WI-FI 6 vs WI-FI 6E

[tim1000]

6E is probably slightly worse than 6 in that regard since the higher the frequency the less penetrative it is. All Wi-Fi signals work best with line of sight (i.e. no obstructions).

My eero 6 pro works great. Will a 6e be worse or have dead zones?

 

[DHagan4755]

If you have dead zones now 6e will not help those but it won't create new dead zones if that's what you're asking.

 

[tim1000]

If you have dead zones now 6e will not help those but it won't create new dead zones if that's what you're asking.

I do not have any dead spots. That is not what I am asking. I am asking if 6e might cause dead spots due to walls between the router and MacBook.

 

[DHagan4755]

I do not have any dead spots. That is not what I am asking. I am asking if 6e might cause dead spots due to walls between the router and MacBook.

No. Though how many walls are we talking? I mean even with regular 6 you shouldn't have too many walls between your devices. Think of your wireless access point as a light. You wouldn't put a light on in the garage to read in the bedroom. Like the radios in your wireless access point, light is an electromagnetic wave so the closer your devices are "to the light" the better. Get it?

 

[vanc]

I do not have any dead spots. That is not what I am asking. I am asking if 6e might cause dead spots due to walls between the router and MacBook.

WiFi 6 supports 2.4Ghz and 5G. WiFi 6E supports an extra 6G bands. As long as your current SSID is not tied to a particular band, upgrading to a 6E device shouldn't change the coverage, at least in theory.

 

[dmccloud]

I do not have any dead spots. That is not what I am asking. I am asking if 6e might cause dead spots due to walls between the router and MacBook.

tim1000 did state that 6e would not create new dead zones. The 2.4G and 5G bands are the same between WiFi 6 and 6e, so that coverage wouldn't be affected. The only wildcard in that changeover would be the 6G band.

 

[dizmonk]

MBP 14" does not come in M1 or M2.

MBA 13" comes in M1 & M2.

MBA 15" comes in M2 only.

I noticed you kept your 2011 Macbook for a dozen years.

It is expected that the final Security Update for M1 will be by 2020 while M2 by 2022.

WiFi 6E vs 6 materially does not matter unless you push it to the limits.

Do you expect to connect to a wifi network with Internet that fast or connect to other computers in your home/workplace that fast?

Where are you finding that info about security updates? I thought as a general rule Apple supported Macs (with security and OS updates) for like 5 years. M1 came out in 2020 and M2 just came out in 2022 and it's almost 2024 now. What are you trying to say?

 

[Mity]

I have a WiFi 6 router, and my computers are around 30-40 feet from the router in a different room entirely. My gaming desktop with WiFi 6 pulls around 600 Mbps, but my 14" MBP with 6E pulls 900-1050 Mbps from the same spot. So you should be fine with a WiFi 6 router instead of 6e

What does this mean in practical terms? For example, do you notice a significant speed increase in webpages loading? Smoothness in video streams? MaxTech showed that even his M1 Max MBP got better WiFi with a new 6E router. And for the M2 max, it looks like a 50% gain, so it seems like quite a bit...

I'm trying to decide between an M1 Max and M2 Max machine and the computing power of the M1 Max is already too much for me. So, WiFi 6 vs 6E is an important consideration since I aim to keep this machine for 5 years.

Edit: And then there's WiFi 7 coming later this year and seems to be an even bigger improvement. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/wi-fi-7-explained

 

[dmccloud]

What does this mean in practical terms? For example, do you notice a significant speed increase in webpages loading? Smoothness in video streams? MaxTech showed that even his M1 Max MBP got better WiFi with a new 6E router. And for the M2 max, it looks like a 50% gain, so it seems like quite a bit...
View attachment 2243464

I'm trying to decide between an M1 Max and M2 Max machine and the computing power of the M1 Max is already too much for me. So, WiFi 6 vs 6E is an important consideration since I aim to keep this machine for 5 years.

Edit: And then there's WiFi 7 coming later this year and seems to be an even bigger improvement. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/wi-fi-7-explained View attachment 2243471

Webpage loading doesn't really rely as much on raw speeds, unless it's a media-rich site. Sites such as YouTube and Peacock (basically any streaming service) will see smoother overall operation and less buffering issues. WiFi 7 is going to be crazy expensive for the first 2-3 years (probably 2x WiFi 6E prices for now), and it's faster than most ISPs top tiers of service. Even that 9.6 Gbps theoretical max is higher than the majority of ISP plans.