wireless options - thinkpad yoga

[ultimate99]

There are 2 options for the wireless card:

• Intel Wireless-N 7260 2X2 BGN+BT
• Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0

which one should I choose and why? any "real-world" difference?

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

There are 2 options for the wireless card:

• Intel Wireless-N 7260 2X2 BGN+BT
• Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0

which one should I choose and why? any "real-world" difference?

 

The latter is an AC card so it can take advantage of 802.11ac. The former is N only so it can't. I'd suggest you look up the differences between wireless n and wireless ac.

 

EDIT: this seems like a pretty good article: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/160837-what-is-802-11ac-and-how-much-faster-than-802-11n-is-it

[T3X4S]

If you dont have an AC router/access point/etc - it wont be any different from 802.11n

From what I have seen - the performance is only marginally different from 802.11n.

HOWEVER, go with the AC option - if you every move to an AC network in the future, you will be ready.

 

Just dont fall for the "gigabit speeds"

 

I want to clear something up though.  The throughput of the signal might be faster on 802.11AC devices, but in real world settings - you wont see a huge difference.

 

I am sure later revisions of AC will make things better/faster.  

 

Remember the Golden Rule - You are only as fast as your slowest part.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

If you dont have an AC router/access point/etc - it wont be any different from 802.11n

From what I have seen - the performance is only marginally different from 802.11n.

HOWEVER, go with the AC option - if you every move to an AC network in the future, you will be ready.

 

Just dont fall for the "gigabit speeds"

 

I want to clear something up though.  The throughput of the signal might be faster on 802.11AC devices, but in real world settings - you wont see a huge difference.

 

I am sure later revisions of AC will make things better/faster.  

 

Remember the Golden Rule - You are only as fast as your slowest part.

 

Well the particular AC adapter the OP listed doesn't actually say it can do gigabit speeds. It is rated at ~850Mbps. The link i sent says during testing they got the following for it:

364 megabits per second ? over a distance of just five feet (1.5m). At 20 feet (6m) and through a wall, the same laptop was the fastest ? but this time maxing out at 140Mbps

That's written poorly, but the first number is at 5 feet and the second number is at 20 feet so that's pretty darn great imo. If you have fast internet, you stand a chance of getting the rated speeds you are paying for over wireless with it unlike what I currently get with N in real world usage.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

if it's not too much more expensive go with the wireless ac & bluetooth 4 option

always good to future proof where you can imo

[T3X4S]

Well the particular AC adapter the OP listed doesn't actually say it can do gigabit speeds. It is rated at ~850Mbps. The link i sent says during testing they got the following for it:

364 megabits per second ? over a distance of just five feet (1.5m). At 20 feet (6m) and through a wall, the same laptop was the fastest ? but this time maxing out at 140Mbps

That's written poorly, but the first number is at 5 feet and the second number is at 20 feet so that's pretty darn great imo. If you have fast internet, you stand a chance of getting the rated speeds you are paying for over wireless with it unlike what I currently get with N in real world usage.

 

Now that I think about it - whenever transferring files from my laptop to my desktop or vice versa - I dont think I ever saw sustained speeds above 10 MB/sec !  So if AC is getting ~40 MB/sec - that is substantial 

Thanks for making me rethink this snaphat ;)

Recently, I was talking to a salesperson @ BestBuy (only because he came up to me as I was looking at AC access points)  And asked him about what kind of speeds to expect if transferring files from 1 computer to another on the same wifi network.  He asked what speed my ISP was, I replied, "No I mean both computers are @ my house, on same LAN" .  His reply, "well it cant go faster than your internet provider speeds.."   I tried explaining how that was incorrect because the data isnt leaving the LAN - transferring files from 1 computer to another on same LAN "doesnt even need an internet connection"  The salesperson adamantly disagreed with me, and I just said "OK, I understand... thanks - I didnt know that" and walked off.

 

 

[Liana]

Recently, I was talking to a salesperson @ BestBuy (only because he came up to me as I was looking at AC access points)  And asked him about what kind of speeds to expect if transferring files from 1 computer to another on the same wifi network.  He asked what speed my ISP was, I replied, "No I mean both computers are @ my house, on same LAN" .  His reply, "well it cant go faster than your internet provider speeds.."   I tried explaining how that was incorrect because the data isnt leaving the LAN - transferring files from 1 computer to another on same LAN "doesnt even need an internet connection"  The salesperson adamantly disagreed with me, and I just said "OK, I understand... thanks - I didnt know that" and walked off.

 I don't expect Best Buy employees to know much, but wow. Just wow. I really hope he just misunderstood and doesn't actually believe that computers can't communicate over a LAN without the internet.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

Now that I think about it - whenever transferring files from my laptop to my desktop or vice versa - I dont think I ever saw sustained speeds above 10 MB/sec !  So if AC is getting ~40 MB/sec - that is substantial 

Thanks for making me rethink this snaphat ;)

 

The max possible negotiated speed I see is ~150mbps (~18.75MBps) with my N router. I'd never see anything close to that though for actual for LAN to LAN transfers. I'm quite surprised at the speed that current AC equipment is giving in testing.

 

Now I just saw something about 802.11ad... 7Gpbs theoretical... may never need wired connections again.... so much for future proofing :-)

[T3X4S]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048402/wireless-usb-to-get-highspeed-jolt-from-wigig.html sounds cool