802.11n upgrade

[swpowe]

is it possible for me to upgrade my 12" 1.33ghz powerbook? Can I upgrade the internal card somehow? I know it doesn't have PCMCIA but I wondered about the internal card or some other way. thanks.

 

[hayduke]

I'm interested to know essentially the same thing for a 15" PB G4, but I'm not sure I ever got a clear answer. Anyone?

 

[Benjamindaines]

Because you don't have a PCMCIA slot this could be a bit difficult. You will have to wait until someone puts out a Wireless n USB stick / card, DLink makes g/b ones (currently there are no n ones that I am aware of).

As for hayduke: You will need to find a PCMCIA card, once you do that just pop it in and you will be good to go.

 

[hayduke]

So you can't just replace the internal Airport card, eh? Is it an antennae problem? Form factor?

 

[janitorC7]

There are hacks, google is your friend here....

but its possible

 

[Benjamindaines]

So you can't just replace the internal Airport card, eh? Is it an antennae problem? Form factor?

Your wireless card is most likely soldered to the logic board, making it impossible to remove. Even if you have an older model that is removeable (if you had to put it in yourself) the connector it uses is designed by apple and apple is the only one to use it. Because of that there are no 3rd party upgrades, and it doesnt make sense to go through reverse engineering when you can just use USB or an expansion slot.

 

[macleod199]

So you can't just replace the internal Airport card, eh? Is it an antennae problem? Form factor?

802.11n makes extensive use of MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) to get gains from spatial diversity, which essentially means the more antennas the better. I don't think I've seen any single antenna cards, and most have three (I believe that's what the new macbooks and pros have inside).

I still haven't read if multiple antennas are actually a *requirement*, but perhaps it's more that you'll still only see g level speeds if you only have one. This is my theory on why e.g. the iPhone and the Airport Express haven't been updated to do N.

Also, for the record, I searched high and low for a PCI card for my desktop that would support N at 5.8 GHz. No dice. Even then pricier ones I found with fancy antennas only do 2.4 GHz. So devices are apparently allowed to call themselves N even if they only do the one frequency band.

 

[SthrnCmfrtr]

Also, for the record, I searched high and low for a PCI card for my desktop that would support N at 5.8 GHz. No dice. Even then pricier ones I found with fancy antennas only do 2.4 GHz. So devices are apparently allowed to call themselves N even if they only do the one frequency band.

I duplicate your story.

I got a Wireless-N card for my Sawtooth, but I'm not using it. I think I'm actually going to end up using IP-over-Firewire :-/