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I was wondering if someone might have some insight as to why OEM's are still shipping laptops/notebooks/netbooks primarily with 2.4Ghz single band wireless nics? If the prevailing school of thought is to move as much as you can over to 5.0Ghz I would suspect enterprises would prefer 5.0Ghz nics in new equipment. We've researched and purchased a large number of laptops in the past 12 months (HP ProBook and EliteBook) and I would say close to 80% of the newer models are still only offering 2.4Ghz b/g/n nics. Is this just because they have a warehouse full of surplus stock? I can't see a major price difference being the reason, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

I was wondering the same thing. Take the new Kindle Fire for example. I am not as experienced on the hardware. Does it take more room inside the device or make the device heavier? Why would they only offer 2.4GHz?

The primary reasons are physical design (antenna size) and battery conservation. At a very basic level, with dual-band radios and 2.4/5 GHz dual-frequency antennas, usable wireless range is better at 2.4, so if they prevent 5 GHz altogether, they can conserve some battery life by using lower transmit power on the radio than would be required for the same performance in 5 GHz. Many of the manufacturers are still using dual-band radios, just disabling 5 GHz for battery reasons. At higher frequencies, antenna size must increase to get the same gain, therefore 2.4 GHz allows better performance with smaller antennas.

Because customers don't require it. If you ask most folks about G or A they have no clue. Vendors aren't going to add the hardware for a feature that no one is asking for nor are they complaining it about it not having. Even though it is something that customers should be requesting. I think people need to be made aware that they need to get dual band devices.

I try to only buy dual band devices but it is tough. All the cheap laptops don't seem to have it nor do the Roku's and Google TV boxes. I did just get an HP touchpad that has 5GHz and also a new Samsung SII phone that has 5GHz. The next problem with 5GHz devices non-laptop is the lack of configuration options. You can't force them to use 5GHz only :(

Good Points Guys. Thanks for the info.

So the Main reasons are:
Physical size.
Battery Life.
Not Demanded.

I am betting that PRICE (of the radio module itself) is a larger factor than anyone here has mentioned.

Also, the economy is still not up to the point where everyone is willing to go out and upgrade all of their existing equipment.

Many manufacturers are switching over, but some still have large inventories of 2.4 GHZ devices. The market may want dual band - they just don't wan't to pay for it.

Battery life is definitely a large consideration, as is antenna placement. You can't just throw them in a box (laptop etc) and hope MIMO will work correctly. It takes immense amounts of planning and testing to fit antennas in smaller devices and get good performance.

Size and cost were things I had considered but then this happened...

So I mentioned the large purchase of HP laptops - I work for a school division, and we just refreshed all of our administrator's laptops to the HP Probooks - with the 2.4Ghz nics.

We also ordered a large number of HP Mini 5102's - they are a 10" display netbook that the schools like for the kids to use. Small keyboards, small fingers, and they can cart around 30 of them at a time.

The minis are half the price of the laptops, much smaller, and have DUAL BAND nics.

/boggle

Don't forget that the price the customer pays for a "system", may have relatively little to do with the price the manufacturer pays for just one component. Different companies have different profit margins, or they may have gotten a better price break on some parts, etc., etc.

How many laptops, and how many mini's were purchased?

There aren't just too many potential variations !

Now, if they had the same battery life, the same throughput, and the same range, then maybe you could make a decent comparison between the two - AND if they were running the same application.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/102411-wifi-unbalanced-252237.html

UMass/Amherst's minimum system requirements for student and faculty include "dual-band Wi-Fi-certified adapter, and before arriving on campus, students are given information on what they can do to "lower the overall noise in the 2.4GHz band," according to Tuthill and Dickson.

I'm getting a feeling that an OEM manufacturer says it's not their problem to put 5ghz into their product because most homes uses 2.4ghz. Also, bring your own device worries me because the public is not educated on the bands. They don't even care. I have a good question for all y'alls. If you were an IT manager, would it be better to provide your network to more 2.4 capacity or just tell your employees that you can have a 2.4ghz device but your experience is going to suck?