Connecting Old and new Imacs to cable modem??

[thepreludedude]

Hi guys. I am waiting on the arrival of my new 24" imac from apple. I have an older 600 mhz. G3 imac that is connected to the internet with a cable modem. After I hook up the new imac will there be anyway i can still hook the old imac up to the cable modem? Possibly use it in another room. Or is there anyway I can hook it up some other way. I know the new imacs have wireless but the old one does not. Sorry if this is a newb question. I did a quick search but didn't find what I was looking for. Thanks.

 

[JediMeister]

You will need a router with at least 2 ethernet ports. I haven't seen any with less than 4 recently. The modem has to be directly connected to the router, and you can either run CAT5 cables from the router to each of the computers or get a wireless broadcast capable router and have the newer Mac run wirelessly, and the older mac still dependent on the direct hardwired connection. The AirPort Extreme has 4 ethernet ports, not including the WAN port where you connect the modem to it.

 

[JustGretchen]

As was said you will need a router.

You can buy an Airport Base Station from Apple which retails for $179 and has 4 gigabit (REALLY FAST) ethernet ports and Wireless N technology.

Another very nice feature of that router is that it will function as a printer server as well with the USB port it has on the back of it.

You could also buy a linksys wireless G router, save a few bucks at under $60, still have 4 ethernet ports and wireless G access instead of N and you won't have the printer server ability, and do just fine as well.

Your setup would look like this:

cable modem (ethernet cable) Wireless Router (ethernet cable) old iMac.
New iMac would use the wireless connection.

Good luck!