AMD and Qualcomm are teaming up to make the Wi-Fi in your business laptop faster. Today, the two companies announced that they're working to bring Qualcomm FastConnect to PCs with AMD Ryzen processors, beginning on enterprise notebooks using the Ryzen Pro 6000 series chips and Qualcomm FastConnect 6900.
This will bring Wi-Fi 6 and 6E to some business notebooks, though they would hardly be the first. But AMD and Qualcomm claim that by also bringing Microsoft in on the collab, laptops including the HP EliteBook 805 series and Lenovo ThinkPad Z series will take advantage of wireless options built into Windows 11.
Specifically, those laptops will use Windows 11 Wi-Fi Dual Station, which Qualcomm has pushed before for gaming. (In fact, back when that was announced in October 2021, AMD corporate vice president Jason Banta said the company was planning to bring the tech to business laptops. Some promises do come true!) This will allow laptops to use multiple Wi-Fi bands simultaneously for reduced latency, stronger connections, and, the companies claim, better video conferencing. And because these notebooks can use the 6GHz wireless band, they shouldn't have to fight for a connection with older network devices.
AMD is also pushing its AMD Manageability Processor for Ryzen Pro 6000 PCs for remote management. (However, laptop manufacturers will have to enable this for each notebook, so just because a laptop uses those chips doesn't mean it will have the feature.)
“Out-of-band Wi-Fi remote management is an important tool for enterprise IT managers to diagnose and fix issues, even when the operating system is not running,” Banta said in a press release. “AMD Ryzen PRO 6000 Series processors with Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 enable next-generation business laptops to have the processing and connectivity tools needed to perform in modern environments, offering professional-strength remote manageability for users in the new, hybrid workplace."
The Lenovo ThinkPad Z series and HP EliteBook 805 laptops were announced at CES, and we expect to see them sometime this year.
