of Europe most people don’t have a connection anywhere close to utilising WiFi 7, most friends and family have 50-250 Mbps connection. I’m a rare one with a 1Gbps plan (no one I know offers more). I imagine it’s 3-5 years out before most users could benefit from the new standard.
Really? Here in Sweden (and most of the Nordic countries) we can eaisly get 1Gbps and even 10Gbps in some areas in Stockholm. In my summer house, in a small village in Spain I have 600Mbps. Where do you live?
 
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Was expecting it to have it considering the fact that the new iPhones have it. Anyway expecting the next version to have it.
 
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I wonder how many end users actually have a WiFi 7-capable router? It generally takes years for routers to be upgraded.

I wonder how many end users have an internet connection capable of supporting the full bandwidth offered by WiFi 7?

When it comes to networking, there are many, many factors involved, not just the edge connection. Chances are that Apple has done this research and determined that most users would not be taking advantage of the more expensive WiFi 7 capabilities, and those that need it are often plugging in a hub that has an Ethernet connection.

Not the end of the world for things like this. 99% of users likely wouldn't notice the difference. WiFi 7 is very new.

I just upgraded my Router to WiFi 6E a few month ago, there wasn't even a WiFi 7 one from the most famous brand here and I think only one other, that was really expensive and looked like an ugly spider. :eek:

I don't think I even need WiFi6. The provider gave me a WiFi 5 Router and I don't notice a difference and still offers it for this type of connection. My Macs are connected by Ethernet anyway. The only difference I see is that the main line to the port in the wall now supports 2.5Gbit while there is 500Mbit max. available.
 
Your isp may be willing to upgrade you for free. Not as cool of a router as the fancy ones but probably better than what you have now
They upgraded me for free from 200 to 250Mbit/s up and down is the same, what is mostly not the case. But 500Mbit seems to be almost the same price, at least for new customers.

Maybe I should ask them, now that I have a WifFi 6E Router. 1000Mbit is announced but not available. I think they want to change the lines to fiber before.

Or I'll just wait for that. My VPN is slowing down everything anyway.
 
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