What Will Make Or Break Wi-Fi?
An interesting look at Intel's new Centrino chip, from the perspective of its impact on WiFi. The argument says that WiFi is really too power hungry these days, which is a real limiting factor for it. Since the new Centrino chip has the power to extend battery life while building in WiFi support, it has the ability to make WiFi much more useful. Of cousre, we've already noted that some of the battery life claims are misleading. Also, even if power consumption is a real issue when it comes to WiFi, it's is most definitely not the point that seems to be holding anyone back from using WiFi. While it may really drain batteries, most users don't associate the two things. How often have you heard someone say, "well, I'd really like to use WiFi, but man, my battery life just can't take it"? My laptop has some of the worst battery life I've ever seen, and I never think to blame the WiFi. I just blame the terrible battery.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
