It’s early in the week, so why not kick the week off with a new buzzword – 5G WiFi. Computer manufacturer ASUSTeK (ASUS) has announced its G75VW model laptop, which the company designed for gaming, will support the 802.11ac WiFi standard. ASUS is billing the laptop as the world’s first 5G mobile device, but unlike the phones wireless carriers labeled 4G, this announcement does have some basis in reality.

A Little Lesson in WiFi

Wireless Internet connectivity was a luxury only a few years ago, but today users regularly consume massive amounts of data without a wire in sight. WiFi is the norm. The most popular WiFi standard, officially three-year-old 802.11n, can achieve a maximum speed of 450Mbps. The technology can access more bandwidth than its predecessors by utilizing multiple wireless antennas and signals (MIMO), instead of one like. This resulted in 802.11n being much faster than any previous WiFi standard but, 802.11n is no longer the new kid of the block. The next generation of WiFi, 802.11ac, is three times faster, and it’s here now.

802.11ac is the fifth generation of WiFi technology, hence the catchy ‘5G’ moniker. 5G is the first wireless technology capable of exceeding a gigabit per second. Keep in mind this is the mathematical limit not necessarily a norm or average speed. Most connections won’t consistently achieve the maximum 1.33Mbps throughput, but 802.11ac connections are still much faster than 802.11n. In addition, users may be able to do more with 5G mobile devices (e.g. phones, laptops, tablets) since the these devices can receive/transmit content in about one-third of the time.

Taking advantage of 5G requires a router and client that support the standard. Vendors like Broadcom, Netgear and Buffalo have already announced or released 5G networking components. Netgear has announced an 802.11ac USB WiFi adapter. Now ASUS is adding integrated 802.11ac wireless networking to its G75VW gaming laptop, creating what Michael Hurlston, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Home and Wireless Networking, Broadcom, called the “world’s first 5G WiFi laptop.” The move must still be in progress, because the specs for the G75VW from ASUS still lists 802.11b/g/n.

ASUS’ upgraded laptop isn’t the only 5G product the company will soon offer. ASUS worked with Broadcom, also the provider of the 5G chip for the G75VW, to develop a 5G motherboard (P827-V) and wireless router (RT-AC66U). ASUS has not revealed release dates for any of its new 5G capable devices. In addition to the partnership with ASUS, Broadcom also recently launched its new 5G system-on-chip component for use in routers and home gateways. Broadcom is targeting small/medium businesses with the new solution that combines a processor, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch, GbE physical layer transceivers (PHYs), USB 3.0 and traffic accelerators on a chip.