Regarding "n-wireless."

[ZiggyPastorius]

Okay, so I'm a completely noob, and have no idea what this even means...I was reading one day in a comparison of a Mac and a PC, something about the Macbook's wireless card having something (something about an "n") that makes it like 10x faster with a compatible router, and something that gives it like a 1000x speed boost or something, I have no idea x_X

I know that's really vague, but does anyone think they can explain the cards in the Macbooks a little better to me and what I need in a router to get this supposed "speed boost," assuming I didn't completely misunderstand?

 

[mankar4]

there are 3 wireless standards out in the mass market: b, g, and n. b is a max of 11mbps, g is 54mbps, and n theoretically goes to 300mbps, but it's hard to achieve that. the macbooks have a built in wireless card that is compatible with wireless n routers in addition to wireless b and g. Note that you will only take advantage of your wireless n laptop capabilities if you have a wireless n router.

 

[compuwar]

there are 3 wireless standards out in the mass market: b, g, and n. b is a max of 11mbps, g is 54mbps, and n theoretically goes to 300mbps, but it's hard to achieve that. the macbooks have a built in wireless card that is compatible with wireless n routers in addition to wireless b and g. Note that you will only take advantage of your wireless n laptop capabilities if you have a wireless n router.

There are more than 3 standards (legacy, a and y come immediately to mind,) however everything else is essentially correct (except none of the advertised speeds are real-world.) If your wireless AP has 3 antennas, it's likely to be n compatible (It's still a draft spec, so interoperability won't be 100%- Dlink works for me with my MacBook.) Each successive standard for home networks has increased the range at which it will work, as well as resilience to interference. If you have connection issues away from the AP, or microwave/cordless phone issues, 802.11n is the way to go (with WPA security if you have older Apple cards or WPA2 if not and a long, random key for either.)

 

[Bunker]

Had anyone matched and benchmarked the performance of Mac's Wireless-N with non-Apple Airport Extreme product like Linksys or DLINK?

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

Okay, I kind of understand now. How exactly do I know if my router is "n-compatible"? Does it just say on the front? I'm not near it right now so I can't check, but I'll look later.

 

[killmoms]

Okay, I kind of understand now. How exactly do I know if my router is "n-compatible"? Does it just say on the front? I'm not near it right now so I can't check, but I'll look later.

Unless you bought it relatively recently (in the last eight months) it's unlikely it's draft-n compatible. It's still pretty limited penetration, mostly because the spec for 802.11n is still unfinished, hence the "draft." If it is, it's probably advertised as a specific feature on the box or whatnot.

 

[Matiek]

Are any of the Draft-N routers panning out right now or are they still trying to approve the draft. I've heard a lot of negative feed back about Draft-N routers not living up to the hype.

Also, I'm looking at buying the airport extreme but I've heard that it's not compatible with an older o/s like 10.2, even if it has a wireless card; which, is what my room mate has. Does anyone know if I can get my room mates machine to work by plugging it into the LAN port?

Is there another Draft-N router out there that would suit me better? I like the airport because of the USB port and the ability to plug my external hard drive into it.