buying new/used 802.11b airport card

The main problem is that the manufacturer that was supplying the 802.11b chip to Apple for their Airport cards stopped making them, and so Apple no longer makes or sells new Airport cards. This has, in turn, driven up the price of the cards to sick levels (Economics 101, supply & demand). You might be able to stick a third party 802.11b card in there, as I believe it's a standard PCM slot, but I don't know if anyone has tried this with success.

If anybody did try it, they would need an orrinoko card so they could hook up the antenna since reception would be unbearable without it. However...I don't think you can stick any other cards in there...I'm almost sure but don't take it to the bank.

stoid said:

You might be able to stick a third party 802.11b card in there, as I believe it's a standard PCM slot, but I don't know if anyone has tried this with success.

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I don't think that works--I'm pretty sure Apple swapped a pin or something like that on the AirPort cards, so a standarde PCMCIA card won't work. I could be wrong, though.

I heard somewhere that there's a Sony Vaio card you can use--I forget what site I found it at though.

jarvis8484 said:

I just bought a used g3 ibook from a friend but it doesn't have an airport card. I don't have any trouble finding them but I think the prices I've seen are way over the top.

Does anyone have any ideas where I might look to find a reasonably priced new or used 802.11b airport card?

Thanks in advance!

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Yeah, third party cards won't work, they won't fit. But check this store out: http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi-local/rpcart/featured.cgi?group=air they seem to have the cards in stock.

Your other option would be a ethernet bridge, like the linksys WET11, but it would of course require you to plug it in and carry it around, not so good for a laptop.

That's a steal....

um...yeah they do

You can pick up a usb-based 802.11b adapter for less than $30.

Sure, it's not guaranteed to work with Kismac/macstumbler and they might not get quite the reception, but OS X supports them fine, and its a more mobile piece of equipment: you can use it in any comp from the last few years.

Oh, and they cost a _fraction_.

Airport has ALWAYS been way over-priced. It's fine gear, but genuinely overpriced.

I wish I could have paid $80 or $100 for an internal card for my Vaio. I couldn't even stand the little bit that stuck out from the pcmcia slot. The purpose of wireless internet is to cut the wires, not to wire up to a wireless box....although the USB wireless rigs are pretty small and lightweight...you still have to carry them wherever you go, with an internal AP or APE card, you never have to worry about it. It's always there!

The bottom line is that Apple is missing out on a lot of business by not offering an Airport Extreme card for older Macs with the PCMCIA connector. Seriously, the number of Macs out there with the older slot is still viable. I dread the day that my Airport card breaks down.

^damn straight


someone should put a petition online with people saying if apple made such a legacy card they would buy one, as long as it would be under £70 i'd get one on the spot.

to be honest all i want is a wireless card i dont care as long as it's fast enough to suck my school's 10Mbit connection dry.

Yah, these cards are going for outrageous amounts not that Apple has discontinued them. I needed one for my RevA. iMac G4, but was luckily enough to find a small reseller in town that sold them brand new for $99, the price I believe Apple had normally been selling them. So I jumped at the chance and bought it knowing it has never been used as well. If you don't mind the $99 price, search around the Apple.com site for small resellers in your area, and give them a call, and I'm sure one of them still has a few in stock that their hoping to get rid off since the newer computers don't support them.

I thought the company with the parts discontinued them....which is quite different from apple discontinuing them.....We're going to need a real Apple Guru but this is a question that must be answered. I really don't think Apple would do that given that their old computers are heavily used but I guess you never know....

nesuser2 said:

I thought the company with the parts discontinued them....which is quite different from apple discontinuing them.....We're going to need a real Apple Guru but this is a question that must be answered. I really don't think Apple would do that given that their old computers are heavily used but I guess you never know....

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That's not the point. I think it's entirely possible that Apple cannot get the chipset for the regular Airport card. Not a problem.

The problem is that Apple is unwilling to make Airport Extreme cards for older Macs that have PCMCIA based Airport slots. The new Airport Extreme cards use a sort of PCI slot. There are Macs out there that are less than a year old that are stuck using the old Airport cards. That's just not right.

Hopefully, we'll be hooked up

Upon the announcement of Airport Express I was amped to get one and start my own little network. Alas my 15" iMac flat panel won't work without the old card. With so many of us macheads feeling left out of a cool product that even WINDOWS users can enjoy, it is so wrong for us diehards to not be able to experience this operability and tottally cool product. Something should be done. My friend got one and uses it with his Windows network in his home flawlessly. He teases me.

The only hope I have is that something is in the works for all of us. I love my Mac. I would never buy anything else, but I am feeling left out of some of the fun. Perhaps that new upcomming standard 802.11n will solve some of our woes. Will Apple make the next version of Airport compatible with both older Airport and Extreme computers? Or will we just have to wait to get a "new" computer to enjoy Wireless?? Hopefully the next 6 months should answer some questions for us. But, I seem to remember hearing about 2004 being an incredible year, and that "we are working on applications that nobody even thought of before".

I'm all about going forward, I spend much time in the architectural field attempting to get us more converts. Just don't leave some of us folks who rode this big change too behind. My original iPod still works, this 1st gen 700 imac still runs great, we've all updated to OS X for you, come on Apple, we have chosen you; you are OUR solutions and our future plans, figure a way to through us a bone on this one. Airport Express is too cool!!