[Ti] What is this going to do to Apple, and its laptops?

[Kynan Shook]

Massimo Marino <Massimo_Marino at lbl.gov> writes:
> sorry but I do not see the point. I said: you have to change card. The
> fact that in the PowerBook the card comes pre-installed does not change
> the equation: I do not need to change the motherboard: I have to change
> the card. The problem I think relies on the antenna: the one in the
> Airport card is not enough for Airport Extreme, hence no simple swap
> Airport card. Use an external one.

Here's the problem; the Airport card slot can only handle an 802.11b 
card, and only the card from Apple.  From what I've heard, the bus that 
connects the Airport card to the rest of the computer only runs at 
about 22 Mbps, under half the speed of 802.11a or g.  So you'd have to 
install a 3rd-party wireless PC card.  This is exactly what you'd have 
to do with Centrino; both would leave you with some (possibly useless) 
technology inside your computer (the 802.11b component, whether on the 
MLB or in the Airport card), plus an extra PC card with 802.11a or g 
and an antenna hanging out the side.

FWIW, Centrino will soon ship with one of the faster 802.11 variants (I 
forget which, but I think g), but the chipset wasn't ready soon enough 
to be included on the first version.



Kynan Shook
kshook at mac.com
http://homepage.mac.com/kshook/index.html