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Wireless question

V

VintageMac

macrumors regular
Original poster
My refurbished Black MacBook 2.0 should be arriving in the next day or two. I see now that this MacBook has the 802.11g wireless while the new ones have the 5x(?) faster 802.11n. A few newbie questons--

Should this be a concern?

Should I order the new Airport Express Base which supports N - $179. or the former(?) Airport Express Base which only supports up to G - (Apple Store Clearance - $249. new, $129. Clearance). Are there other differences between these two? I wondering why the former one was more expensive?

Can/Should my MacBook be upgraded to N?

Thanks, although I've been with Mac 20 years this is the first time I've gone wireless.

Vintage
 
Welcome to the world of wireless. You're going to love it.

The nice thing about 802.11n is that it's 100% backwards-compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b. Picking up an 802.11n router today would probably be a wise investment, as opposed to going 802.11g today and then having to upgrade a few years down the line. All of your 802.11g computers will work flawlessly with an 802.11n router. Similarly, if you decide to stick with an 802.11g router, all 802.11n computers will work just fine with it.

You *can* upgrade your MB to 802.11n, and I think some people have posted about it in the MacBook subforum.
 
For most users just playing with the internet, there's no huge difference and I wouldn't be too concerned. The 802.11N would be much better for large wirelessly transferred files though. You won't easily be able to upgrade your MacBook to 802.11N although third party alternatives such as a USB dongle or ethernet dongle may come into play. The new AirPort is understandably more expensive than the old one, because the old one is slower and has less features. Namely, the old Extreme doesn't support USB external drives like the new one does. However, for your uses it sounds like the old Extreme base station coupled with that MacBook should be fine. 🙂
 
Thanks. I didn't know if upgrading the MacBook to N was as simple as replacing the Airport Card.... sounds not. Thanks again. I'll stick with the newest Airport Express Base.

Vintage
 
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