GoKawiil
Tech News
A technical explainer clarifies the common confusion between Megabits per second (Mbps) and Megabytes per second (MB/s) when evaluating internet providers. It explains that a byte equals eight bits, meaning MB/s figures represent data moving roughly eight times faster than the same numeric value in Mbps, since bits measure binary data while bytes describe file sizes.
Wi-Fi 7, the new 802.11be standard, adds 320 MHz-wide channels, Multi-Link Operation across bands, 4096-QAM modulation and better beamforming, pushing theoretical speeds to about 46 Gbps versus Wi-Fi 6's 9.6 Gbps. Despite expanded use of the 6 GHz spectrum, it still operates across 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands rather than relying solely on 6 GHz.
Amazon's Prime Big Deals Day 2026 includes discounts on Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 networking gear, including the TP-Link Archer AXE75 standalone router, now $89.99 instead of $119.99. TP-Link's Deco XE75 mesh system, which covers up to 7,200 square feet across three nodes, is also discounted as part of the sale.
TP-Link's Deco 7 BE25 BE500 Wi-Fi 7 mesh dual-pack is now priced at $149.99 on Amazon, down from $199.99, while the triple-pack is listed at $198.19, a cut from $299.99. The system delivers combined speeds up to 5,012 Mbps, covers up to 4,600 or 6,600 square feet depending on pack size, and supports more than 150 connected devices.
HP is selling its Omen 35L desktop, featuring an Nvidia RTX 5080, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage, for $2,799.99, discounted from a listed $4,999.99. The machine also includes a 1,000-watt 80-Plus Gold modular power supply, Wi-Fi 7, and a 240mm AIO liquid cooler in a 35-liter case.
Amazon has cut the price of the TP-Link Archer BE3600 wireless router to $79.98, a 33% discount and its lowest price on the site to date. The router supports Wi-Fi 7 on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, though it lacks the 6GHz band found in full Wi-Fi 7 implementations, and includes multiple 2.5Gbps and 1Gbps ports plus a USB 3.0 port.
A comparison of gaming routers against standard consumer models finds the underlying hardware—Wi-Fi 7 support, tri-band radios, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, QoS prioritization—is largely identical, citing TP-Link's non-gaming Archer BE550 as having the same feature set. The main differentiator is software, such as Netgear's Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR1000 dashboard and its Geo-Filter tool for restricting connections to low-latency game servers.
Many wireless peripherals, such as USB dongles for mice and keyboards, operate on the 2.4GHz radio frequency, a congested band also used by microwave ovens and older Wi-Fi gear. This overcrowding can interfere with Wi-Fi signals and slow down networks, especially for routers that are not running exclusively on the less crowded 5GHz or 6GHz bands used by Wi-Fi 6E and 7.
According to a leak from MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris, Apple's upcoming budget iPad will use the A19 chip instead of the previously rumored A18, paired with Apple's N1 networking chip and C1X modem for Wi-Fi 7 support on cellular models. The device is expected to include 8GB of memory, enough to run Siri AI features but not the more advanced on-device models that require 12GB.
TP-Link's Archer BE550 (also called BE9300), a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with six antennas and a combined theoretical throughput of 9.3 Gbps, is on sale for $169.99, a 32% cut from its list price. The router includes five 2.5 Gb Ethernet ports, a USB port for network storage sharing, mesh support, per-device QoS, and tagged VLAN configuration.
Startup WiCi is opening signups for the WiCi One, an external GPU that transmits graphics compute over Wi-Fi 7 rather than requiring cables like Thunderbolt 5 or OCuLink. The device, backed by Nvidia's Inception Program, can reportedly let multiple laptops, tablets and phones share the same GPU for gaming and AI tasks. Shipping is planned for Q4 2026, with an RTX 5060 Ti model starting at $2,000 for early adopters and an RTX 5090 version priced closer to launch.
WiCi has unveiled the WiCi One, an external graphics card enclosure that connects to laptops wirelessly over Wi-Fi 7 instead of using Thunderbolt or OCuLink cables. The base model includes an Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GPU, an Intel Core 3 100U CPU, and 1TB of storage, with a more powerful RTX 5090-based version planned. Preorders for the base model start at $1,999, rising to $2,599 at full release, with shipping expected in the fourth quarter of this year.