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Just bought my first powerbook and need help! please

Siddymae

Siddymae

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 20, 2007
16
0
Somerset Kentucky
So yea this is my first mac ever i bought a g4 titanium powerbook 550mhz .. i call it my fixer upper mac since im going to replace everything and i got it on ebay for less then 300 but my question is which air port card do i need to buy? ive looked everywhere and cant find which one i need exactly. or is there an alternative? and is there supposed to be a pcmcia slot?

thanks in advance for any help :)
 
Its the one that looks like a PCMCIA card.

Needless to say it is also the one that is most expensive as it has been out of production for 3 years.
 
If it's 550 MHz, you have this one:

http://apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=pg4_giga&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC

There *is* a PC card slot. Separately, there is also a slot for an Airport card, which is basically also a PC card. It looks like this:

skitched-20070721-110208.jpg


You don't want one that looks like this (note the word extreme):

skitched-20070721-110316.jpg


The Airport cards are available on eBay, here occasionally (best option in terms of price), and on-and-off, from vendors like SmallDog, Amazon, etc. They can be kind of pricey, but you can get them for $30 or $40 if you shop around. It will provide you with 802.11b only -- no g and no a. It does support WPA over 802.11b, though, I think.
 
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OK thanks for your help on figuring out which one i need. Now one more q? if i cant find an airport card or decide i dont want to pay too much for one. what other options can i go with?
 
Siddymae said:
pc slot? pcmcia? what do you mean seperately?
Click to expand...

My understanding is that this Powerbook has an Airport card slot, under the keyboard, and also a PCMCIA card slot on the side of the chassis. That's what Apple History says.

1) So, you could, in principle, find a b or g card that'll work with OS X for the PC Card slot. I don't have any recommendations, but I'm sure they're out there. A quick search listed this site...I've heard of people using that Dell TrueMobile if you can still find it.

2) I've heard of people modifying cards (I think it was that Dell, again), to fit in the airport slot, so that they don't stick out the side of the computer. I've heard of this more commonly in iBooks than in TiBooks, though, so I'm not 100% sure what your options are there.

3) You could get a compatible USB adaptor.
 
This may work for you. I have had very good experiences with buffalo showing up natively as a genuine airport extreme, but it was on a desktop PCI. I have dealt with these people before, they are really helpful. They should be able to answer any questions you could have. They do good, inexpensive work on powerbooks, too.

http://www.wegenermedia.com/buffwls.htm
 
That Belkin card should work. The 'vent' as you call it (I assume you mean the screen door, not the vertical slits) is simply the door for the PC card slot. When you slide your card up to it, it will fold upwards, when you remove your card it returns to keep dust and crud out of your TiBook.

TEG
 
i believe i am a certified idiot now hahaha yea thats totally a door(slot) will i need to download anything to make it work for the mac or will it recognize it? thanks again
 
With cards made by most companies, they are instantly recognized by the Mac as an AirPort Card. Just open up system preferences to turn on the radio and configure the network.

TEG
 
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