This ought to be interesting. Living on the edge: a tutorial showing how to upgrade the kernel on CentOS 7.4 from 3.10 to mainline 4.x (4.16) branch, including resolution of outstanding Realtek Wireless networking and compilation issues introdued in CentOS 7.4 kernel 693 version with repoline patches, system performance and responsiveness, battery life, stability, and more. Enjoy.