[DKeithA]

So, I'm a computer consultant on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill. I move around campus A LOT for work. Everywhere I work on campus has excellent wireless access; my Ti Rev A did not however. I've since sold the 500MHz model and instead of buying the iBook I was planning on, I'm now considering a new Powerbook. The deciding factor will be whether or not Apple has actually improved on the wireless reception of the Powerbooks. I have searched these forums high and low, and have yet to come across a thread that comes to any conclusion on this. Outside of specualtion and rumors, how is the new Powerbook's Airport reception?

[rambo47]

Nope. The reception on my Ti 667 is about half as good as with my iBook. If they did improve it, it must have been positively abysmal before. 'Cause it sucks now.

[Sean Li]

It *has* been improved, but it's still nowhere near the range of a non-Titanium Mac. My very rough test (i.e. how far can I move in my apartment until I lose the signal) gets me about 20-30% further away from the Base Station before dropping the signal.

Unfortunately, even sitting a few feet from the Base Station (the new version as well), I don't get a full signal. There's a Cube and an iBook in the house that have significantly better reception.

[seanyepez]

My PowerBook G4/667 gets as good a signal as my PowerBook G3/500 does. The 500-megahertz PowerBook G3 was one of the best notebooks in terms of AirPort reception.

It all depends on your configuration. If the antennae are on the same horizontal plane as the base station, you'll get better reception.