Wireless dongle?

[Dale Gribble]

I've just bought a refurbished Mac Pro from the Apple Store and Apple, being the genius's they are, won't let you spec a Airport Extreme card on refurbished models, so I couldn't get one included, and there's also none on the Apple Store to buy.

I've looked around and theres ones on Ebay and such, but I read that it invalidates your warranty fitting it yourself, but any Apple store will fit it for you. This is great but I don't drive and I sure as hell aren't taking a Mac Pro on the bus.

So I was looking at a wireless dongle I can just plug in the USB. Will this work on the Mac Pro and does anyone have any particular recommendations? The cheaper the better because I'm rather skint after forking out £1200 for this

Thanks

 

[Chaos123x]

You can just buy the Airport card and install it yourself. It's easy.

They are like $50

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AirCardMP/


I did it with my old G5 and it only took about 5 minutes without reading the instructions.

 

[Dale Gribble]

I know I could probably install it myself, I've done graphics cards and such before and it doesn't seem much different, I was just worried about the warranty thing, is there anyway they could tell?

 

[Tallest Skil]

Uh... installing things yourself doesn't void the warranty. Like, on anything.

It is only void if you break something while you are in there.

And it's a Mac Pro. Virtually everything is classified as "user-upgradable".

 

[Hmac]

I don't know if it voids the warranty, but Airport card installation is not a user-installation option, according to Apple. They won't sell the cards, nor do they provide instructions for the installation.

Look at FastMac - they have internal wireless cards you can install

http://fastmac.com/airportcards.php

They have instructions on installation, but you may find more info here

http://meanderingpassage.com/2007/0...-an-airport-extreme-card-in-an-intel-mac-pro/

 

[dontwalkhand]

Not the same thing, but I took an iMac on the bus, and it was fine, then again, it doesn't weigh the same as a gargantuan Mac Pro.

 

[TrapOx]

Installing an airport card yourself won't void anything.

 

[Dale Gribble]

I assumed the "Not a user installation option" was their code speak for "Does this and we'll use it as a scape goat for warranty issues." Thats good to know then.

The Mac Pro weighs 29.5kg, I'm not gonna attempt carrying that to the bus stop

I'll try get a proper airport card then, I'm in the UK so the shops you linked aren't much help, but thanks a lot anyways everyone.


Edit: Just been looking around, and it seems all the UK places are out of stock, so I'm resorting to ebay. Everywhere I look for cards that appearance wise match Chaos123x's link, it mentions G4's and nothing about Mac Pro's, and on the link Hmac provided it said it required one of these Mac's:

* eMac G4
* iMac G4
* PowerMac G4
* PowerMac G5
* iBook G4
* PowerBook G4 Aluminum

Is something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/APPLE-MAC-AIR...14&_trkparms=72:1690|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318
compatible with the Harpertown Mac Pro's or not?

 

[POLOgt]

Is something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/APPLE-MAC-AIR...14&_trkparms=72:1690|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318
compatible with the Harpertown Mac Pro's or not?

No, you will need the wireless card: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/544970-REG/Apple_MB363Z_A_AirPort_Extreme_Card_for.html

That is the one for your system, this is the for the 8-core.

 

[Dale Gribble]

Right thanks a lot, I'll track one down.

 

[rareflares]

does anyone have any impressions of those USB wireless adapters?

 

[iToaster]

does anyone have any impressions of those USB wireless adapters?

Personally, I've tried them on an older Power Mac G4 (with a USB 2 card) and the things are very stubborn. I'd definitely look for an AirPort card as opposed to the connection dropping USB dongles, they'll usually require the company's program to work as well and that is also pretty shaky. Trust me, just buy an AirPort card and there will be no troubles.

 

[hatehereyes]

Personally, I've tried them on an older Power Mac G4 (with a USB 2 card) and the things are very stubborn. I'd definitely look for an AirPort card as opposed to the connection dropping USB dongles, they'll usually require the company's program to work as well and that is also pretty shaky. Trust me, just buy an AirPort card and there will be no troubles.

Actually there have been a few people talking about their airport cards dropping signals randomly.
I have that problem also.

 

[DualShock]

Just wanted to chime in with my experiences on getting an Airport card for my 2008 Mac Pro. In a nutshell, yes, Apple says it voids your warranty if you install it yourself. However, it depends on who you talk to.

I had gone to a physical Apple store at my local mall on a Saturday afternoon, asking for the Airport card. It just so happened that the assistant manager was in the store, most likely because it was a high traffic day for the store (Saturday afternoon). He was pretty adamant in not selling me the card, saying that it would void the warranty if I did it myself. He did say that installation was free, but I was not about to lug a 50 lb computer to the mall.

A few days later, on a Tuesday night around 8 PM, I went back to the same store. Obviously there were fewer people there at this time, and the assistant manager was nowhere to be found. I asked one of the people working there for the card, who then asked a Genius, who said they had some in the back. 5 minutes later I walked out with the card. He told me that instaling it myself would not void the warranty, unless I broke something while installing it.

So yes, you can definitely walk out of an Apple store with an Airport card. Not sure if the same story applies in the UK, but it's worth a shot. Just make sure you look up the proper model # for the card, as the 2006/7 line and the 2008 line use different Airport cards.