Marvell announces "industry's first" 450 Mbps 802.11n chip

Chipmaker Marvell looks to have gone into full-on bragging mode today, with it announcing what it claims to be the "industry's first" 802.11n chip that operates at 450 Megabits-per-second. Dubbed the Marvell TopDog 11n-450, the chip is a 90-nanometer, 3x3 WLAN solution with three spatial streams, which the company helpfully informs us is more than eight times faster than plain old 802.11g 54 Mbps offerings, and 1.5 times faster than current 802.11n 300 Mbps options -- in theory, at least. What's more, the TopDog chip also promises a 500% range increase over 802.11g, and a still decent 160% increased range over other 802.11n solutions. While those numbers have obviously yet to be put to the test (by someone other than Marvell, that is), that detail should be able to be taken care of soon enough, as the chips are set to begin shipping in volume sometime next quarter -- and, of course, they'll be on display at CES as well.

[Ipaq3115 @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:05PM]

Can't wait till these are commonplace in laptops...

BTW- FIRST COMMENT!!!

[Baluki @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:19PM]

[Insert superhero reference here]

[kevjohn @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:40PM]

I'll go first.

My spider-sense is telling me this is going to be a great development!

[Reader @ Jan 2nd 2008 3:35PM]

Spidey-sense sounds so much cooler.

[jnoel @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:24PM]

3 Streams.... I hope you dont need the unlincensed spectrum for any other wireless devices....

[jus10 @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:48PM]

The 2.4Ghz band is so clogged up with crap in a populated area its just a mess. I don't have any 5Ghz devices be I imagine its only a matter of time until that spectrum is clogged up too.

In the meantime, I've taken the proactive step of just running a cat5 cable from the router to two of my machines. That way, when the interference becomes so great the wifi drops out completely (around dinner time every day) I'll be cruising on the 100mbs LAN.

[James Taylor @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:39PM]

Well great...now, who can actually use that speed unless you are sending video back and forth across your own network (or do you have a OC connection)?

If I got that speed from my modem to the internet, now THAT would be interesting...

[Odd TSi @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:55PM]

"...1.5 times faster than current 802.11n 300 Mbps options..."
That should read "as fast" not "faster than." 1.5 times faster than 300 Mbps would imply speeds of 750 Mbps, 1.5 times as fast implies 450.

Also, on the technical side of this, let's not get too excited about this seeing as how even today's "300 Mbps" 802.11n routers aren't able to keep up with 100M ethernet in the real world.

[Dave @ Jan 2nd 2008 3:17PM]

Hmm this would really eliminate the need for wired runs in my home. Sure nothing beats copper, however trying to retrofit a place with copper runs especially if you are just renting is a PITA.

[bcollinstex @ Jan 2nd 2008 3:25PM]

I wonder if this will cause cancer?

Joking... Not really... Well, maybe...

[shanoboy @ Jan 2nd 2008 4:36PM]

I can't wait until this becomes cheap enough for me to afford to create a wireless connection between my computer and media center PC!

[steve @ Jan 2nd 2008 6:08PM]

Sad thing about this is that it will probably be tied to a 10/100 Mbit router. I just don't understand why there is so few 802.11n devices with Gbit routers