Apple Wi-Fi updated and MU-MIMO

[sfx2000]

Aruba specs look good. It should be a nice AP with good roaming.

Trust me - you won't want Aruba in your network...

 

[sfx2000]

This from a company that publicly states 8GB of RAM is more than 16GB of RAM on a real computer (a PC).

Yeah - I think their messaging on this is a bit tone deaf - For their consumer devices, 8GB as a base is ok, for their professional lines (MacBook Pro, Mac Studio) it's better to start with 16GB perhaps, because at the price points for these devices, comparable Windows machines start off at that same level...

8GB as a dual channel solution for Win10 and Linux is more than enough RAM for what most folks do these days...

 

[L&LD]

8GB RAM has never been enough. When I tell my clients that their Macs (which cost them $2K and more) are effectively obsolete for their workflows because everything is soldered in, they don't buy Macs anymore. They buy the right hardware that can be upgraded as needed, when needed, at a fair price.

 

[sfx2000]

8GB RAM has never been enough. When I tell my clients that their Macs (which cost them $2K and more) are effectively obsolete for their workflows because everything is soldered in, they don't buy Macs anymore.

13 inch Macbook Air - which is pretty much the default work laptop for many of the top 7 tech companies...

• Apple M3 chip with 8‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
• 16GB unified memory
• 512GB SSD storage
• 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone²
• 1080p FaceTime HD camera
• MagSafe 3 charging port
• Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
• 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter
• Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English

$1499 USD

Macbook Pro 14 with M3 Pro chipset - nice bump, and most folks won't need the M3-Max chip - if they do, they can justify that on a specific request...

• Apple M3 Pro chip with 11‑core CPU, 14‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
• 18GB unified memory
• 512GB SSD storage
• 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display²
• 70W USB-C Power Adapter
• Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, headphone jack, MagSafe 3 port
• Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English

This one is $1999 USD...

Anyways - in corp and small business land - nobody upgrades these days from what was ordered...

Pound for pound, and build quality - they're competitive with the offerings from Dell, Lenovo, or HP.

If you are making recommendations to your customers based on a personal bias, you're doing them a disservice - you should be listening to them, looking at their use cases, and offer up solutions from there - some might be a Mac, some might be ChromeOS based, and others might be Windows...

 

[L&LD]

Yes, I have a personal bias, and that is getting a premium experience for a specific workflow. I only take on like-minded clients (from any current hardware brand they may be on). None have shown any regrets and I wouldn't have any clients if I was doing any one of them a disservice.

And few of them are willing to spend the prices you quote above. Particularly for suboptimal 13" and 14" screen real estate.

(For context, I deal with Lenovo ThinkPad and ThinkCentre/ThinkStation).


Edit:

Even the new Surface devices seem like they will give Apple a (huge) run for the money. And, the 13" is actually 13.8" too...

Microsoft unveils world's first Copilot+ PC — The Surface Pro 11 with OLED and Snapdragon X is finally here

The Surface Pro finally gets an OLED screen, a wireless Type Cover, and all-day battery life thanks to the Snapdragon X.

www.windowscentral.com

Microsoft's new Surface Laptop 7 FINALLY has a refreshed design, haptic touchpad, and the brand-new Snapdragon X chip

The new Surface Laptop is a true MacBook Air killer in performance, battery life, and looks.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[sfx2000]

Even the new Surface devices seem like they will give Apple a (huge) run for the money. And, the 13" is actually 13.8" too...

Hmm - the Surfaces are interesting, but in the corp world - support is everything - so Dell/HP/Lenovo...

And Apple for folks that don't need/want Windows.

NPU/AI processors - not a big deal actually - there is a lot out there, but serious folks use nVida/CUDA and the associated software stacks.

For end-user support - just note that Apple silicon has NPU support for the last _7_ years - so Intel and AMD adding it in for 2024 - might have benchmark support for specific apps, but that's about it.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, the new Win11 laptops will ship (first) with 24H2, but full NPU features will be available later (when 24H2 ships for everyone).

Even without the AI stuff though, these are indicated to eclipse what Apple is offering (I believe, even with the M4s).

 

[coxhaus]

Trust me - you won't want Aruba in your network...

The specs look good but you know me, I am going to run Cisco. I never seem to have issues bad enough to bother me.

 

[EPR]

I broke the front glass on my iPhone. So I go to the Apple Certified Refurbished page to see what iPhone's are available. Thought I would hold out till
later when new ones, 16, get released.

Looking at the, product information > overview section. Reading down and see, 2X2 MIMO... I looked at all available iPhone's and all same.

 

[Tech9]

Reading down and see, 2X2 MIMO... I looked at all available iPhone's and all same.

What do you expect to see? All popular mobile devices are 2x2 MIMO... phones, tablets, laptops.

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, the new Win11 laptops will ship (first) with 24H2, but full NPU features will be available later (when 24H2 ships for everyone).

Even without the AI stuff though, these are indicated to eclipse what Apple is offering (I believe, even with the M4s).

Would you go for one of the ARM based Windows machines - the Qualcomm Snapdragon's are looking competitive with the Intel and AMD lower power designs...

 

[sfx2000]

Looking at the, product information > overview section. Reading down and see, 2X2 MIMO... I looked at all available iPhone's and all same.

All of the 11ax Apple gear is 2*2:2 these days...

It's due to the upstream silicon capabilities - they're pretty strong on Broadcom, and have been for a long time (they had some Marvell and Atheros back in the 802.11n days)

 

[EPR]

What do you expect to see? All popular mobile devices are 2x2 MIMO... phones, tablets, laptops.

See a lot of "Apple does not support", or works or does not work. I know devices are supposed to.

Reason for thread, or maybe to get you out of the shadow.

 

[L&LD]

No, the software I use won't run on ARM (or MAC). Even if Windows does (I'll believe it when I see it... give me a decade to evalute).

I'm looking towards the Lunar Lake options in a few months, or at worst, Arrow Lake in early 2025. And looking eagerly to Panther Lake in late 2025 early 2026.

 

[EPR]

All of the 11ax Apple gear is 2*2:2 these days...

It's due to the upstream silicon capabilities - they're pretty strong on Broadcom, and have been for a long time (they had some Marvell and Atheros back in the 802.11n days)

So I isn't the Broadcom chipset in current routers? But is not working, seen on low level log on mine.

 

[Tech9]

Reason for thread

There is a difference between MIMO and MU-MIMO.

 

[sfx2000]

So I isn't the Broadcom chipset in current routers? But is not working, seen on low level log on mine.

Apple writes their own drivers and firmware for the broadcom chips in their devices, so they focus on compatibility and performance...

Not missing anything with MU-MIMO, uplink or downlink, and OFDMA as well...

It's not a negative or a positive - with AP chipsets from MediaTek, Atheros, and Broadcom - there are subtle differences with these vertical features that may impact the overall device performance...

 

[sfx2000]

No, the software I use won't run on ARM (or MAC). Even if Windows does (I'll believe it when I see it... give me a decade to evalute).

Might be surprised - Microsoft's Prism emulation isn't that bad for running x86 binaries on Arm64 - there's been reports of some apps having issues, but that'll get sorted I think in short order...

MS has a lot of credibility riding on the ARM solutions, so it'll be interesting to watch - I, for one, look forward to it - ARM has a lot to offer, but more importantly, Intel is at it's very best when challenged - things were kind of stagnant until AMD got the ZEN going across all the sectors, from Desktops to Laptops to Servers and the rest...

 

[Go0se]

Yes, no one is missing anything. Keep drinking the Apple cool-aid.

This from a company that publicly states 8GB of RAM is more than 16GB of RAM on a real computer (a PC).

lol to be fair the m1 air 8gb has been one of the best machines i've ever owned. I have a $2000 32gb i7 work pc and the M1 air walks circles around it

 

[sfx2000]

lol to be fair the m1 air 8gb has been one of the best machines i've ever owned.

My first Apple Silicon Mac was an M1-Air in minimum spec, so it was a 8GB/256GB/7GPU box - I bought it a couple of months after launch for testing, and it became my primary machine for a bit...

Totally solid, totally silent as the Air has no fan - back in the day, I was working from 430AM to 7PM and it would run all without have to hook up to a charger to top off the battery - and thats with a lot of slack, skype with my teams in UK and DE, and MS Teams and Zoom for conference calls with our internal team...