wifi required for Find My Mac?

[btownguy]

Couple of questions. How does "Find My Mac" actually know my location? I'm pretty sure my Mac doesn't have GPS. Also, does my Mac have to be on wifi in order for Find My Mac to work? I get sporadic results when trying to view my Mac location in iCloud.com.

 

[miles01110]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyhook_Wireless

 

[MacLDN]

Couple of questions. How does "Find My Mac" actually know my location? I'm pretty sure my Mac doesn't have GPS. Also, does my Mac have to be on wifi in order for Find My Mac to work? I get sporadic results when trying to view my Mac location in iCloud.com.

You might find this helpful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyhook_Wireless

 

[btownguy]

so if someone steals a mac laptop and just connects it to a wired network, you will not be able to find that mac until they connect it to a wifi network?

 

[maflynn]

Correct because at that point apple only has an IP address which in theory will give a very vague location (state or country) so there's no other way for apple to discern location. With wifi, they can triangulate your location provided there's enough wifi hotspots