Intel WiDi

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This week we got to have a play around with Intel’s (relatively) new and not well known wireless technology; WiDi.

WiDi stands for Wireless Display and it’s a technology solely developed by microchip giants Intel.
So this means if you stick to teamred with your CPU’s, AMD will not have this technology available to you… At least for the time being.

Since the introduction of Intel’s tick tock development strategy, many online forums and blogs have praised Intel’s ingenuity and progress which they have made, I being one of those, who appreciate what Intel have been able to achieve using this ruthless strategy.
However, the past 2 or 3 iterations (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell) from a megahertz, cycle, on-board graphics and cores perspective look like they are stagnating and rehashing their technology.
This point of view however is wrong when you look at all the features which they are packing into their CPU’s while using increasingly smaller lithography processes.

Intel’s WiDi technology can transmit audio, video, apps, music, movies and basically whole screens of devices – all wirelessly.
This week we got to tinker with a WiDi enabled laptop and receiver.
The receiver was from netgear and it worked really well.
The WiDi signal worked well up to 20 meters and we didn’t notice a drop in quality or speed, I then ran out of hallway to test.
Intel WiDi technology supports 1080p video, 5.1 surround sound and has low latency so things happen quickly on your display.

How do I get WiDi?
To get WiDi transmitting, you need to meet the following requirements:
1. An Intel CPU which comes with the technology
– 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 Mobile Processor
– 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 Mobile and Desktop Processor
– 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3/i5/i7 Mobile and Desktop Processor

2. Windows 7,8 or 8.1

3, Intel on-board HD Graphics GPU (Any from 2000 series to 5200 series)

4. A compatible wireless adapter (Even though the netgear adapter we used is not officially listed on Intel’s website, it worked flawlessly with WiDi)

5. The WiDi software installed on your Device.

If you would like to transmit both video and audio via WiDi, you must use a HDMI cable.
We tested a HDMI to DVI cable but only got our smartphone to work with this configuration; the laptop would not display (assuming bandwidth limitations for the HDMI to DVI cable).