Thursday, February 20, 2014

Support for Intel WiDi

If you are not familiar with Intel WiDi, it is a new feature that ships with most modern laptops which allows you to transmit content directly from your laptop to an Intel WiDi device such as your TV or a media streaming player connected to your TV.

One such media streaming player which supports Intel WiDi is the Netgear Neo TV Max Streaming Player: http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-NeoTV-Streaming-Player-NTV300SL/dp/B0096KLQN0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392910214&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+neotv+max

Well, the next part of the question naturally becomes whether or not your laptop supports Intel WiDi?

Well. here are the system requirements for Intel WiDi:  http://supportkb.intel.com/wireless/wireless-display/templates/selfservice/intelwidi/#portal/1026/article/2511

Unfortunately, if your laptop is a few years old, it is likely that it does not support Intel WiDi since it only supports the latest Intel processors.  I have a laptop which is about 2-3 years old and since it is not a 2nd generation Intel processor or newer, it does not support installing the Intel WiDi software.  In addition, most articles on the Intel website also seem to indicate that a 4th generation Intel processor or newer is required for using Intel WiDi, but if you are unsure if your processor will support Intel WiDi, you can download this tool from Intel's website to verify compatibility: http://supportkb.intel.com/wireless/wireless-display/templates/selfservice/intelwidi/#portal/1026/article/5856

If you find that your computer supports Intel WiDi, but it is not installed or configured on your system, you can also follow this article on how to set it up on your system: http://supportkb.intel.com/wireless/wireless-display/templates/selfservice/intelwidi/#portal/1026/article/2497?wapkw=system+requirements+for+intel+widi

While the system requirements also indicate that Intel WiDi might be supported in Windows 7 as well, most articles on the Intel website direct you to upgrade to Windows 8.1 in order to use these features.  Therefore, if you are not already running Windows 8.1, it is likely that this feature will not work for you.  http://supportkb.intel.com/wireless/wireless-display/templates/selfservice/intelWiDi/#portal/1026/article/5780/Intel-WiDi-installation-for-Microsoft-Windows-81

I am actually planning on buying a new laptop soon (my existing one just died), so hopefully I will be able to report back in a future article regarding my usage and experience with Intel WiDi.

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