Airport reception compared to titanium powerbook

hi
just wondering if the aluminium powerbooks have better airport reception than the titanium model, as i currently have the 500mhz model and the reception is really bad compared to the ibook i used to have.
thanks andy

I never had any issues with my 17" Powerbook. I would say that your chances of having problems with Aluminum or plastic are about even with Titanium. The issue is not so much the material, as the potential for corrupt preferences, and problems of casing blocking some of the signal getting in that an external antenna could fix. Amazingly, you'll find the iMac Intel Core2duo is having airport problems, on this board:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3694890#3694890
But as you see, I have the ability to receive 5 more networks with my iMac Intel Core2duo than I did before with my other Macs. Suffice it to say your mileage may vary by machine, not by model.

Similar Messages

Awaiting my Apple TV - How does WiFi reception compare to your Macs?

My Apple TV is due to arrive Monday. So happy to finally be getting one. I have lots of videos, music, and podcasts ready in iTunes!
Unfortunately, my living room is the opposite of the house, from my airport express. Today I was doing some testing with my Powerbook at that far corner where the Apple TV will be.
The Powerbook steamed videos up to about 2200kbps without much problem. Things greater than that wasn't too successful.
Would this be a good comparison to how the Apple TV will do, since I had my Powerbook the same distance from the AE, or might the Apple TV do a little better, since it's specifically designed for this and also has more power than my Powerbook.
Final question: How do you guys find the airport reception compares on the Apple TV to your Macs? I'm hoping maybe the Apple TV has a bit stronger signal than my Powerbook resulting in ability to stream even higher bitrate stuff.
Thanks for your help. I know I should buy a new wireless N Airport, but I'd prefer to wait a couple months and save up for it.

Actually you are quite right, I spoke without thinking. I would think it is mostly aluminium actually, although from an external appearance only the edges are Aluminium, the top is plastic and the bottom is a sort of rubber. I understand the casing is also the units heat sink so I'm guessin' it's aluminium under the plastic and rubber.
However all that said. While I was waiting for my tv's I did much the same as you with my MBP (Aluminium) and my sons MB (plastic), at the time I got surprisingly better results on the MB and when the tv's came I found I got as good as a connection as I got with the MB (couldn't really tell if it was better, it did the job though), whereas the MBP had struggled in these places.

Airport, WPA2 and Titanium PowerBook wont connect

I have a friend who visits my place occasionally with a Titanium PowerBook. I have an airport network running WPA2 encryption, but the Titanium PowerBook wont connect to my network.
If I downgrade my network to WPA it will connect fine. This is despite the fact that I have set the airport to allow connections with either WPA or WPA2.
Does anybody have any suggestions on what I should do?
Thanks
Charlie

But you need to make sure your friend has the latest AirPort 4.2 update on the Titanium to get WPA support."
I replied to the wrong person, but...
The statement above is not true... WPA Support is available in AirPort 3.2/3.3 and later (depending on whether you have an Extreme or non-Extreme card respectively according to a quick Internet search). WPA2 Support requires AirPort 4.2. If you set the base station to support both WPA and WPA2 then any wireless client that supports WPA or WPA2 should be able to access the network. Your mileage may vary.

We have an old titanium PowerBook that will not connect to our AirPort Extreme network. What gives.

We have an old titanium PowerBook that will easily connect to any WiFi cafe or hotel network, but will not connect to our AirPort Extreme network. What gives.
When the Apple Tec. installed our network for our 3 iMAXs, he couldn't it to connect either. Of course our two iPads have no trouble connecting.
We are also having trouble getting it to upgrade from OS 10.5.8 to 10.6, even though I have a Snow Leopard up date family pack.

What is your Wireless Security setting on the network? Since you are running Leopard, I may not have the desired answer, but some of the Airport-equipped laptops, like the TiBooks, are said not to support all of the settings. I have an AE network which supports b and g, with "WPA2 Personal" settings and the TiBooks connect with that one OK with 811.b Airport.
Oh, and no way to upgrade beyond 10.5.8 Leopard for PPC machines like the Titanium G4 Powerbooks, as 10.6 and above require Intel processors.
EDIT: I didn't notice this, but the TiBooks may be connecting with WPA encryption on my network, as I have the following display on my settings:

Airport Extreme and Titanium PowerBook

My Titanium PowerBook with 10.3 doesn't connect to my new Airport Extreme automatically. I have to enter the password every time I start up. I'm using WEP. How can I get it to connect automatically?
thanks.

Unfortunately I can't follow these instructions. I don't have a list of preferred networks, I guess because I have 10.3.
Sorry, I don't have 10.3, so I can't confirm "preferred networks" availability before 10.4.
I changed the base station to WPA2, but when I try to connect with the PowerBook with 10.3, it says that the base station does not support WPA2. So I guess I have to use WEP.
Here are the minimum requirements for either WPA or WPA2...
Minumum Requirements for WPA
o 802.11g AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) w/firmware 5.5, or
o 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) w/firmware 7.0, or
o AirPort Express Base Station (AX) w/firmware 6.1
o AirPort Extreme or AirPort clients running Mac OS X 10.3 or later
o AirPort for Mac or AirPort for Windows 3.3
Minimum Requirements for WPA2
o 802.11g AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) w/firmware 5.7, or
o 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) w/firmware 7.0, or
o AirPort Express Base Station (AX) w/firmware 6.3
o AirPort Extreme clients running Mac OS X 10.3 or later
o AirPort for Mac or AirPort for Windows 4.2 or AirPort Utility 5.0

Sudden and severe loss in AirPort reception

I use my TiBook at my desk (12 feet from wireless router) and on my couch (9 feet from wireless router). AirPort reception has been very strong (always five bars) for more than two years in these locations. I was even getting good, consistent reception throughout my entire condo. I have moved/added no furniture nor any other possible sources of interference.
Suddenly, reception is severely fluctuating and impacting network communications. I am never getting five bars, now. Reception varies wildly and quickly: 15 seconds of four bars, followed by 10 seconds of no network connection, followed by 20 seconds of two bars, etc. This continues even if nothing changes—for example, if I step away from the TiBook and watch the screen from several feet away.
I have tried the following without results: reseating the AirPort card and confirming the antenna is securely attached, pressing against the inside of the battery compartment to reseat one antenna, rebooting the machine (several times), small adjustments to the router antennae, subtle repositioning of the router, reseting the router, setting wireless communications from G to the supposedly more stable B, trying several channels other than the default channel 10. Nothing helps.
I have been reading about connectivity issues, but nothing suggests I should be having AirPort troubles when only 9 feet away from the router! I have run out of ideas. What am I missing?
J.

And another afterthought: I just picked up on rereading your post that you live in a condo. That suggests the possibility that someone in an adjacent or nearby unit may have installed something new in their unit that has caused increased interference for you. You obviously have no control over that — perhaps not even the ability to discover whether it's true. If you can't find any indication that either your router or your Airport card is malfunctioning, you may need to switch to using a wired connection, inconvenient as it may seem.
In my own home (which is several hundred feet from any external interference source), I was stymied for a long time by limited wireless range to distant parts of the house, porch, deck, etc., and I couldn't face having to run ethernet cables all through my existing walls. I solved the problem with two of these ($48 for the pair, shipping included, on Ebay). They work extremely well in my situation, but they might be vulnerable to power line noise in yours; I don't know for sure. Of course if you only use your Powerbook in the same room with your router, using a simple patch cable to connect them wouldn't be much of an inconvenience compared to having your connection dropped unpredictably.

Wretched airport reception on new Mac Mini

Me and this Mac Mini are not getting on at all.
I've set this machine up right next to my iMac G5. Both are accessing the same Airport Express wireless router that is in the family room down the hall about 15 feet.
The iMac G5 is downloading at 6x the speed of the Mac Mini. To download the same file from the same site the iMac G5 d/led at 125 KB/sec while the Mac Mini then got 24-25 KB/sec. Just to make sure, I then tried out my iBook, and it also d/l'd at 125 KB/sec (the file was cyberduck).
I tried to just transfer files from the iMac G5 to the mac mini using wireless, with similar results.
Have tried moving the machine all around the room, right now it is perched by itself on a dresser with no gain in performance.
I hope I have a bum unit, or one whose antenna has come loose. If not, there's going to be a real problem with the new Mac Mini.
Already I have had to use an ethernet cable to link the mini to the iMacG5 because the Mac Mini's airport reception is so bad that it can't stream music or video from iMac--four feet away.
Ouchy. Really looking for a report from another owner of the new mini so I can tell whether I have bum machine, or if these are the new titanium powerbooks.

Could you guys with the mini problems run the ping test? This will make it clear if you are having the same or a different problem as the iMac crowd. I suspect that the problem is the same.
Open Terminal and type
ping -c 30 <your router IP address>
you will get 30 pings on 1 second intervals something like this
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=167.164 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=120.104 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=73.494 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=26.472 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.452 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1.475 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=4.092 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=2.442 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=1.459 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=1.532 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=250.869 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=221.416 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=175.034 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=128.510 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=1.439 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=1.466 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=1.472 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=1.538 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=1.496 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=1.502 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=249.518 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=202.338 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=155.823 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=23 ttl=64 time=112.687 ms
The typical sequence is 6 pings of about 1 mS followed by 4 pings of about 250, 200, 150 and 100 mS. This 10 ping pattern then repeats.
- gws

Poor MacBook Pro Airport reception?

Just upgraded from a 12 inch PowerBook to new 15 inch MacBook Pro - and my Airport signal strength has crashed as a result. Compared to the PowerBook reception is now so poor that I often have trouble connecting to the Internet at all. Signal strength showing on MacStumbler with the PB was generally about 75, it's now (using iStumbler on the MBP, because it's a Universal app) at 50. Is this a known issue with the MacBooks, and is there any solution? Or could it even be a problem with the specific airport card that's installed in the MacBook?
MacBook Pro 2.0 x 2 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 1GB RAM

Hi,
I am having the same issue with my iBook G4, it has terrible airport reception, however I am using an airport extreme card which I installed about 2 years back when I got the iBook.
My boyfriend gets excellent reception on his (PC) laptop but using MacStumbler signal strength is only about 25-35 on my iBook.
Other factors:
The reception is just as bad for me on other networks (for example at my boyfriends house I have to virtually sit on top of the router to get reception and even then its dodgy and drops out all the time.
I have removed the Aiport Extreme card, cleaned it and put it back in and re-connected the ariel cable.
I have downloaded the latest software updates.
I have 2 routers (in a 1 bedroom flat!!!) I thought this might improve things, so I have a Belkin (I think) wireless modem/router in the hall AND an Airport Extreme base station in the living room acting as a bridge. Not a great deal of improvement was seen.
I have an iMac G4 in the living room also and the reception on that is fantastic.
Can anyone help or have any suggestions?

Airport reception/range issues

I recently had an apple authorized service center intsall a Airport/Bluetooth card in my Dual core 2.0 G5. I am replacing a Quicksilver Dual 1ghz G4. The airport reception is much worse on my G5 than my G4. I was hoping that it would be better. I am in an office type situation and some of the networks that used to show are no longer showing up. Wondering if anyone else is experienceing the same thing, or if this might be the result of a bad install.
m

The older G5's had the Airport antenna external to the case, while the new G5's have the airport antenna internal.
Your older Quicksilver, while having the Airport antenna internal, was not inside a all metal case. This reminds me a great deal of the laptop Airport issues. The Pismo a plastic case and internal antenna ran rings around the Titanium's internal Airport antenna. The reason was the Titanium's case was made from metal, and only had a small plastic port in its side for the antenna to radiate from. It was and is a dog of Airport performance.
We ended up taking out the internal Airport cards from all of the G4 powerbooks, and replacing them with third party Wireless cards that plugged in externally via the PC Card slot. Once that was done, Wireless performance was excellent.
Back to your G5, people have reported both good and poor wireless performance. I suspect that those in marginal environments are seeing terrible connections, while those in high signal strength areas are doing ok.
You may want to consider an external wireless solution. Some folks have opted for either a USB based, or Ethernet based wireless bridge/client to make the connection. This allows you to have an external antenna, that you can place in an optimal position.
Tom N.

Adding Airport card to 867mhz Ti Powerbook?

Hi,
I have a 867mhz Titanium Powerbook that i need to add an Airport card too, how do do this and what will it (roughly) cost?

Just an added note to eww's info: I checked ebay a couple of months ago, and people were selling supposedly new/sealed cards for over $100, used a little under that.
Make sure you get an ORIGINAL AP card, NOT an Extreme or the newer version. You may also want to consider a PCMCIA wireless card (fits in PC card slot). Most people get better distance, they're cheaper, and you can get the "g" style (54mbps instead of 11). The drawback is that it takes up that slot and sticks out the side 3/4 of an inch or so. Some brands work seamlessly with Apple's built-in AP software.

Horrible airport reception in new mac pro's?

I just received my mac pro late last week. I love everything about it except it's airport reception is really bad. I seem to be getting a lot of packet loss and trouble using it for much of anything. Even browsing the web is super slow.
I've got wireless devices all throughout my house and have a macbook pro sitting really close to it that connections to the network at full strength.
Is this to be expected? I've been doing some research and it seems some of the past models have had pretty bad reception too. Right now my work around is hooking it up to my MBP and using connection sharing but would love another solution.
Thanks!

I don't know about the new Nehalem Macs but I've owned both the first gen Mac Pro and now the Early 2008 version and can only say that the Airport reception is basically terrible. Even after switching antennas this Mac Pro only gets 60% reception while my old old AGP-Sawtooth which lies only 3 feet away gets 100% reception. On the old Sawtooth I can pick up 10 different networks, on the Mac Pro I only get my own and one other with a very weak signal. I did extensive testing with my local Apple dealer in his store and we both came to the conclusion that the Mac pros have crappy airport reception. We compared 3 Mac pros to iMacs and MacBooks in various locations in relation to their Wi-Fi router and the Mac Pros all showed much weaker signal strength that fell to useless in certain locations while the Macbooks still had four bars.
I've had to situate my router to be on the floor directly above me in order to get three solid bars, while the sawtooth gets full signal strength only three feet away from the Mac Pro. The only solution suggested by my Apple Dealer was a tad pricey but might be very effective: http://www.quickertek.com/
Good Luck.

Poor airport reception

I'm getting terrible airport reception. Yesterday I was in a room with two other powerbooks and they both got great reception and I couldn't stay connected for more than ten seconds. This is not the first time. Here in my office I can't use my powerbook wireless but other people can. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance. Oh, I have a powerbook 15 inch, 1.25 Ghz.
Rick Bursky
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

I haven't any suggestions, but I seem to have exactly the same problem with my new powerbook. I can't achieve anything like the reception quality that I am getting from my 12 inch Powerbook. I virtually have to be in the same room as the base station to get decent reception, whereas I can use my 12 in ch powerbook anywhere in the house or garden.
I'm getting terrible airport reception. Yesterday I
was in a room with two other powerbooks and they both
got great reception and I couldn't stay connected for
more than ten seconds. This is not the first time.
Here in my office I can't use my powerbook wireless
but other people can. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance. Oh, I have a powerbook 15 inch,
1.25 Ghz.
Rick Bursky
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)
1.67GHz Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Poor Airport Reception in MBP

I just bought the 15" 2.16 GHZ MacBook Pro 2 days ago and have notcied the airport reception is flaky. When I am 2 rooms away from my router, I get 4/5 bars and then when I go downstairs, it fluctualtes from 1 bar to 4 bars - very inconsistent.
This never used to happen with my titanium nor does this happen with my Dad's iBook or Sony Vaio.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Should I take it back to the store?
Thanks.
Macbook Pro 15" 2.16 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I have genuine Airport Signal issues with my MacBook Pro, when sitting with the laptop IN CONTACT WITH the airport base station I can't get more than 75% signal, with it 2 feet away I'm at 50%, much more than 5 feet and I'm down to 20% and dropping signal regularly. Through walls? Not a chance.
Obviously, this is not normal behavior for a MacBook Pro, so I will be taking it in to the apple store - I just know that they are gonna ship it back to apple, and I don't want to be without my machine for a week, so I haven't quite got around to it yet.
I have tried multiple apple-branded airports, including the extreme and express I both own and severals others, as well as multiple 3rd party base stations. Signals and connection stability have been unusably poor in all cases.
I have ran all the latest software updates and firmware patches, and have wiped the hard drive and re-installed the entire system from scratch. No change.
I haven't found many other people complaining of similar problems, so I suspect I'm just unlucky. On the other hand, perhaps my antenna isn't plugged in or something simple. Even if that was the case, I doubt that the apple store itself would fix it so I gear up for shipment back to apple.
Sigh.
MacBook Pro 2.0ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2GB RAM, 100GB HD

Poor Airport Reception - Antenna Problems

I get very sporadic airport reception with my PBTi connected to an Airport base station (clear/ice). It seems to be related to the internal antenna wire. In fact, I have found that if I take out my battery, the reception becomes tolerable, but is still ridiculously weak. I am about 20' from the base station and the only way to get good reception is to be a couple feet away.
Has anyone found a way to truly improve the antenna function? It does improve for a short while if a press the sides of the battery cavitity, but this is not workable if I am unplugged.

Being line of sight does not necessarily mean good comms. If you're in the wrong spot with the wrong conditions you can get 'destructive interference' - the same signal traveling over multiple paths can be added together and cancel out the signal - That's how noise reducing headphones work!However if you can move the Powerbook around and still get the issue then the problem lies elsewhere....
mrtotes

G4 Titanium Powerbook being offered

Hello,
I was looking to purchase a 15 inch G4 Titanium Powerbook from a classmate of mine. I do know that it is an older model, being that there are technology advances made every year. The specs are below. He is offering to sell it for $500.00 Is this a good deal? Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Currently it has Mac OS X Version 10.3.9 Panther 1Ghz processor, 512mb Ram, ( can be 2G,) 60 GB Hard Drive.....
Included in the sale are 2 power adapters and two batteries.

Hi ciscokidbj21,
First of all, Welcome to the  Discussion Forums!
That models specs and an est. current value can be found at EveryMac.com's page Apple PowerBook G4 1.0 (Ti) Specs (M8859LL/A). They est. the current value of it at $700-850. Personally, I agree with eww's response above and think you could do better with a little shopping around if there is any problems with the PowerBook at all.
EveryMac's site certainly is a good general reference for prices but tends to be on the high side in my opinion. It will suffice though to help compare value from model to model though.
hope that helps some,
littleshoulders
edit: You said "the 1Ghz processor is slow isn't it?
Well, it is fast enough to run the latest OS, Leopard 10.5 though at the low end of its performance most likely. Todays desktop Macs are pushing 3Ghz so I would have to say in the near future even a 1Ghz machine will be considered quite slow. Of course this comes from one who uses an old iMac G3 350 10.3.9 (though I'm still happy but not as happy as if I had a iMac 3Ghz machine...lol!
Also, that model you are looking to purchase was the first PowerBook to come standard with a superdrive capable of burning dvd's which is a big plus if it is in good working order.
Message was edited by: littleshoulders

Airport reception compared to titanium powerbook

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for