is it wise to get a complete airportexpress kit with my macbookpro or will a cheaper router do fine for my cable connection?
like what are the pro's and cons of it?
i'll be sharing it with one windows pc.
greets
i ordered an airport express along with the macbook
a cheaper router is just that , cheaper.
some routers dont support apple too well, others do just fine.
i like the express because its small, works with most cable and dsl providers perfectly fine, and not to mention has the quality and functionality your macbook demands
The only routers that a crappy ones are the el cheapo brands. D-Link, Linksys, even Microsoft one will work (and should be really cheap seeing as MS pulled out of the networking scene and they are discontinued).
The only router I've ever had trouble with is this on that my girlfriend is renting from Bell Canada. For some reason, every so often it will completely cut out. The wireless connection is still there, but there is no route to the internet. Turning off Airport and turning it back on does the trick though; otherwise, you have to wait 10 - 20 minutes for it to start working again.
Quote:
some routers dont support apple too well, others do just fine.
How do they 'not support Apple well?' They are supporting a standard, either 802.11b, 802.11g, or ethernet (which is 802.xx or something like that IIRC). There is no 'Mac or PC' difference unless Apple is deviating from the standard (or the PCs for that matter, but there are enough PC companies out there that I don't think they are in collusion to deviate in a certain way... 'SpeedBooster' is a completely different discussion if that's what you are alluding to).
Quote:
i like the express because its small, works with most cable and dsl providers perfectly fine, and not to mention has the quality and functionality your macbook demands
It's small and it works fine. Those are both great items to consider when weighing the decision of routers, but I don't see how the MacBook Pro 'demands' a product be Apple-branded to have quality (or functionality... you could get more functionality out of turning an old PC + Linux/Unix/BSD + 2 ethernet cards + an 802.11g card into a router).
i've delt with routers that when contacting technical support told me "well we dont have much support for the osx" same with some internet providers. granted my troubles were 3-4 years ago but thats all i'm going by.
second- my last comment was meant as a light hearted joke.
i've delt with routers that when contacting technical support told me "well we dont have much support for the osx" same with some internet providers. granted my troubles were 3-4 years ago but thats all i'm going by.
second- my last comment was meant as a light hearted joke.
whats wrong with you?
Sorry dude. I was taking that a little too seriously I guess. But that "support for the osx" is a bunch of BS on their end. They just don't have a script for the phone monkeys to read to you. Most of the time the services support OS X just fine, but they don't want to bother with 'official support.' But it's not like their Windows 'support' is something to be desired either. One time many years ago I was having a problem with my cable modem (my parents' computer). They just read me a bunch of scripts over the phone which I knew were bogus. I finally got them to send someone out.... and all he did was run through the phone script in person and tell me that I needed to re-install Windows when it didn't work. (This guy also told me that in the 'future' EVERYTHING on the computer would be hooked together using USB... even the processor and memory... )
the reason OS doesn't matter with routers is twofold: (a) as mentioned, the networking technology itself has been standardized; macs, pcs, linux, unix, (all modern OSes that i can think of) and routers all talk the same networking language. (b) configuring virtually all routers involves opening a www page to the router's ip (often 192.168.0.1 or similar). Since the networking stuff itself is common and the configuration can happen over a webpage, the router doesn't care what kind of computer you have; the configuration page was made into www just to avoid OS-support type issues. but, the support guys have to know how to configure your network card; which does differ per OS (and thus the lack of "alternate OS" support). the default configuration for network cards in most OSes (that i can think of) is DHCP, which is what most routers want and expect it to be. technically, the router itself doesn't care about your computer or what OS its running; it can work regardless.
its a little hairier if you use a USB port on the router (if one is provided); support guys would have to be familiar with the typical ethernet card and a USB->ethernet conversion (which isn't necessarily easy/obvious for all OSes).
so, to answer the original question; It doesn't matter what router you get, as long as the router itself works. I have a linksys, and I think it was about $40. If you can find a cheaper one than Apple's, get it.
so, to answer the original question; It doesn't matter what router you get, as long as the router itself works. I have a linksys, and I think it was about $40. If you can find a cheaper one than Apple's, get it.
The AirPort Express and AirTunes is phenomenal, especially with the latest release which lets you play synchronized audio through multiple speakers at once. I only started using this feature recently to stream music to my bedroom and it is and I wonder why I didn't do it sooner.
Comments
Originally posted by MikeVonkPro
hey guys
i'm new so go easy on me
is it wise to get a complete airportexpress kit with my macbookpro or will a cheaper router do fine for my cable connection?
like what are the pro's and cons of it?
i'll be sharing it with one windows pc.
greets
i ordered an airport express along with the macbook
a cheaper router is just that , cheaper.
some routers dont support apple too well, others do just fine.
i like the express because its small, works with most cable and dsl providers perfectly fine, and not to mention has the quality and functionality your macbook demands
Originally posted by Elixir
a cheaper router is just that , cheaper.
The only routers that a crappy ones are the el cheapo brands. D-Link, Linksys, even Microsoft one will work (and should be really cheap seeing as MS pulled out of the networking scene and they are discontinued).
The only router I've ever had trouble with is this on that my girlfriend is renting from Bell Canada. For some reason, every so often it will completely cut out. The wireless connection is still there, but there is no route to the internet. Turning off Airport and turning it back on does the trick though; otherwise, you have to wait 10 - 20 minutes for it to start working again.
some routers dont support apple too well, others do just fine.
How do they 'not support Apple well?' They are supporting a standard, either 802.11b, 802.11g, or ethernet (which is 802.xx or something like that IIRC). There is no 'Mac or PC' difference unless Apple is deviating from the standard (or the PCs for that matter, but there are enough PC companies out there that I don't think they are in collusion to deviate in a certain way... 'SpeedBooster' is a completely different discussion if that's what you are alluding to).
i like the express because its small, works with most cable and dsl providers perfectly fine, and not to mention has the quality and functionality your macbook demands
It's small and it works fine. Those are both great items to consider when weighing the decision of routers, but I don't see how the MacBook Pro 'demands' a product be Apple-branded to have quality (or functionality... you could get more functionality out of turning an old PC + Linux/Unix/BSD + 2 ethernet cards + an 802.11g card into a router).
what the hell are u up my ass for?
i've delt with routers that when contacting technical support told me "well we dont have much support for the osx" same with some internet providers. granted my troubles were 3-4 years ago but thats all i'm going by.
second- my last comment was meant as a light hearted joke.
whats wrong with you?
Originally posted by Elixir
pyr3- are you having your period?
what the hell are u up my ass for?
i've delt with routers that when contacting technical support told me "well we dont have much support for the osx" same with some internet providers. granted my troubles were 3-4 years ago but thats all i'm going by.
second- my last comment was meant as a light hearted joke.
whats wrong with you?
Sorry dude. I was taking that a little too seriously I guess. But that "support for the osx" is a bunch of BS on their end. They just don't have a script for the phone monkeys to read to you. Most of the time the services support OS X just fine, but they don't want to bother with 'official support.' But it's not like their Windows 'support' is something to be desired either. One time many years ago I was having a problem with my cable modem (my parents' computer). They just read me a bunch of scripts over the phone which I knew were bogus. I finally got them to send someone out.... and all he did was run through the phone script in person and tell me that I needed to re-install Windows when it didn't work. (This guy also told me that in the 'future' EVERYTHING on the computer would be hooked together using USB... even the processor and memory...
its a little hairier if you use a USB port on the router (if one is provided); support guys would have to be familiar with the typical ethernet card and a USB->ethernet conversion (which isn't necessarily easy/obvious for all OSes).
so, to answer the original question; It doesn't matter what router you get, as long as the router itself works. I have a linksys, and I think it was about $40. If you can find a cheaper one than Apple's, get it.
Originally posted by thuh Freak
so, to answer the original question; It doesn't matter what router you get, as long as the router itself works. I have a linksys, and I think it was about $40. If you can find a cheaper one than Apple's, get it.
thank you :-)
Originally posted by BRussell
Remember though that the airport express can send iTunes music to speakers, if you ever wanted to use it for that. Other routers won't do that.
Doubles as a printserver too.