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Apple Quietly Releases 802.11n Enabler

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n the spec is likely to be finalised in April 2008.

Like I said, I have a pre-N netgear router, and there is some major issue between it and the chip in my 24" iMac. I get speeds of around 400kb/s from any source (I have 24meg broadband). My 12" powerbook, ibook and PC download at 1.6mb/s from newsgroups, faster from each other.

Truly shocking. I know this is an issue that apple is refusing to deal with. I'm off to phone Apple Care.
 
timmillwood said:
does this make any difference to 802.11g setups?
Click to expand...
Nope.
MacVault said:
If it is indeed true that the $1.99 charge is due to some accounting regulation this seems to set a terrible precedant for adding free features to software in the future. Who decides what is a feature addition and what is a bug fix?
Click to expand...
This looks like a short-term fix, Apple perhaps overreacted a bit with government agents crawling all over their books. In the future they can set aside little internal charges to cover this kind of hidden feature. They could have even made an internal adjustment this time around, but that could have freaked all the wrong people given the timing.
 
KindredMAC said:
There is no reason for people to buy the enabler unless they already have access to an N network. Am I correct people?????

This won't help your new MacBook or MBPro to transfer and recieve data over a current G network any faster.

I don't even believe there are any N routers out for sale yet at Best Buy or CompUSA is there????

If I am wrong about the fact that the N Enabler will not give you any kind of boost to your G Network, please someone, point me to a link that shows me otherwise so I don't sound like a fool.

But otherwise like I said, A Fool and their Money.....

$1.99 isn't a bad cost for anything like this anyways so stop whining if you can't wait for Leopard or to buy an APEXT.
Click to expand...

Very good point. This only helps if you have an :apple:tv and are transmitting directly from your iMac. Which means your iMac would need to be ethernet connected to your internet and wireless to the :apple:tv. I think if you connect the iMac to a g router wirelessly then you won't realize the n potential between the iMac and the :apple:tv. Which doesn't make sense it should auto recognize, but Apple's literature seems to indicate it dumbs down to the slowest part of your network. None of which matters, neither :apple:tv or Airport Extremes are shipping yet.

abadr said:
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n the spec is likely to be finalised in April 2008.

Like I said, I have a pre-N netgear router, and there is some major issue between it and the chip in my 24" iMac. I get speeds of around 400kb/s from any source (I have 24meg broadband). My 12" powerbook, ibook and PC download at 1.6mb/s from newsgroups, faster from each other.

Truly shocking. I know this is an issue that apple is refusing to deal with. I'm off to phone Apple Care.
Click to expand...

Most people, you maybe being a rare exception has broadband faster than 3-6 Mbps. Which is still slower than g, hell it's even slower than b. So the only thing n does for you is speed up your LAN which means you need either two n enabled machines talking directly, or one n machine with a second hardwired to an n router.
 
just checked out of curiosity, but the enabler is already on torrent...
 
Well I purchased the enabler and ran the update. After booting into Windows however, its still only connecting at 54mbps. Im starting to wonder what exactly this update does. It doesn't seem to do any type of firmware upgrade on the wireless card because if it did, the wireless card would have been redetected in windows and it wasn't
 
ilkevinli said:
Well I purchased the enabler and ran the update. After booting into Windows however, its still only connecting at 54mbps. Im starting to wonder what exactly this update does. It doesn't seem to do any type of firmware upgrade on the wireless card because if it did, the wireless card would have been redetected in windows and it wasn't
Click to expand...

i thought the n was enabled in windows, just not in os x... hence how ppl knew it was a n card when they boot into windows... no?
 
Dang, I was expecting the mac pro! If its not coming out now, it'll probably come with leopard. :apple:
 
roland.g said:
Very good point. This only helps if you have an :apple:tv and are transmitting directly from your iMac. Which means your iMac would need to be ethernet connected to your internet and wireless to the :apple:tv. I think if you connect the iMac to a g router wirelessly then you won't realize the n potential between the iMac and the :apple:tv. Which doesn't make sense it should auto recognize, but Apple's literature seems to indicate it dumbs down to the slowest part of your network. None of which matters, neither :apple:tv or Airport Extremes are shipping yet.
Click to expand...

My goodness, that's a lot of misinformation for one paragraph. The :apple:tv does not have a wireless access point built-in, so you need a separate wireless access point or base station to connect it to your network wirelessly. You can't transmit directly from your Mac to an :apple:tv. If you're using an access point that doesn't have 802.11n then obviously you won't get 802.11n speeds.
 
Man, the enabler is already spreading like wildfire on torrent sites... can't believe people won't shell out a buck or two.
 
What a great week.
Microsoft releases an entirely new OS for Windows users.
Apple meanwhile insults Mac users by charging them for an f'in driver.
 
Nutter said:
My goodness, that's a lot of misinformation for one paragraph. The :apple:tv does not have a wireless access point built-in, so you need a separate wireless access point or base station to connect it to your network wirelessly. You can't transmit directly from your Mac to an :apple:tv. If you're using an access point that doesn't have 802.11n then obviously you won't get 802.11n speeds.
Click to expand...

Really are you sure. I'm pretty sure you can create an Airport network between two Airport enabled Macs, so I just figured you could link the :apple:tv to it. Once you create the network, it's a network, the :apple:tv shouldn't really know the difference. But I'm no expert either.
 
swishyfresh said:
Man, the enabler is already spreading like wildfire on torrent sites... can't believe people won't shell out a buck or two.
Click to expand...

not only that, but how many people actually NEED the enabler right now? as many have said, there are very few 802.11n hardware options right now, so it's just people who download everything for free even if they don't need it continuing their ways.
 
jelloshotsrule said:
not only that, but how many people actually NEED the enabler right now? as many have said, there are very few 802.11n hardware options right now, so it's just people who download everything for free even if they don't need it continuing their ways.
Click to expand...

I agree, this is more of a psychological upgrade. The user feels like if he has a n-enabled card... it should be actively working, rather than disabled. When in actual fact, with the less going on, the less likeliness for hiccups.

It boggles my mind :rolleyes:
 
swishyfresh said:
It is, I've purchased it.
Click to expand...

I just rechecked and it does now appear, but for the first hour or so after the store came backup both myself and a friend could not find it on the applestore even by direct searching for the name. The exact same search that i just did, weird. Oh well, ordered it now, can't actually install it until i get back to my mac.
 
It feels like Apple it TRYING to "hint" that you can easily get this software from anywhere :)

From the product page:

"Note: The software license for the 802.11n Enabler software allows you to install and use it on all computers under your ownership or control. "
 
abadr said:
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#802.11n the spec is likely to be finalised in April 2008.

Like I said, I have a pre-N netgear router, and there is some major issue between it and the chip in my 24" iMac. I get speeds of around 400kb/s from any source (I have 24meg broadband). My 12" powerbook, ibook and PC download at 1.6mb/s from newsgroups, faster from each other.

Truly shocking. I know this is an issue that apple is refusing to deal with. I'm off to phone Apple Care.
Click to expand...

Why? What responsibility does Apple have for Netgear products? What responsibility does Netgear have for Apple firmware? Catch-22 for you, but them's the breaks with non-standard products.

Apple is only guaranteeing that pre-N speeds will work with its own router AFAIK. But thanks for Beta-testing for the rest of us :)
 
usb n-draft options?

Do you think that there will be a USB-based n-network option for the macbook pro anytime soon?
 
KindredMAC said:
There is no reason for people to buy the enabler unless they already have access to an N network. Am I correct people?????

This won't help your new MacBook or MBPro to transfer and recieve data over a current G network any faster.

I don't even believe there are any N routers out for sale yet at Best Buy or CompUSA is there????

If I am wrong about the fact that the N Enabler will not give you any kind of boost to your G Network, please someone, point me to a link that shows me otherwise so I don't sound like a fool.

But otherwise like I said, A Fool and their Money.....

$1.99 isn't a bad cost for anything like this anyways so stop whining if you can't wait for Leopard or to buy an APEXT.
Click to expand...



The N routers have been out for a little whlie now, or at least the Linksys.

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...939789&pagename=Linksys/Common/VisitorWrapper
 
roland.g said:
Really are you sure. I'm pretty sure you can create an Airport network between two Airport enabled Macs, so I just figured you could link the :apple:tv to it. Once you create the network, it's a network, the :apple:tv shouldn't really know the difference. But I'm no expert either.
Click to expand...

Well, Apple could put software in the AppleTV to let it join a computer-to-computer network. But I don't think they have, because on the Apple Store one of the listed system requirements is a "wired or wireless network". That suggests you already need to have a standard wireless network, which a computer-to-computer AirPort connection is not.
 
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