IMAC Airport Card

Quoholomoken

Registered
My daughter was given an IMAC model M5521 and I would like to connect it to our home wireless network. An Airport is needed but I am not familiar enough with Macs to know if there are different Airport cards and if so just which one this computer needs. Being an older computer is it even possible to find the right one? She is running Mac OS X.

Thanks for any help
 
Go to the Apple menu and choose "About this Macintosh" and let us know what info you've got there.

The G3 iMacs (candy-coloured, CRT screen, handle on the top) used Airport (not Airport Extreme) cards. The very first generation of these needs a riser card installed to attach the Airport card to.

The iMac G4 (Dome shaped base with flat-panel LCD display on a chrome arm) switched over from Airport to Airport Extreme about halfway through its product life. If you have one of these, you'll need to click on the "More Info" button in About This Mac to find out what type of wireless hardware is supported.

The iMac G5 (current model. Flat panel LCD screen balanced on a steel base) uses only Airport Extreme, though recent models ship with this as standard.

Since Apple hasn't made Airport (non extreme) cards in a couple of years you really have to shop around to get one. eBay might pay off, though I managed to get one from an Apple dealer who still had a few stored.

Let us know what you find out and we'll point you in the right direction.
 
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