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I currently have two laptops sat next to me at home: an older HP 15-p058na and a brand new Lenovo L460. Both have 801.11n Wi-Fi adapters but the L460 can work on the 5Ghz band but I've disabled 5Ghz on my Virgin Media Superhub3 so it's only working on the 2.4GHz band.

Speedtest.net shows that the L460 can sometimes get over 70Mbps but the best the HP has managed is around 25Mbps.

Any ideas why this should be so different? They are both using 802.11n (checked in status) and on the same band. They are both identical distance from the Superhub.

UPDATE - I've just noticed on the L460 specification that it says "Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC(2x2) 8260". Is this the core reason for the big difference and the HP doesn't have dual band?

munrobasher
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  • Now I understand what 2x2 means, I suspect that the (cheaper) HP only has 1x1 (one transmit and one receive channel) which explains why it's getting a much slower speed than the newer Lenovo which is using MIMO to double up bandwidth – munrobasher Oct 06 '16 at 09:41
  • BTW - when I turn on 5GHz, the L460 screams along at my full VM speed of 120MBps which is the point of all this... – munrobasher Oct 06 '16 at 09:42
  • And another thread on the same subject http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/30620-atheros-align-does-single-stream-80211n-really-help – munrobasher Oct 06 '16 at 22:01

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The difference is in the network card itself.

The L460 has a:

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC(2x2) 8260, Bluetooth Version 4.1 vPro

While the HP model has a:

802.11b/g/n (1x1) and Bluetooth 4.0 combo (Miracast compatible)

The 2x2 and 1x1 are the difference right there.
The L460 has 2 transmit and two receive channels while the HP only has 1 of each.

This could explain the difference but you also have to keep into consideration that the L460 has an Intel chip, those always perform well. Another thing which might explain the difference is the antenna, without actively inspecting both of the laptops I'm unsure what the root cause would be.

Rick van Lieshout
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  • Until today I was blissfully ignorant about this because I assumed that because 801.11n was all about multiple antennae that any network interface that announced itself as 802.11n compatible supported MIMO but this is obviously not the case. Talked about on http://superuser.com/questions/323347/laptop-wireless-networking-options-1x1-vs-2x2 whereby one author uses the phrase "a bit deceptive" to describe a network adapter like the one in the HP – munrobasher Oct 06 '16 at 21:52