The Wi Fi 7 era officially begins with the introduction of certified devices

After a long period of development, the Wi Fi Alliance has officially begun certifying Wi Fi 7 devices . This paves the way for mass adoption of the new standard, providing more seamless interoperability. Until the next standard comes along, we can expect Wi Fi networking to dramatically improve, with faster, more reliable connections and reduced latency.

The latter is something gamers will appreciate. Wi Fi 7 is theoretically capable of delivering aggregated throughput of over 40 Gbit/s, even if speeds don't come anywhere close to that limit. That's fast enough to supplant consumer level wired Ethernet. But speeds are just one of many benefits offered by Wi Fi 7.

It's been designed to better handle multiple simultaneous connections, or maximize performance with a single connection. A key feature is MLO, or Multi Link Operation, which dynamically assigns different channels and frequencies to deliver better performance with lower latency and less interference.

Connections in the 6GHz band are now possible, which, along with a wider 320MHz channel width, will allow multiple devices to access speeds in the multi Gigabit range. Households with many devices including PCs, phones and laptops can use Wi Fi 7 to do things like stream 4K video and deliver untethered AR and VR services.

But Wi Fi 7 isn’t just about raw speed and multiple device support. Lower latency is something that gamers can take advantage of. Anyone that’s been frustrated by poor performing, crowded or congested networks should be happy with what Wi Fi 7 has to offer. One of the less highlighted features of Wi Fi 7 is 512 Compressed block ack, which lowers overhead and improves efficiency.

Additionally, Triggered Uplink Access improves performance in latency sensitive applications. Pre certified Wi Fi 7 devices have been available for a while now. It was a highly touted feature on many Z790 refresh motherboards, while several manufacturers have already released Wi Fi 7 ready routers .

As long as you check periodically for firmware and software updates, these devices should work seamlessly with certified Wi Fi 7 devices. Don't feel as though you need to rush out an upgrade to Wi Fi 7 though. It'll be with us for many years to come. Even now Wi Fi 6E routers carry a price premium, especially the high bandwidth ones, and high end Wi Fi 7 routers will remain expensive for the foreseeable future.

At least you get back compatibility, so your older Wi Fi devices will still function, albeit without Wi Fi 7 exclusive features. Best gaming PC : The top pre built machines. Best gaming laptop : Great devices for mobile gaming..