Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Folks – I’m noticing that a lot of people seem to think WiDi is available on all Intel Core Series Processors.  I’m quite certain that this is not so.  You need to also have an Intel Centrino Wireless Network Adapter for the WiDi software to work. 

Here’s the system requirements for Intel Wireless Display:

System Component Requirements for WiDi:

• Processor:  ONE of the following:
  Intel® Core™ i7: 640M; 660LM; 640LM; 620LM; 620M; 610E; 690UM; 680UM; 660UM; 640UM; 620UM; 660UE; 2710QE; 2820QM; 2720QM; 2635QM; 2630QM; 2657M; 2649M; 2629M; 2620M; 2617M; 2540M; 2520M; 2510E; 2640LM; 2620LM; 2630UM; 2610UM; 2530UM; 2920XM
  Intel® Core™ i5: 580M; 560M; 540M; 520M; 480M; 460M; 450M; 430M; 580UM; 560UM; 540UM; 520UM; 470UM; 430UM; 2540M; 2520M; 2410M; 2537M
  Intel® Core™ i3: 390M; 380M; 370M; 350M; 330M; 330E; 2310M
• Graphics:
  Intel® HD Graphics
• Wireless: ONE of the following:
  Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000, 1030
  Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200, 6205, or 6230
  Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150
  Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250
  Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300
• Software
  Intel® My WiFi Technology (Intel® MWT)² and Intel® Wireless Display¹ must be pre-installed and enabled.
• OS
  Windows 7 64-bit*, Home Premium, Ultimate or Professional
  Windows 7 32-bit*, Home Premium, Ultimate, Professional or Basic

INTEL LINK: System Component Requirements for WiDi
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wtech/iwd/sb/CS-031059.htm

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FOLLOW UP:
The reason I wrote this post was that there’s a lot of chatter on the Internet about people not being able to get WiDi working but near as I can tell, everyone seems to think that just because you have an Intel processor in your laptop – that entitles you to have a computer that will work with WiDi and that’s just not so. WiDi has specific requirements and one of those requirements are an Intel Centrino WiFi adapter. Many laptops have both Intel processors but very commonly also have BROADCOM WiFi Mini-PCI-Express adapters in them, which are great… but will not allow WiDi to work.  (Note: Broadcom was a former client of mine and I have a great deal of respect for Broadcom technology… hi Dave… but in the case of WiDi, you need an Intel component.  Sorry!)

I myself had to open one of my laptops and swap out the Broadcom PCI-E adapter out for an Intel Centrino WiFi adapter… and lo and behold, WiDi lit up like a Christmas tree once I’d gotten the new WiFi adapter working.