We’ve seen most devices coming with 802.11ac these days, and generally in a 2x2:2 configuration, which means it can transmit and receive on two antennas at the same time on two spatial streams. On 802.11ac, this gives a maximum connection speed of 866.7 Mbps, although functional speeds will be lower due to overhead and interference. The good cards can generally sustain over 500 Mbps with a good connection to the access point.
The Lenovo Y700 comes with a new wireless card inside, which is the
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260. This upgraded adapter utilizes the M.2 form factor and is the latest iteration of Intel’s lineup of wireless adapters. Intel cards have tended to be reliable, but not the fastest card out there, at least on the models that we’ve tested. Most of them max out at around 400 Mbps on our wireless test, which is a SMB file copy.
The new card is a big improvement over the outgoing 7260 and 7265 models. In fact, I’ve seen file transfers even higher than what I achieved on my test, including up to around 650 Mbps file copies. This is a fantastic result for a 2x2:2 card, and is fast approaching the physical limits of two streams.
As for day to day use with the new card, it’s more anecdotal but connections have been fast and solid in my time with the Y700. Unfortunately wireless is almost a black art once you start to add walls, wiring, and outside interference into the equation, so your mileage may vary, but with Intel’s track record it would seem that they’ve sorted the one issue they had, which was throughput, while maintaining their solid wireless connections.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
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