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August 28, 2020 11:44 AM Subscribe
Where could I read objective tests of WiFi performance for laptops? Iām interested in knowing how they do going through types of walls, when interference is present, from long distances from the router, and if they have particular issues with 5ghz vs 2.5ghz. Discussions of the specific radios involved would be appreciated. Apologies if this is obvious; Google is failing me and individual reviews of laptops seem to barely touch on the subject.
I would search for models that support the new WiFi 6 (aka 802.11ax) specs. Also, in case it isn't clear 5Ghz spectrum doesn't penetrate walls well at all, but is faster when not inhibited by walls etc. The 2.4Ghz spectrum will be slower but penetrate solid surfaces better.
I doubt that you will find good sources of testing for "best wifi" and instead should consider making sure that if you get a laptop with WiFi 6 that your router also supports WiFi 6 (and has mesh nodes if you plan to use the laptop further from the router in order to avoid losing bandwidth over distance.)
I have no idea if this site has any bona fides, but here is one source I found: https://publicsafetytools.info/wifi-6-laptops-802-11ax-laptops/
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 12:32 PM on August 28, 2020
I doubt that you will find good sources of testing for "best wifi" and instead should consider making sure that if you get a laptop with WiFi 6 that your router also supports WiFi 6 (and has mesh nodes if you plan to use the laptop further from the router in order to avoid losing bandwidth over distance.)
I have no idea if this site has any bona fides, but here is one source I found: https://publicsafetytools.info/wifi-6-laptops-802-11ax-laptops/
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 12:32 PM on August 28, 2020
I'm an electronics engineer that does a fair bit of RF work, including integrating wifi into products.
I'm not aware of anybody doing detailed testing of this over a wide range of laptops.
It would be pretty expensive to set up and operate a meaningful and repeatable test plan for realistic scenarios. And if someone were to run those tests, I think the results would actually be pretty uninteresting. I'll explain why and try to give you some perspective on this, because in terms of getting good performance you may be barking up the wrong tree.
To be honest, there is not really any significant difference in performance between wifi chipsets, except for the question of what generation they are and hence which of the wifi standards they support (b, g, n, ac, etc). Because wifi is a standardised radio protocol, everything works in the same way. The different implementations are exhaustively tested for signal quality and interoperability before they can be certified. And the power output is capped by regulation to a standard low level, so you're not going to find that any of them output a stronger signal than any other.
That means that, once you've settled on which generation of wifi you're using, almost all real-world performance differences in a given scenario are going to come from the antennas - both on the laptop and the wireless router.
So your question largely comes down to "which laptops have the best built-in wifi antennas" - but physically there is usually not that much difference between those either. It will be two small PCB antennas tucked into the screen housing to either side of the webcam, and although the designs vary slightly, the performance is fundmentally limited by the size and placement of them. A badly designed laptop could do worse, if it were designed with the antennas obstructed etc, but it would surprise me if one made it to market. There just aren't that many laptop manufacturers, and a huge amount of engineering goes into their products. So they'll all be doing about the best they can in the available space.
Which means that for any given practical scenario, there are really only two things that are going to help significantly with getting good wifi performance on a laptop:
1. Use a USB or other external wifi card on the laptop, so that you can use bigger & better antennas on it.
2. Improve the antennas at the other end of the link - i.e. put bigger & better antennas on the wireless router, or get one that comes with better ones, or add extra wifi access points to improve coverage.
posted by automatronic at 6:21 PM on August 28, 2020 [7 favorites]
I'm not aware of anybody doing detailed testing of this over a wide range of laptops.
It would be pretty expensive to set up and operate a meaningful and repeatable test plan for realistic scenarios. And if someone were to run those tests, I think the results would actually be pretty uninteresting. I'll explain why and try to give you some perspective on this, because in terms of getting good performance you may be barking up the wrong tree.
To be honest, there is not really any significant difference in performance between wifi chipsets, except for the question of what generation they are and hence which of the wifi standards they support (b, g, n, ac, etc). Because wifi is a standardised radio protocol, everything works in the same way. The different implementations are exhaustively tested for signal quality and interoperability before they can be certified. And the power output is capped by regulation to a standard low level, so you're not going to find that any of them output a stronger signal than any other.
That means that, once you've settled on which generation of wifi you're using, almost all real-world performance differences in a given scenario are going to come from the antennas - both on the laptop and the wireless router.
So your question largely comes down to "which laptops have the best built-in wifi antennas" - but physically there is usually not that much difference between those either. It will be two small PCB antennas tucked into the screen housing to either side of the webcam, and although the designs vary slightly, the performance is fundmentally limited by the size and placement of them. A badly designed laptop could do worse, if it were designed with the antennas obstructed etc, but it would surprise me if one made it to market. There just aren't that many laptop manufacturers, and a huge amount of engineering goes into their products. So they'll all be doing about the best they can in the available space.
Which means that for any given practical scenario, there are really only two things that are going to help significantly with getting good wifi performance on a laptop:
1. Use a USB or other external wifi card on the laptop, so that you can use bigger & better antennas on it.
2. Improve the antennas at the other end of the link - i.e. put bigger & better antennas on the wireless router, or get one that comes with better ones, or add extra wifi access points to improve coverage.
posted by automatronic at 6:21 PM on August 28, 2020 [7 favorites]
To be honest, there is not really any significant difference in performance between wifi chipsets, except for the question of what generation they are and hence which of the wifi standards they support (b, g, n, ac, etc). Because wifi is a standardised radio protocol, everything works in the same way.I'd agree that the laptop's integrated antenna ought to matter a lot. But I can think of a few other factors that could impact performance:
Drivers: michaelh didn't specify which OS they intend to use, but most hardware vendors only support Windows, so those drivers are the most consistent. In the world of Linux, *BSD, etc., the chipsets with the best reputations are Atheros 9k/10k and Intel; others tend to be more variable in their performance and stability, if they're supported at all.
Power output: two cards supporting the same wifi standards could support different power output levels based on factors like the chipset and how it's packaged. (Performance beyond some threshold can cause overheating.) This info may not be visible on all vendor sites, but here's an example where the capabilities are disclosed in some detail: https://compex.com.sg/shop/wifi-module/802-11ac-wave-1/wle600vx-2/
Regulatory issues: countries place different power limits on each band, and sometimes for specific frequencies within a band. Therefore it's best to look at reviews which test a device purchased in the same country where you plan to buy.
Access points: on the off-chance that michaelh wants to use this laptop's built-in wifi for an access point, it's worth noting that some vendors cripple performance in this mode. For example, the Intel 7260 supports both 2GHz and 5GHz as a client, but only 2GHz as an access point (which means no 802.11ac support).
By the way, I like notebookcheck.net for no-nonsense, detailed hardware reviews. They might not benchmark wifi performance with the level of detail you're looking for, but they'd probably notice if performance was especially bad for a given class of hardware.
posted by SaurianNotSaurian at 6:27 AM on August 29, 2020
Incidentally, there is precisely one laptop design I'm aware of that has ever had really good wifi antennas built in - the One Laptop Per Child project's XO-1.
If anyone ever makes a decent one again, that's what it will look like. To be honest I'm surprised that Alienware or one of the other "gamer styled" laptop manufacturers hasn't done it already. They love their stuff bristling with black angular antennas.
posted by automatronic at 11:15 AM on August 29, 2020
If anyone ever makes a decent one again, that's what it will look like. To be honest I'm surprised that Alienware or one of the other "gamer styled" laptop manufacturers hasn't done it already. They love their stuff bristling with black angular antennas.
posted by automatronic at 11:15 AM on August 29, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by meowzilla at 12:24 PM on August 28, 2020