Question on adding WiGig to 4th-generation Carbon

[SurrealMustard]

I've been trying out the fourth-generation X1 Carbon lately and saw that models with the tri-band 18260 Intel card support the wireless dock protocol "WiGig." The unit I'm using has only the dual-band, and I wouldn't mind being able to use a dock station, so I was pricing out the options. What I found is that OneLink+ wired docks start at $35-45, but WiGig docks can be had for less. The obvious problem with the latter option is that it would require the $20-25 eBay investment of the Tri-Band wireless card. Still, it seems like a neat concept.

My question is if anyone has had any experience with buying and installing the 18260 cards into the 4th-generation Carbon. I assume that the infamous Lenovo whitelist is likely a factor, so if there are any varieties that I'd need to steer clear of, this would be useful to know as well. Also, if anyone has any opinions or guidance on inexpensive WiGig docks, I'd be interested in hearing those too.

[w0qj]

1) There was a guy at the Lenovo forums who said he's successfully installed both the Lenovo/Thinkpad 18260 card and its corresponding antennae, so WiGig worked for him.

Just look for "TripleX1" posting dated 20-Oct-2016:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X- ... 047/page/2

2) To briefly answer your questions, derived only from above Lenovo Forum posting (I have no personal experience in this):
~Yes, ThinkPad has a whitelist to prevent generic 18260 cards from being accepted by BIOS.
~You also need to change antennae to be compatible with WiGig.

- - - - - - - - - -
FYI, I myself have a X1C4 (X1 Carbon 4th gen, circa 2016) as my daily driver.

We are willing to buy docking stations if these are: (Hope Lenovo/ThinkPad is listening!)
a) Compatible with 2 generations of the same model (eg: X1 3rd gen & X1 4th gen can use same docking solution). Unfortunately this is not the case.
b) Preferably, different models can also use same model (eg: both X250 and X1 3rd gen can use same docking solution). Unfortunately this is not the case.

eg: We did buy a Mini Port Replicator Series 3 which worked for both our T410 and X230 (spanning over 3 years of models).
This is the kind of compatibility we expect from Lenovo/ThinkPad before we are willing to invest in docking stations!

[SurrealMustard]

1) There was a guy at the Lenovo forums who said he's successfully installed both the Lenovo/Thinkpad 18260 card and its corresponding antennae, so WiGig worked for him.

Just look for "TripleX1" posting dated 20-Oct-2016:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X- ... 047/page/2

2) To briefly answer your questions, derived only from above Lenovo Forum posting (I have no personal experience in this):
~Yes, ThinkPad has a whitelist to prevent generic 18260 cards from being accepted by BIOS.
~You also need to change antennae to be compatible with WiGig.

- - - - - - - - - -
FYI, I myself have a X1C4 (X1 Carbon 4th gen, circa 2016) as my daily driver.

We are willing to buy docking stations if these are: (Hope Lenovo/ThinkPad is listening!)
a) Compatible with 2 generations of the same model (eg: X1 3rd gen & X1 4th gen can use same docking solution). Unfortunately this is not the case.
b) Preferably, different models can also use same model (eg: both X250 and X1 3rd gen can use same docking solution). Unfortunately this is not the case.

eg: We did buy a Mini Port Replicator Series 3 which worked for both our T410 and X230 (spanning over 3 years of models).
This is the kind of compatibility we expect from Lenovo/ThinkPad before we are willing to invest in docking stations!

Why would the scope of compatibility be so narrow? Why couldn't one just buy a Dell-branded dock, fire up the Intel Wireless Dock Manager software, and expect it to work?

If an antenna is missing though, then it wouldn't be worth the hassle as far as I'm concerned, unless it could be installed in the vacant Mini-PCI-Express slot.

[w0qj]

OK, looks like the WiGig needs a separate antennae for the 60 GHz signals,
which also means that WiGig has a VERY short range (basically inside same room).

www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-is-wigig

I've double checked my own X1C4 info, the detailed description actually stated that
my X1C4 did NOT have WiGig antennae (I'm also surprised),
despite ordering an almost top-of-the-line X1C4.

My X1C4 (20FB-CTO1WW) did have 802.11 ac antennae
(Intel Dual Band Wireless AC (2x2) 8260).
But no WiGig antennae apparently!