Internal Airport or PC card: which is best?

gabidgabid
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'm thinking of finally taking the plunge into the wonderful world of WiFi, but I'm wondering what my best way to do so is. I have a Rev. B TiBook (550 mhz) and, while I've read that it has slightly better Airport reception than the apparently horrible Rev. A reception, but would I be better off getting a WiFi PC card? Have people found these to be more powerful? Which models seem to work best with a Mac (I'm running 10.2.4)? I see that Asante supports Mac and IOXperts sells a driver so you can use an officially non-Mac compatible card with a Mac.



Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    fred_ljfred_lj Posts: 607member
    I had the Orinoco Gold PC card for my Pismo (while running OS 9) and was a little disappointed to learn it didn't work in X, so I sold it and got an internal card. The TiBook I just bought has the AirPort card built-in, so I'm content with this for now. But when 802.11g becomes more standard (which hopefully it will and not PC-lovin'people's 802.11a), I might plunk down for a .11g compatible card.



    If I were you, I would just find a 802.11g card and be there now! Only thing is, most wi-fi cards have the antenna that extends beyond the case (by only 1-2 cm); with the TiBook that could get frustrating (at least for my lazy self - didn't like taking the cards out) in terms of casing it up.



    Lots of options to choose from
  • Reply 2 of 7
    gabidgabid Posts: 477member
    If I were you, I would just find a 802.11g card and be there now! Only thing is, most wi-fi cards have the antenna that extends beyond the case (by only 1-2 cm); with the TiBook that could get frustrating (at least for my lazy self - didn't like taking the cards out) in terms of casing it up.



    Lots of options to choose from [/B][/QUOTE]



    Not a bad idea. But will I be able to take full advantage of 802.11g if it's on a PC card? Also, are there any big driver issues with most of the "g" cards out there.



    Still, I might go with "b" just to save a few bucks, so any other advice on those cards would be great.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    My experience on a variety of Powerbooks is that a PCMIA card will get you much better range than an internal Airport card.



    I have no clue about 802.11g - but for range alone, don't go internal.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    gabidgabid Posts: 477member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Pie Man

    My experience on a variety of Powerbooks is that a PCMIA card will get you much better range than an internal Airport card.



    I have no clue about 802.11g - but for range alone, don't go internal.



    That's sort of what I expected to hear. So any recomended brands? And have you found the drivers sold to make PC PC cards ( ) work on a Mac to be reliable?
  • Reply 5 of 7
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    There's a site that has OSX drivers, ported from *BSD, that will run virtually every card out there. See, there's like 50 'brands' but they all use one of about three chipsets.



    Things to look for are power consumption and range. Research it a bit.



    I went with an internal card on my 867 PBG4, simply for the convenience of having it built in, and guaranteed-to-work OS X drivers.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    I have used a Farallon Skyline card - works like a charm. It come with a CD for OS 9 drivers, and there are open source drivers which have worked perfectly under OS 10 up to the most recent release (at least in the machines I have tried it on).



    Link
  • Reply 7 of 7
    gabidgabid Posts: 477member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Pie Man

    I have used a Farallon Skyline card - works like a charm. It come with a CD for OS 9 drivers, and there are open source drivers which have worked perfectly under OS 10 up to the most recent release (at least in the machines I have tried it on).



    Link



    That looks good. I think I'll download that driver and see how t works with a WiFi card I can borrow from my university.



    And then I'll convince myself that wireless access will truly help me with my dissertation research !
Sign In or Register to comment.