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Todder · Jan 22, 2007, 02:36 PM

I am about to buy a black macbook and i was curious how you connect to the internet. does it have wireless internet capabilities for my wireless router?.

in the specs it shows Built-In 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) as the network. does that have to do with connecting to the internet?

thank you.

mduell · Jan 22, 2007, 02:56 PM

Yes, you can connect to your wireless router. Apple calls their wireless networking "Airport Extreme", but it works with all the other brands of 802.11 wireless gear. The gigabit port is for connecting to a network with an ethernet cable.

Todder · Jan 22, 2007, 03:42 PM

sweet deal.

thank you sir.

Todder · 04:03 PM

and airport extreme is built into the macbook right?

pra9ab0y · Jan 22, 2007, 04:16 PM

right!

mduell · Jan 22, 2007, 04:18 PM

Yes, the MacBook has the Airport Extreme card. It supports 802.11a, 802.11b, and 801.22n; if you pay an extra $2 to Apple in a few months you can get the driver for 802.11n.

walkerjs · Jan 22, 2007, 06:20 PM

I just got a brand new Macbook C2D and had some initial issues getting it to talk to my existing Linksys router (acting as a wireless access point). I have WEP secured it and, in addition to forgetting which key I was supposed to enter when connecting, also found that you need to add a $ to the beginning of the passkey for some reason. Once I did that it hooked right in.

Also the Airport eExtreme is pretty good at pulling in the signal. The Airport Utility told me about a whole lot more networks availabe than my employer supplied Dell does in the same area. One of these days when the weather gets better/warmer, I'm going to do some walkabout range testing to see how far I can go from my WAP with the Mac and still surf.

Todder · Jan 22, 2007, 06:31 PM

cool. thanks.

ghporter · Jan 22, 2007, 06:36 PM

Now that Todder has the info he needs, let's remember that questions not specifically about a particular Mac belong in the Networking forum. That includes how to configure wireless, how to use and manage a network, and how stuff works, as well as observations like the one by walkerjs.

Cool?

Todder · Jan 22, 2007, 06:54 PM

it was about a particular mac. but thats cool. i shall go to networking next time.

walkerjs · Jan 22, 2007, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Todder

it was about a particular mac. but thats cool. i shall go to networking next time.

Yeah...kinda was. I mean it was 'does a Macbook come with wireless and wired' and there was an answer in the form of 'yes it does, and if you get one and need to integrate it into your existing wireless net since you dropped the cost of an Airport base station into AppleCare instead here's how to do it.'

But, I too will post such advise in the proper forum in the future.

BTW Macbooks come with Bluetooth as well if that's your bag.

Oh, and do spring for the AppleCare. Notebooks travel and get jostled around. I like the idea that if this thing suddenly craps out I can hand it to the genius at the store and say 'fix this'.

ghporter · Jan 22, 2007, 09:07 PM

It's cool by me-I DID see that, whatever the title, the actual content was about MacBooks. And I concur that AppleCare is a Good Thing® for laptops!

Todder · Jan 22, 2007, 09:56 PM

apple care eh. i have been advised by a bunch of people to make sure i get it. im not really a warranty kind of guy..but if everyone is telling me to get it maybe i should listen...

Todder · Jan 22, 2007, 10:28 PM

scratch that. its too expensive.

k squared · Jan 22, 2007, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by Todder

it was about a particular mac. but thats cool. i shall go to networking next time.

Of course, you could go here too: http://www.apple.com/macbook/wireless.html

shifuimam · Jan 23, 2007, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by Todder

scratch that. its too expensive.

If you happen to have certain credit cards (e.g. a Platinum MasterCard or some AmEx cards), an extended warranty comes with your purchase through the credit card provider.

You can also get extended warranties through places like Best Buy and Fry's that generally cost less than AppleCare.

Regarding the gigabit:

You use your ethernet port to connect to your router or cable/DSL model with an ethernet cable. If you plan on using just wireless, you don't need to worry about it. The gigabit aspect of the connection is worthless unless you either have a gigabit router/switch on your home network or you're setting up a crossover connection to another computer with gigabit in order to transfer files.

Todder · Jan 24, 2007, 10:34 AM

alright. thanks.