If your two minis are next to each other, and you have a spare ethernet cable, you could share your airport connection from the Intel Mini through ethernet so the PPC Mini has internet. If that solution does not work, you might want to consider an external wireless card.
Haha, I don't have 2 minis, I have 0 minis. I just don't want to pay for an Aiport card on a PC I'll be putting 5 inhes from an ethernet switch. Thought I could sell the card to my buddy who has an old mini. I sure wish Apple let people make choices...
I'm sure it would be cheaper for both them and me if they had a version where they didn't put any wireless in at all, hard-soldered or not.
I don't think we can know whether it is cheaper to just make all the mobos the same, or to spend money keeping track of which have the wireless and which don't, as well as the extra cost of differential pricing. If the wireless chip only costs Apple $6, then it may indeed be cheaper to just put it in all of the mobos.
The MacWorld May '06 issue's expanded view of the Mac mini shows that the Airport module is a separate card. Whether the card is the same as others, I couldn't tell you. They don't show the bluetooth card connector, but they seem to say that too is a separate module. I don't know if that module is a standard one or not, in the past, the same Bluetooth module would work in different machines. I don't know what the cards themselves should look like as I've never personally had either.
My understanding is that the new mini teardown is quite a bit more involved than the previous version, so unless you are a good tinkerer, it might not be worth the work.
Comments
- Noah
Originally posted by dalangalma
Bummer... why do they do that?
cost.
Originally posted by dalangalma
I'm sure it would be cheaper for both them and me if they had a version where they didn't put any wireless in at all, hard-soldered or not.
It wouldn't fit, either. Remember, you're buying a 'mini.'
Originally posted by dalangalma
I'm sure it would be cheaper for both them and me if they had a version where they didn't put any wireless in at all, hard-soldered or not.
I don't think we can know whether it is cheaper to just make all the mobos the same, or to spend money keeping track of which have the wireless and which don't, as well as the extra cost of differential pricing. If the wireless chip only costs Apple $6, then it may indeed be cheaper to just put it in all of the mobos.
You should recommend to your friend the number of USB wireless receivers.
Originally posted by MacSuperiority
pretty sure its on the mobo
The MacWorld May '06 issue's expanded view of the Mac mini shows that the Airport module is a separate card. Whether the card is the same as others, I couldn't tell you. They don't show the bluetooth card connector, but they seem to say that too is a separate module. I don't know if that module is a standard one or not, in the past, the same Bluetooth module would work in different machines. I don't know what the cards themselves should look like as I've never personally had either.
My understanding is that the new mini teardown is quite a bit more involved than the previous version, so unless you are a good tinkerer, it might not be worth the work.