I'm leaning towards getting an Airport Extreme card for my ibook basically because it's Apple. But I see many other cards are going for much cheaper, and I don't know which is the better investment.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
best ibook wireless card
- Thread starter goodtimes5
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I just got an Airport Card today and am now sitting downstairs on my couch and enjoying wireless connection. Very nice indeed.
Yes, you can only use Airport Card, but you can get a third party base station. I got Netgear from CompUSA for about 60 bucks and so far it's working fine. The Airport Extreme base station is too much for my pocket. I didn't have a difficult time hooking up Netgear.
Yes, you can only use Airport Card, but you can get a third party base station. I got Netgear from CompUSA for about 60 bucks and so far it's working fine. The Airport Extreme base station is too much for my pocket. I didn't have a difficult time hooking up Netgear.
goodtimes5 said:
If the computer has a PC card slot then you can use a third party wireless card, this applies to Powerbooks only since they are the only portable macs that ship with PC card slots. I don't know about desktop PCI cards, I know some PCs use them but the third party mac solutions I have seen are USB attachments.
Macmaniac said:
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree, I also think the Airport Card is the best for all macs, as it's internal, and thus nothing sticking out!
tekno_geek911 said:
Just to be another voice of confirmation, he is correct. You can ONLY use an Apple Airport Extreme card in your iBook to get 802.11g signal.
I'll throw one more "you can only use an airport extreme card" on the fire, and toss in another log of "get a third party router". I just picked up a WRT54G last week. It was the most ridiculously easy piece of networking equipment I ever set up. I literally plugged in the ethernet cable and the power, and within seconds it was already up with a wireless signal. I didn't even have to do anything if I didn't want to set up any sort of security. As far as cross platform goes, 802.11b and g spits out a signal. It doesn't care if windows, linux, osx, or anything else is picking it up. It's an industry standard, so that is something you will never have to worry about.
If the PCI card uses a Broadcom chipset then it will most likely work. Airport Extreme cards use broadcom chips and Apple opened up the driver to allow third party cards to work as well. I'm pretty definite the Buffalo 802.11g PCI card works.Macmaniac said:
A third party driver is also available which supports Atheros chipset cards (3com, dlink etc) but the driver costs $15. It's free for 3com cards though.
third party..
ill be buying a 12inch ibook soon and i am wondering if my WUSB11 usb connected wireless device will work on it.. i already have a linksys wireless router. do i have to buy the airport extreme to make it go wireless??
ill be buying a 12inch ibook soon and i am wondering if my WUSB11 usb connected wireless device will work on it.. i already have a linksys wireless router. do i have to buy the airport extreme to make it go wireless??
The USB devices for wirless usually don't work as well as AE but its worth a try. Also this has been updated a bit but most people who get apple computer pay a bit extra for the conveinience of having the card on this inside of the machine. Also the machines have an antenna built-in that you get to utilize when your using an airport card.ofcourse that only makes the card equal to other cards.
if you have an ibook g4 the only wireless card available to you is the airport extreme card (802.11g). and if you have an older model (g3), then the only card available to you is the airport card (802.11b). but take heart young lad or lass, the airport and airport extreme cards are fine fine wireless cards. plus they are internal and nothing sticks out. definitely do go for a non-apple wireless router though. definitely. the AE basestation is ridiculously overpriced.
Re: bet ibook wireless card+why no external HD hookup?
I'm going ditto kidA, most definitely get a third party router, especially if your wirelss set up will mainly be for home and internet with a few hooks to other computer in the house. AirportExtreme is seriously overpriced. I got a Netgear router for $60 at CompUSA. When I read up on AE, I just couldn't see how it was any better, except maybe in style and set up. But even though I don't quite understand how WiFi technology works or was configured in my iBook G3, I still was able to make the Netgear connection in about 10 minutes--just following online instructions.
When I was shopping for a router, I learned that Netgear has a router for PC in which you can hook up an external hard drive. That can't be done with Mac or AE. That's really a bummer.
I'm going ditto kidA, most definitely get a third party router, especially if your wirelss set up will mainly be for home and internet with a few hooks to other computer in the house. AirportExtreme is seriously overpriced. I got a Netgear router for $60 at CompUSA. When I read up on AE, I just couldn't see how it was any better, except maybe in style and set up. But even though I don't quite understand how WiFi technology works or was configured in my iBook G3, I still was able to make the Netgear connection in about 10 minutes--just following online instructions.
When I was shopping for a router, I learned that Netgear has a router for PC in which you can hook up an external hard drive. That can't be done with Mac or AE. That's really a bummer.
Think about this:
Even if you could use an external card, you'd only (considering the price of the laptop) be saving about $50.
The extra $50 gets you the convenience of not having to carry anything around, not having anything to break, and not having anything stick out because everything's internal!
The antenna, airport, software integration is really tightly set by Apple and is just so cool! Having everything be internal is definitely worth it, to me. To save some money, unless you have a cheaper source, pick up a refurb card from the Apple Store (usually go for $79 instead of $99).
Even if you could use an external card, you'd only (considering the price of the laptop) be saving about $50.
The extra $50 gets you the convenience of not having to carry anything around, not having anything to break, and not having anything stick out because everything's internal!
The antenna, airport, software integration is really tightly set by Apple and is just so cool! Having everything be internal is definitely worth it, to me. To save some money, unless you have a cheaper source, pick up a refurb card from the Apple Store (usually go for $79 instead of $99).