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Missing the PCMCIA slot cuz of cost?
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Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: san diego
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Well I'm considering looking into a wirless network for home and office... and well the Apple solutions are great but now I can buy a generic base station for $185 bucks (linksys)...
so Apple wants $300! ok I love how apple's product look... I have a new ibook... but I don't want to pay $300 bucks for an airport
so why is this in the ibook forum?
Is there anyother wireless laptop soultion for the ibook besides an airport card? Again a $100 bucks! I could have got a PCMCIA card for $45!... I love ya apple but come on... offer me a good product at a great value... especialy on somthing as mundain as a network card...
so that's my rant... and the only thing I'm bummed about with my ibook... otherwise it's the best machine I've ever owned
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
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And to think we TiBook-users over at the PowerBook forum can't figure out what to do with the PCMCIA slot on our machines. 
I think it's a measure to save cost and to separate the two lines, if you know what I mean. If the iBook was just a miniature TiBook with all the bells and whistles, well, they would kill TiBook sales. The TiBook is still selling because of its awesome styling, G4, and the few extras (PCMCIA card slot) you get with the TiBook you don't get with the iBook.
I would just get the AirPort card. I mean, it's got great integration with the Mac OS, and most PC 802.11b cards retail for upwards of $120. I know we got a D-Link card for $129 at Best Buy just a month ago.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
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The cost of the AirPort Base Station and an AirPort card does not just include the hardware of the two devices, but also the software to run and configure the devices! The support and software I got to run my AirPort Base Station at home with my iBook's AirPort card was MUCH better than the software we got at work to setup and run our WaveLAN Access Point.
And I would call my AirPort card and Base Station anything but "mundain". It is, in my experience, exciting and freeing! Some examples: now with my AirPort and iBook not only can I download lots of [not porn] pictures [/not porn] with my iBook in bed, but I can walk to one of the two nearest bus stops and actully get on the Interent and actually SEE the buses as they approach my location and choose between the two bus stops for the closest bus ( http://busview.its.washington.edu/busview_launch.jsp ). And last 4th of July we could all listen to the "radio" music on my iBook (actually Real Audio) with it's battery on the roof of my apartment building when no one could find an outlet or 8 D-Size batteries to power a boom box. Now, it wasn't really loud, but it was better than nothing.
My 2�.
-Doug
[ 08-13-2001: Message edited by: GreenMnM ]
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Pleasanton, CA
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The Apple base station comes with a 56k modem and Ethernet built-in, too.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: In my tree making cookies
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Any base station that says 802.11b somewhere on the box is compatible with Airport cards. http://www.practicallynetworked.com has every base station out there (Linksys ones are generally horrible and you wouldn't want to use that $45 card just like $2 RAM)
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Forum Regular
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Corp. America
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My Linksys WAP works great. It did need a firmware upgrade for OSX but other than that, no problems.
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I love deadlines. They make a whooshing sound as they pass by.
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Moderator  Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
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I'm a big believer in paying for quality (not to say I don't find certain Apple products a bit pricey, but I digress....) and there's a definite aura of quality about the Apple AirPort stuff.
And the absolute ease with which I was able to set up my AirPort network this weekend made the higher cost simply worth it. My AirPort Base Station arrived at 12:12 PM and I was surfing from my couch by 12:26.
Apple, the company, has a bit of hubris about some of their pricing, but overall their machines are quality and worth the price.
And seanyepez made a very good point. Apple needs to keep those margins high on the TiBook to keep the stockholders happy. And to be honest, I haven't once had the need for a PCMCIA slot....
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Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: san diego
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I do like apple products and am willing to pay for there quality...
I bring up the airport because there are a lot of options out there that seem to be based on the same technologies...
as for a PCMCIA (or lack of)... I have found several times where I could have used one... but I haven't found a time that has justified a thousand dollars more worth of machine...
they tend to be minor inconveniences:
PCMCIA card to flash card
PCMCIA to wireless internet (friend has a card I could have)
ok, so I can think of two...
but they are minor things... thank god I have USB
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Forum Regular
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Corp. America
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I love deadlines. They make a whooshing sound as they pass by.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Feb 2000
Status:
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Originally posted by graphics84:
<STRONG>Well I'm considering looking into a wirless network for home and office... and well the Apple solutions are great but now I can buy a generic base station for $185 bucks (linksys)...
so Apple wants $300! ok I love how apple's product look... I have a new ibook... but I don't want to pay $300 bucks for an airport
so why is this in the ibook forum?
Is there anyother wireless laptop soultion for the ibook besides an airport card? Again a $100 bucks! I could have got a PCMCIA card for $45!... I love ya apple but come on... offer me a good product at a great value... especialy on somthing as mundain as a network card...
so that's my rant... and the only thing I'm bummed about with my ibook... otherwise it's the best machine I've ever owned
</STRONG>
#1 why do you need a PCMCIA slot? SCSI?! the ibook includes dual USB, firewire, 10/100 BASET, and a modem. Unless you have existing SCSI devices, you are better off with IEEE-1394/firewire anyways.
#2 airport: the internal airport card from Apple is cheaper(~$80) than Orinoco & other PCMCIA based cards.
#3: base station: fine, don't buy the airport basestation. Any 802.11b/WiFi basestation should work with an airport card, providing you can configure it, or can accept the default configuration. Even so, base stations from other manufacturers are almost as expensive, and, generally, have fewer features.
(I now use an Linksys WAP-11(?) bridge which came configured by default with a 10.0.X.X address, and only had to reconfigure to save myself from migrating my LAN from 192.168.0.X to 10.0.X.X addresses. (I have a 1GHz Athlon T-Bird machine laying around which I built as a comparison to my G4/500(original.) I mainly use it for playing halflife now, as it seems slower than my G4 OS X v. Win2k...)
In any event the iBook 2001 is a decently priced/featured notebook w/a GREAT form factor & excellent battery life. (I also own a Pismo G3/500, and find myself using the iBook more often. I also own a rev. B tangerine iBook(rugged beastie.) I run OS 9.1/OS X/SuSE 7.1 The main drawback of the new iBook is its 66MHz system bus, which most users will NOT notice. Also, do yourself a favor if you run OS X, and buy the biggest SODIMM that will fit into the memory slot, I added 256M(384M total v. 640M in the Pismo) to mine for $40.)
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