I wonder if anyone have some insight about that. I keep reading that mediatek wifi card are giving problem with linux, like not able to get good speed. I do not really care about wifi 7, wifi 6 is fast enough. I’m building the computer myself and I’m wondering if I should get intel. I’m also wondering since Framework seem to care about Linux, why they go for mediatek, do they know something we do not?
Update: I checked a bit more and intel have their problem too. Hope what I end up choosing work fine. Those LLM are big download.
The mediatek cards are okay and Framework probably got a sweet deal on them. Problem is, they are unable to work reliably with certain access points, like the ones from Ubiquity. Operating system doesn’t matter, they stop working on both Linux and Windows.
I have upgraded to a WCN785x [FastConnect 7800] which is completely stable on Linux (kernel 6.14+), but I’m sure an Intel would be fine as well.
FastConnect 7800 on Windows 11 FW16: the device likes to not wake from sleep. Bluetooth still works, which is odd. Needs to restart, and sometimes fully shut down, to start up WiFi again. Linux might not have this problem, but its something to be aware of. Hibernate works better but its still not 100%, and maybe its a laptop only thing. Guess we’ll see.
In my experience, Intel Wi-Fi cards are very reliable and have the fewest issues.
Both Qualcomm and Mediatek (or its old name, Ralink) have always taken a while to get support added to the kernel, and when they do they’re generally buggy and/or don’t support everything that they should for at least a few iterations. Even when they become “stable”, I’ve had random issues pop up or have to work around issues like preventing sleep or not coming back up after sleep.
So for the best experience, I’d just stick with Intel. Unfortunately, something about their BE200 card causes it to not work with non-intel systems, so I’d recommend the AX210 card or it’s Killer equivalent.
I have that Mediatek in my zBook Ultra g1a 14, also running Strix Halo. Newer Mediatek Chip under Linux always runs shit, i have to restart NetworkManager on every connect/roam to get a successful connection. No issues with public networks that doesnt use any encryption. This is on CachyOS and Ubuntu 25.04. No issue on Windows 11.
I had a lot of trouble with the mediatek, it would not connect at high speeds. AI (Grok) was helping troubleshoot and it eventually said just spend $20 on an Intel AX210 and be done with it. I did and it works fantastic. (Kubuntu, drivers already in kernel)