Airport Extreme

i think the usb printer sharing, ability to use an external antenna, and the price are more impressive features
 
Dear All,

www.thinksecret.com mention 802.11g wireless technology, and they were right.

I use Airport extensively in the office, and we are interested in upgrading to what, Airport 3.

After looking on the Apple website, I notice that the new cards are different and don't fit the standard Apple Airport card slot.

They mention something called the mini-PCMCIA port? Does my 15.2" PowerBook have this, or do have to use an adpator and slot in the PC CARD slot?

Thanks
 
Originally posted by cockneygeezer


They mention something called the mini-PCMCIA port? Does my 15.2" PowerBook have this, or do have to use an adpator and slot in the PC CARD slot?
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Actually it is mini PCI. This is completely different than PCMCIA (kinda like ISA vs PCI). Mini PCI was developed to be a replacement for PCMCIA (something about people not liking external cards?).

I am actually happy to see Apple adopt the mini PCI port. Most other companies (ie. Dell, Gateway, etc) use this to enable their computer with internal wireless cards.

From reading the tech specs on the Powerbooks, it looks like only the 12" and 17" have the mini PCI port that is needed for Airport Extreme. My guess is that we will see a new revision of the 15" powerbook and, perhaps all iBooks in the near future (meaning by next year) that will have this port.
 
The new Airport base station looks great. I hope that the usb printer sharing works over ethernet as well. It also has wireless bridging.

I think you can get PCI cards that work as an adapter for mini-pci. Hopfully Apple will release a pci version of this card so it'll be compatible with all the desktop Macs as well.
 
We should be seeing some aftermarket PCMCIA cards with 802.11g sometime in the next few months. Linksys is taking preorders for theirs, about $80. The only question is whether the OS will support an aftermarket card. It should, but then again, we are talking about Apple here.
 
I can already hear it coming...

I just bought a Powerbook and it doesn't even support "g".

BLA!

:D
 
Originally posted by EvenStranger
The only question is whether the OS will support an aftermarket card. It should, but then again, we are talking about Apple here.
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My roommate has a pre-airport compatible G3 and uses a Cisco PCI wireless nic without any problems (well, except when he moved to Jag and had to wait for Cisco to write new drivers). Sure you can't utilize the airport icon in the menubar, but you get a much better link scope. The OS just treates it like another eithernet card (called Ethernet Slot 3 Port 5 in System Preferences).

It would be nice if apple released an airport extreme card that fit into the older airport slots for their slightly older machines (hey they sell adapter cards for the old "airport read" G3s), but only time will tell (perhaps if they see enought demand for them).
 
So the new AirPort Extreme Card would not fit in my Pismo??? :confused: !!!!

Maybe it's time for a new 17" PowerBook **drool** :D
 
Originally posted by ScottW
I can already hear it coming...

I just bought a Powerbook and it doesn't even support "g".

BLA!

:D
Click to expand...


I just bought a Powerbook and it doesn't even support "g".

Would be nice, but I don't feel like shelling out for another base station so I don't really care. And besides, if i need speed that bad I can always just plug it in.
 
the card itself is completely different from the old 802.11b version. as a result the card itself is not compatible with the older products.

If you want to communicate at 54Mbs you'll need new hardware (new powerbook and new base station). sad, but true.
 
or, as stated before, a PC-card adapter with OS X drivers. Not there yet, but I'm sure they'll arrive.

Also, we'll see even cheaper Wireless Access Points now that 802.11g arrives. What do I care about 54 Mbps? I rather buy a cheap second 802.11b WAP and extend my RANGE! :)
 
Originally posted by Hobeaux
the card itself is completely different from the old 802.11b version. as a result the card itself is not compatible with the older products.

If you want to communicate at 54Mbs you'll need new hardware (new powerbook and new base station). sad, but true.
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uh... NO it's backwards compatable with any 802.11b device (not "a" though) quoted directly from one of the apple employes @ the expo

and a quote from apples site

Even with its increased performance AirPort Extreme is compatible with all AirPort products, as well as Wi-Fi certified 802.11b wireless products5. This means that the range of AirPort Extreme is up to 150 feet. For higher performance you need to have both the Airport Extreme Card and the AirPort Extreme base Station. The range of AirPort Extreme is up to 50 feet at 54 Mbps.
 
The protocol it uses is compatible with old Airport cards & base stations, but the cards themselves won't fit in the old Airport slots that are in all the previous laptops and desktops.
 
What are the router requirments for the extreme card (ie, does it need the airport base station to benefit from the 56 meg speeds and other enhancements)?
It the range any better?

Of course, the apple sites do little to answer these questions.
 
What are the router requirments for the extreme card (ie, does it need the airport base station to benefit from the 56 meg speeds and other enhancements)? It the range any better?
Click to expand...

Both new card and new base station must be present to take advantage of 54mbps speed. If you have the new station, and you have an old card, you'll be getting 802.11b speed... 11mbps. If you have a new card, but an old base station, I'm not even sure it'll work... but if it does... again... you'll be getting 802.11b.

As to the range.... the great benefit of the new base stations is the ability to connect an external antenna (no, not your rabbit ears) that can double (?) the range. The base station itself gives you 150 feet range.

Another good thing is the USB port on the base station... to connect a printer.

I dig both of the above... don't care much for the 54mbps.

For more info: http://www.apple.com/airport
 
Both new card and new base station must be present to take advantage of 54mbps speed. If you have the new station, and you have an old card, you'll be getting 802.11b speed... 11mbps. If you have a new card, but an old base station, I'm not even sure it'll work... but if it does... again... you'll be getting 802.11b.
Click to expand...


If you have a new card and an old base station it WILL work.
 
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