to buy or not to buy?

[chinggay]

Is it worth it to get an airport extreme card?
I've been toying around with the idea for a while and I can't decide. What do you guys think?

[Zauber]

Hi Chinggi...

IMHO, you should ask yourself first the question - is it really a necessity now? Do you travel a lot with your book and most of the time stay in places where there are wireless access available?

It's just a matter of right purpose & having more than enough moolah to buy it.

Good luck in your decision.

:2cents:

[togi]

It is very much worth it to get the aiport extreme card, but the real question is will you use it?

do you find yourself wanting to surf in places where there is wireless access? If so, then maybe its about time you give yourself a treat.


:roll:

[berniej]

I was in the same conundrum when I was buying my iBook. But when I realized that most of the places I hang out has wi-fi access *and* I'm an internet junkie, I decided to splurge and get the AirPort card anyway (back then it added 6.5K to the total cost of my 'Book but what the heck!).

It turned out to be a good decision since I frequently stay at Greenbelt 3 during my "coding" days to wait for 7:00 PM and the AirPort card has helped me while away the time. Also, my wife's office is "unwired" so I can still surf while waiting for her to get off work.

To answer your question: Yes, get it if you think you can maximize its use. If you think that you'll only get to use it once a month, better have second thoughts about it... but if you think you'll get to use it at least twice a week or more, then it will be a life saver!

[Gomi]

the orinoco card is a good alternative and cheaper too

[tyler durden]

i heard orinoco cards are not compatible with OS X. is this true? so an airport card is the only choice to go wireless?

[Henjie]

Originally posted by tyler durden
i heard orinoco cards are not compatible with OS X. is this true? so an airport card is the only choice to go wireless?

There are a couple of third-party OS X drivers for Orinoco-based wireless PC cards: an open-source (free) driver and another one from IOXperts ($20).

The AirPort/AirPort Extreme cards are not the only choices if you're planning to go wireless with your PowerBook. TiBooks and AlBooks have one PC Card/CardBus slot each, and there are a number of cheaper third-party 802.11b (AirPort) and 802.11g (AirPort Extreme) CardBus cards with official OS X drivers. Some of the available OS X-compatible 802.11g CardBus cards are listed in one of my posts here. :-)

The advantages of going with wireless PC cards are better range and lower prices. Not as elegant a solution as the Apple AirPort/AirPort Extreme cards though (installed internally, completely out of sight). I guess you can't have it all. ;-)


~Henjie

[Edited on 5-13-2004 by Henjie]

[penmanila]

the engenius wireless pc card i traded off to adel is supposed to be an extra-powerful card rated at 200w vs. the usual 100w (don't ask me what they mean). i've tested it, and it really is strong. the downside is, you need an ioxperts driver for it (which i also bought).

if you have no other option (like if you have an original pre-blueberry imac), then you'll have to go with a USB wireless adapter (one of which i also just sold).

but tyhe point is, there are alternatives to airport, though none quite as elegant.

[Adel]

Originally posted by penmanila
the engenius wireless pc card i traded off to adel is supposed to be an extra-powerful card rated at 200w vs. the usual 100w (don't ask me what they mean). i've tested it, and it really is strong. the downside is, you need an ioxperts driver for it (which i also bought).

The man's right. The Engenius card is one strong mother. I didn't even know it carried twice the rated strength - just found out now - and all I knew was, full bars at 80 feet, when I used to get 2/3 of the strength at 2 feet with my old Airport-TiBook setup.