Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter V2: The Promise Unfulfilled?

In an effort to revolutionize how we share content between our various connected devices, Microsoft launched its second generation Wireless Display Adapter. This nifty little device promised users a seamless way to beam their smartphone or tablet's screen onto any compatible display via Wi-Fi without the need for any messy cables.

Sounds too good to be true? Unfortunately, that may indeed prove to be the case as we dive deeper into our hands-on experience with this latest offering from Microsoft.

To get started, simply connect your adapter to a free USB port on either your Windows 8.1 or newer machine (yes - sorry Mac and Chromebook users), download and install the accompanying software from 'Microsoft's official website', then pair up your desired mobile device via Bluetooth for good measure.

Once everything is all set-up correctly, you should be able to cast any compatible content such as apps, websites etc... straight onto a supported display device like an HDTV or monitor with ease using either Miracast certified hardware OR if not - there's always the old fashioned way of mirroring your entire desktop via Chromecast-style casting functionality within certain modern browsers.

However, things quickly take a turn for the worse when trying to actually use this supposed 'wireless wonder'. First off, even after ensuring that both my PC and TV were on the same network (wired Ethernet connection established between them too just in case), I found myself constantly plagued by infuriating stuttering artifacts whenever attempting to stream anything more graphically intensive than simple HTML5 video clips.

Adding insult to injury was the fact that during these brief moments of relatively smooth playback, frame rates would often drop precipitously - sometimes down below 10 frames per second! Not exactly what one might call 'wireless' if you ask me...

But wait - there's more! As it turns out, Microsoft hasn't forgotten about security either. In order to fully unlock the full potential of this wireless wonder (ha!), users will need to fiddle around within their system settings under 'Device Manager' > 'Display devices', enabling a rather cryptically titled option called ''Microsoft Wireless Display driver''. Because who doesn't love futzing with obscure tech speak every time they want to watch Netflix on the big screen?

In conclusion, while Microsoft's good intentions behind this latest wireless display adapter are certainly admirable enough - especially given our ever-growing reliance upon BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) culture these days - it seems that execution may still have a long way to go before we can truly say goodbye forevermore to those pesky cables once and for all.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Pros:

- Promise of wireless content sharing between devices without the need for cables

Cons:

- Frequent stuttering artifacts during playback, even with simple graphics-intensive media

- Frame rates often drop below acceptable levels

- Mandatory enabling/disabling of obscure system settings just to get it working properly

Microsoft wireless display adapter v2