Intel gets behind pre-802.11n, adding to Centrino
by Paul Miller 
posted Nov 30th 2006 at 7:40PM
Well, it doesn't look like there's any turning back now. After waiting for what feels like the better part of a century for an official stamp of approval on 802.11n, draft-n and pre-n products just got a whole lot of legitimacy from Intel, who has now announced it will be stuffing the pre-standard WiFi spec into its Centrino chipsets as early as next year. Along with the usual user benefits of added speed and supposed range improvements over 802.11g -- Intel is claiming 50 percent greater, but we'll believe that when we see it -- the inclusion of pre-n by Intel will most likely create a de-facto standard for 802.11n which could prove difficult for the IEEE Standards Committee to screw with when they finally get around to finalizing the 802.11n spec in 2008. Sounds like a win for consumers for now, but we could all be hurting come mid-2008 when we find out those fancy laptops we sprung for in 2007 are suddenly obsolete.[Via Ars Technica]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sean Ryan @ Nov 30th 2006 10:18PM
"those fancy laptops we sprung for in 2007"
I thought it was still 2006... silly me
caleb elston @ Nov 30th 2006 11:24PM
Looks like Apple had a little insider info on this one. We all know that the new macs have the N chipset, I would bet it will work just dandy with the intel spec. Ahh the great benefit of working with intel.
Martey @ Dec 1st 2006 12:46AM
Sean, pre-802.11n chips (Kedron) are part of the Santa Rosa platform, which is supposed to be released in April 2007.
andars @ Dec 1st 2006 2:07AM
Couldn't you just change out the wireless card. I've used whitebooks and the card is just an optional feature and is not integrated directly into the mobo.
Robert @ Dec 1st 2006 6:07AM
hey guys i have a question... WILL MY DELL INSIPIRON 6000 BE ABLE TO HAVE "802.11N" email me what you think 1thewizard@gmail.com
Stephen @ Dec 1st 2006 9:23AM
Standards are not made by committee but by the wide adoption of that standard by the manufactures and consumers. Draft-n seems to have done just that.
mj @ Dec 20th 2006 12:08PM
Well, it looks like iTV will come out on time after all. FTW Apple!