Should more motherboards have built-in Wifi?

[jji7skyline]

Only some mITX boards seem to have wifi built in to the motherboards, but I think that it would be a good feature on any board.

Do you think manufacturers should start adding them to the larger boards? It would save pci-e slots for other cards and save having to buy a card separately.

 

[XavierMace]

I have no desire to have WiFi antenna's on the back of my motherboard.

 

[Puffnstuff]

If they patterned it after a laptop and offered internal antennas then it might work. It would really require the cooperation of the case manufacturers to effectively incorporate the antennas into the case body and would also require industry standard connections so that everybody would be able to connect up the same way like plugging in a sata drive or usb port. If a standard were developed then it would be feasible and I would not be opposed to it as a backup to ethernet.

 

[rchunter]

I have no desire to have WiFi antenna's on the back of my motherboard.

+1. I'm not a really big fan of wifi to begin with. I try to have every device I can a wired device if at all possible. Unless it's on a cell phone or a tablet or something I try not to use it.

 

[piasabird]

I am a fan of WIFI. My wife did not want me to run Ethernet cables so I decided to try a Gigabyte Motherboard with WIFI "ac" and it is still working fine. I do not have antennas on the back of my motherboard but a jack for an antenna wire. I can move my computer and TV anywhere I want in the house. I do not know how well this would work for Internet Gaming. Mostly I just stream videos.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am a fan of WIFI. My wife did not want me to run Ethernet cables so I decided to try a Gigabyte Motherboard with WIFI "ac" and it is still working fine. I do not have antennas on the back of my motherboard but a jack for an antenna wire. I can move my computer and TV anywhere I want in the house. I do not know how well this would work for Internet Gaming. Mostly I just stream videos.

wireless-AC "theoretically" should offer up nearly a half-GB/s, but usually as matters of distance and obstructions, you would expect lower speeds.

I understand the WAF or wife-acceptance-factor pertaining to "wires." It's not too difficult to make a cable-drop between two stories of a house through the wall, or tidy it up with a wall-plate and female RJ-45 port. It may be that newer houses offer the possibility of Ethernet in every room with a wall outlet. If wireless is becoming faster and more reliable, wired gigabit (or better) will be less of an attraction.

So as far as "what your motherboard should have," it depends on "where you're starting from." Many of us have grown comfortable with CAT-6 cabling, so if we build another desktop -- sometimes to replace another older system -- we might not have Wi-Fi as a priority. I know I want wireless-capability in the house as an addition to wired with the so-called "wireless router:" it allows for the use of laptops and other mobile devices.

 

[nenforcer]

As long as the Wi-Fi cards are removal mini PCI-E devices I don't have a problem with them. With Wi-Fi standards changing every few years I like to be able to upgrade the onboard Wi-Fi and not be stuck with a fixed standard.

 

[heymrdj]

I still prefer simple USB connected standalone antennas. I can upgrade it when I like, I can move the antennas where it makes sense, an if need be, I can run a powered USB extender cable to reach there. I'll always look at onboard as a con as it'll be using up PCI-E lanes, when something as lowly as wireless could be sharing the USB bus that's already eating some lanes.

 

[pcunite]

I'm not ready to have this. I like being able to disconnect and know I'm truly offline.

 

[inachu]

I used to love these DELUXE whoopdeedoo motherboards with tons of features and such but you gotta use simple logic.

the more you have on a motherboard then the more you will have that can and will fail in the future. I would take take a Micro motherboard with just the basics so it remains fast and reliable.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I only buy full size boards and everyone I have bought has had WIFI ever sense the first i7 came out, though i have no use for it.

There are full feature mini boards as well, Asus makes some nice ones.

 

[OlyAR15]

I would not like having wifi on a motherboard. There is only so much real estate on the back panel. It is bad enough with mainstream CPU and integrated GPUs that motherboards have to have video connectors on the back panel. It is just less room for things like USB ports and the like. Those are far more useful than wifi.

Not to mention, even a microATX system can be fairly large and heavy, so no real desire to move them around. Not to mention having to move around the monitors. So wifi is pretty useless in a desktop system.

 

[Wall Street]

I feel like there are plenty of boards available with wifi. As someone who uses wired, I like that boards are also available without wifi which have either a lower price or have the wifi money spent on a nice Intel NIC, better audio codec/amps, better PCI-E layouts, more USB on the back panel, etc.

 

[2is]

My mobo has wifi and I found it rather useless UNTIL the house was getting remodeled and I had to temporarily relocate the computer to another room that didn't have cable running to it and then it became quite useful, even essential for that matter. Sure I could have made a trip to best buy or Walmart in the middle of the night if that were the case and buy a USB adapter, but having it already there on the board ready to go was a nice convenience.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Yes they should. Or rather be fully prepared for Wifi so you only need the mPCIe/M.2 Wifi card to be more specific.

My EVGA Z87 Stinger was half prepared. Backplate got holes, board got mPCIe slot. But no antennas or cables shipped with it. They do that now tho.

But instead of just buying a 25$ Intel 7260AC card, I ended up with 40$ extra in 2 cables and 2 antennas. US prices would be like 15-20$ I guess. But its simply a volume thing of something people hardly ever order. It was also a small nigthmare to find.

 

[piasabird]

Well the socket does take up some space on the motherboard. I have a Gigabyte Z87N WIFI with ac wireless on it. It seems to work great. When it comes down to it, a socket needs to be near the back end of the board to put out a WIFI antenna jack. I paid a little bit more for a motherboard with the wireless, but I planned on using it for streaming to my TV and it works great with my WIFI router.

At the present there are so many things going on in that landscape near the CPU, that you just about have to give something up to have a WIFI socket, especially on a MINI-ITX motherboard.

When you think about it, if you have a motherboard in ATX or MATX, you might have ample room to squeeze in a Centrino Card. You could even design a motherboard with a back access Centrino Socket Like laptops might have for RAM or a Hard Drive.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I dont recall giving up on anything with MiniITX

And M.2 slots for SSD/Wifi on the back of the mobo will be quite common with the 100 series. However I am sure a slot on the front for WiFi will still be in place.

the Asus Z97I is actually a view of that:
http://www.computershopper.com/components/reviews/asus-z97i-plus

Wifi on the front, SSD on the back.

 

[Berryracer]

I still prefer simple USB connected standalone antennas. I can upgrade it when I like, I can move the antennas where it makes sense, an if need be, I can run a powered USB extender cable to reach there. I'll always look at onboard as a con as it'll be using up PCI-E lanes, when something as lowly as wireless could be sharing the USB bus that's already eating some lanes.

good point! never thought of that. Thanks

 

[2is]

I still prefer simple USB connected standalone antennas. I can upgrade it when I like, I can move the antennas where it makes sense, an if need be, I can run a powered USB extender cable to reach there. I'll always look at onboard as a con as it'll be using up PCI-E lanes, when something as lowly as wireless could be sharing the USB bus that's already eating some lanes.

on-board WIFI can just as easily piggy back on the USB bus instead of PCIe.

 

[crashtech]

Yeah, it would be nice to have at least a mPCIe slot and one of those partially punched knockouts on the I/O plate, especially on mATX boards. mITX already has this for the most part. I fixed an HP the other day with a fried mobo that had the wifi antenna built into the case. So when it came to replacing it, I ended up using a mITX board to get the mPCIe slot. Would much rather have had the option to go mATX, that's what it was before.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I used to love these DELUXE whoopdeedoo motherboards with tons of features and such but you gotta use simple logic.

the more you have on a motherboard then the more you will have that can and will fail in the future. I would take take a Micro motherboard with just the basics so it remains fast and reliable.

Yeah I find it exactly baffling why pay more for integrated when Wi-Fi and audiophile grade DACs standalones works far better.

 

[pitz]

I personally wish that, whenever motherboard makers provision for a miniPCI-E port for Wi-Fi, that they would also supply a SIM card slot. Some of us would like to install a WWAN radio for whatever reasons instead of Wi-Fi.

 

[manderson]

the more you have on a motherboard then the more you will have that can and will fail in the future. I would take take a Micro motherboard with just the basics so it remains fast and reliable.

Yes. I wish someone would make a motherboard without onboard video and audio.

 

[Sabrewings]

Yes. I wish someone would make a motherboard without onboard video and audio.

The video is now internal to the CPU (most CPUs, at least). All the motherboard does is provide a method of outputting the display.

Onboard audio as an option would be nice, but the niche who wouldn't want it wouldn't be worth their time to design a version without. It doesn't take up much space (very small chip and some I/O space) and is easily disabled. I did have the onboard audio go bad on my last PC's motherboard at around the 7 year mark. Just slapped in an add-in soundcard and moved on with life.