Original Airport Card
hey guys, just wondering if anyone has any tips on how to score a cheap original airport 802.11b card...it's truly criminal what the mac reseller sites and ebayers are charging for them. i can't seem to find one for less than 120 bucks when all the shipping/taxes are said and done. anyone have an extra or unused one laying around that you'd be down with selling? any leads would be great, i've got to get wireless and i can't go Extreme!
Comments
look for any with a broadcom chipset and you should be fine.
Originally posted by TigerWoods99
just buy a Buffalo WLI2-PCI-G54 card, its the exact same as the apple airport. i have one and it works flawlessly, around 40 bucks.
look for any with a broadcom chipset and you should be fine.
My guess is that it's a 802.11g (i.e. Airport Extreme) card. I am pretty sure the original Airports were Lucent/Orinoco/Prism cards with some modifications.
If you have a PowerMac (tower), then you can look for an internal PCI card to insert into one of the open slots. I just picked up a Belkin F5D7000 802.11g card for 37.95 from OfficeMax. Be careful when looking for the Belkin cards...be sure that they SPECIFICALLY state they support the Mac. The first card I picked up was the same model and the exact same bar code number, but the packaging did NOT list Mac and this card did not work. When I returned it Staples I then tried Best Buy, then Office Max. Office Max had the card with the Mac logo on it.
I also have a TiBook that had internal airport (802.11b). The card died and I wasn't paying that much for another one. Besides, the range was terrible with the internal card anyway. I searched around and located a Motorola PCMCIA (ard bus) card that used the broadcom chipset. That one was also 802.11g -- Model WN825G (SKU 6-12572-09535-5). That card was also about $40 and I found that at a CompUSA in Norwalk Connecticut when I was there on a trip.
As far as I know, you can NOT replace the internal card with anything except for an Apple card. So if you have an older iMac or an iBook, you'll have to put out for the internal card or find something that runs off the USB port.
BTW: the because the Belkin and Motorola cards both use the Broadcom chipset, they also use the native Airport drivers, so there is no software to install to get these cards working -- truly plug-n-play!
Your Welcome!