New Mac mini and Wi-Fi "base-ic" problem

TidBITS Talk
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Hi Tidbitlings! So I watched a youtube video about someone with a hub issue concerning wifi interference with a hub. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ttye_hqBCMs Well, then I thought - oh, well my Mini sits onthe base of of my LG monitor (perfectly I might add) — Here are the results of wifi simply from lifting the Mini off the base… before:

Screenshot 2025-01-24 at 7.20.25 AM
Screenshot 2025-01-24 at 7.20.25 AM1236×1710 260 KB

After lifting:

Screenshot 2025-01-24 at 7.20.16 AM
Screenshot 2025-01-24 at 7.20.16 AM1242×1716 265 KB

anyhow - I have a 1/4" piece of foam core under the mini that solved this issue.

Please repost to folks as a tip.

-benj

1 Like
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I’d be very interested to see similar stats from other people with M4 Mac minis. Option-click the Wi-Fi menu to get these stats.

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Interesting.

  • You’re on channel 40 in both cases
  • The RSSI (signal strength) doesn’t change (remains at -53 dBm)
  • The noise actually increases a little (from -92 to -88 dBm)
  • The TX data rate increases by more than 4x (from 195 to 816 Mbps).

That’s quite a change in throughput for what seems to be almost no change to the rest of the environment.

Is the base of your monitor metal (like Apple’s monitors) or plastic? If it’s metal, then it is probably grounded.

Putting an antenna (like the one in the base of an M4 mini) really close to a large grounded conductor can easily drain away signal, but I would (maybe naïvely) assume that you’d see this in the form of a lower RSSI.

1 Like
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Yes, It’s metal (LG 24”). My router is a Nokia/5g (wifi6). No extensions.