“Next month, Apple is expected to unveil upgraded Macs, most likely in the form of MacBooks. The company will likely bump internal specs with no major external changes. Among these improvements may be the inclusion of Broadcom’s newest Wi-Fi combo chips,” Evan Niu writes for The Motley Fool. “Thanks to these chips, the new models may support the newest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ac, that offers theoretical maximum speeds of 1,000 megabits per second, or Mbps.”
“That speed capability will go to waste, as the average American’s Internet speed is approximately 6 Mbps, according to Google’s estimates,” Niu writes. “The search giant’s Fiber service is a gigabit service that could reach those theoretical maximums. Google is catalyzing the industry with its disruptive threat, and eventually users may be able to tap into gigabit Wi-Fi.”
Read more in the full article here.
Moronic article.
If you just have a Time Machine backup to a time capsule in your home network you’ll already be making use of that speed.
plus Apple TV.
I see, “Think Different” is not a reality for him. I agree about the Time Capsule feature and internal network storage needs. But, Apple will continue making the iOS and other products with limited capacity solid state storage in them that will need off device storage to a larger storage data system, home DVR and the cloud. Corporate networks and hospital networks and their equipment will have faster I/O requirements. To not see the future is to not understand the past. The wagon trains going west did not need the high speed interstate highways of today. But as people are able to go faster, the connections improved to get the most out of the vehicles being used.
“Wells Fargo’s next-gen stage coaches will go to waste”?
And Google probably has lots of server farms that we don’t know about too.
Not likely. It is incredibly difficult to keep something like that secret. Unless, of course, they aren’t connected to the Internet. Then, for Google, what’s the point?
Indeed. Apple has long made Macs with networking subsystems that were faster than what was in common use. Call it future proofing, call it a fast in house LAN capability, call it whatever – this is a continuation of that tradition.
That is code for Google is throttling the pipelines with useless data waiting for when their mobile phones (motorola) can take advantage of high speeds, then declare that the average speeds have gone up by reducing the amount os useless data they are pumping whilst at the same time, coding a filter into Moto phones so that they appear to be miles faster than nay other phone out there. Isn’t it nice to be able to use the tag line ‘Don’t be evil’, whilst being evil!!!
Paranoid ramble of the day right here..
We need the extra capacity.
Ad’s take up a LOT of data!
The faster wifi won’t go waste as it only ensures faster and more robust wireless connections. One has to remember that although the theoretical maximum is 1000 mbps the real speed will be something between 300-700 mbps, which is still good. And like the current N standard, this standard will live at least 5-10 years during which time land line speeds will only get better.
So.. this “Niu” guy think a complete MacBook will go to waste because the Wifi card won’t perform at full capacity? What am I missing here?
Wasted? Um, overstated. Just because it can’t be used everywhere right now, doesn’t mean it can’t be used by anyone, anywhere, ever. And there are other uses for wifi than just the internet.
Evan Niu NEVER plans ahead. 😎
I think Niu’s brain reachs it’s EOL.
my 2 cents…
These guys fail to understand the dynamic nature of a local network. Such as, business requiring large files sizes or volume, home business’, and even home use for the normal Joe / Jane. This speed could be very useful and be used daily with the correct equipment. Yet, these guy’s just see the nature of connecting to the outside world because that is all they need. Maybe reading an article and pecking away at word to deliver some distorted view of tech is all they need to get through the day. Must be blissful, for them, not know the full extent of their ignorance.
Correct. Some of us have need of fast speeds and lots of capacity. But even for the non-professional it will be nice. It’s like having plenty of money. Some people need a lot and some people don’t. But it’s not a bad thing to have a lot available.
My internet speed is 6MBps aka 50Mbps. I think I’d make fine use of that extra bandwidth.
….. and those first iMacs were predicted to go to waste because nobody was making USB peripherals at that time. Come to that, the Ethernet connector wasn’t much use either because most people plugged their phone line into their computer in those days.
Apple thinks ahead and builds for the future.
You nailed it, alanaudio. Apple pushes technology ahead and then the rest of the system catches up. Apple pushed USB on the iMac and it took off. Apple pushed WiFi on its portable computers and it took off. Apple was an early adopter of WiFi g and n standards and the rest of the systemm caught up. Apple upgraded its computers to GigE when most people were still using 10 Mbps and some using 100 Mbps. Then the rest of the system caught up to take advantage of the capability.
Apple isn’t going to cease improving its products just because they outpace the rest of the IT infrastructure.
Well, it took a while before Apple adopted USB 3.0 and SSD drives. 802.11ac is still in draft by IEEE. Apple is definitely a leader, but they don’t always push out newest technologies immediately, and that’s not a bad thing.
Plenty of folk in UK have fibre, so good sales here. Plus, I’d appreciate faster LAN speeds.
Skate to where the puck will be.
Headline for this article is pure Troll
That speed capability will go to waste
Not on the LAN! Does he think Wi-Fi ONLY connects to the Internet? PLUS the theoretical top speed of Wi-Fi 802.11n is 300 Mbps. Therefore, this ‘waste’ has been going on FOR YEARS! The only people I know with 300 Mbps Internet bandwidth are TOP TIER PROFESSIONALS.
IOW: WTF is he going on about?
Good News is that 802.11AC is going to PRESSURE the miserly ISPs to let loose more bandwidth-for-the-buck in order to match that theoretical top speed of this new Wi-Fi standard, which is absolutely great with me! Do ya hear that, nasty old Time Warner and vicious Verizon?!
No, it won’t. The only ‘pressure’ that affects available bandwidth is the actual market, location, competition and delivery technology.
We had three TVs, 5 iMacs, 4 iPhones, 2 Apple TVs, a Wii and an iPad, and like you said, we never maxed out our Airport Expreme with just 12Mbps down while streaming Netflix, iTunes 1080p movies, and music.
Yes, ISPs are improving speed, yes new tech is on the way (before the last is even implemented) and yes, prices will go up to offset the loss of video revenue (a car takes about the same cost to run whether one is in it or five).
I just applied pressure by criticizing Time Warner and Verizon. Look, I can do it too!
Seriously dude. Read what I wrote.
Internet speeds will improve rspidly in First World countries. Unfortunately, the United States is a Third World country.
Technically, you’re probably referring more to the difference between developing countries and stagnating ones.
More than half of Apple’s business is outside the US, and fast internet is available in many places. Here in Australia the (socialist) government is installing a national fibe optic network which will connect 90% of households with a fibre socket to the wall.
Considering that the conservative opposition are at a buck five to win the election and they plan on deploying a vdsl network with a quarter of the speed for three quarters of the cost we can probably all stick with 802.11b
Bad writer — trying to tie this problem to Macs is just hit-whoring; but it is a good point. The average US home’s internet access is substandard and will likely stay that way for quite a while. Since 60% of the US population lives within 100 miles of an ocean, there’s little incentive for commercial investment in the interior.
This is the most stupid story I have read in my long tech life.
At work we run 1Gbit network and we are 1500 people, in my home I got 1Gbit. Not at the internet but intranet.
If Apple upgrade all devices (especially Apple TV) A LOT
of new possibilities opens up as well.
wtf.
What a stupid, poorly thought-out article.
Macs have had 802.11n support for some time, supporting data rates of 300 or 450 Mbits/sec. for years. How many people have backhaul connections to the Internet that are anywhere near that fast? Does that mean they’ve “gone to waste” over the last few years?
It should be noted that all hose speeds are just max theoretical, and you only really get close to them when you are very close to the wireless access point (AP). Your actual performance, especially measured throughput, will be considerably less, especially as you move your device away from the AP.
802.11ac will be nice to have, and most useful for backing up to a TimeCapsule, or local file transfers on your home LAN.
I have 50Mb/s down from Time Warner. I hit that speed downloading all the time. Never from Apple unfortunately. Heh.
Stupid article. Plenty of people have faster Internet than that and the new Macs will have built in graphics and a processor that runs cooler with less power consumption.
Just remember that less than half of what Apple is giving away with dividends and stock buybacks could have built fiber internet all over the US 2x over. Published estimates were that build out of FIOS or Google Fiber nationwide would cost about $55 Billion and take about 5 years to roll out.
Enjoy your dividend.
What the hell is he talking about… ?
Nothing will go to waste. Faster WiFi is always needed and there is no real connection to needling faster WiFi and the Internet speed. WiFi is deployed everywhere, hotels, schools and universities, hospitals, corporations, offices. There is always a need for faster WiFi and the companies like Meru, Aruba, Ruckus and more that are dealing with WiFi are expecting a major upgrade cycle.