Onboard Wireless, and When It Earns Its Price

A board with the radio already fitted saves you a slot and a second purchase. The wireless module sits in a small socket near the rear ports, its Bluetooth side rides along on the same silicon, and the aerial screws onto two connectors on the back panel.

Whether that is worth paying for depends on where the machine lives and what the router broadcasts. A desk in the same room as the access point gains almost nothing from the newest standard, a bedroom two brick walls away gains a great deal from a well-placed aerial, and every build gains the Bluetooth bolted to the same module.