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paulpolios · Jul 22, 2003, 12:33 PM

hi, i was one of those people waiting for the new albooks but i decided the ti is more than good enough for what i want to do and the educational discount right now is too hard to pass up. my only concern was that the airport reception would be poor when i really needed it. for the most part i will need it in the campus library which is suposedly fully wireless and in my room which will be 1 floor down from the basestation seperated by concrete though (its a basement). it is more important that it functions properly on campus though. your input would be greatly appreciated and thanks for your time.

-paul

schmoe · Jul 22, 2003, 12:51 PM

The "poor" AirPort reception of the Ti 15" is quite overstated IMHO. That may be due to some people having hardware defects where the internal antenna became detached from the side of the case. I get a very strong, clear signal in my house and many people have reported that their Ti only gets slightly less range than the iBook.

CrazedVW · Jul 22, 2003, 02:05 PM

Is there any way to improve the signal of the antenna? Maybe by attaching a paperclip or something to the screen? Granted, it would look goofy but if it works it works.

Eug · Jul 22, 2003, 02:27 PM

It's hard to know until you try it. Concrete is tough for any wireless.

My TiBook still works 2-3 floors down, but that is thru wood floors. It doesn't work at all in the front of my house (which is thru some thin walls, but also a layer of brick). Then again, my iBook didn't work there either.

wanderlust · Jul 22, 2003, 02:33 PM

Hi. I used my TiBook on an Airport for a couple of years and did have a pretty frustrating experience, as did all my other TiBook friends (4 in total). iBook and Pismo/Wallstreet buddies also did not have the problems we had. Before my TiBook I had a Wallstreet and only had problems at the extreme range of the base station. I upgraded to a 17" AlBook and I had a full-strength signal everywhere in my house. One of the more irritating TiBook moments came when trying to use iChat. Every time the signal would poop out, iChat when log me out, then back in several seconds later. This was continuous, like a stop light...on and off and pretty much rendered iChat useless if I was not in the same room as the base station. I'm sorry to say I was not impressed with the TiBooks card and antenna. You may, however, have better luck then we did. They certainly fixed the problem with the new powerbook designs.

There are base-station boosters you can get. I don't know off hand where you can find them. But this would only help you if you had control over the base station. Unfortunately, I don't know of any solution that will boost the reception of your powerbook if you indeed had the same problems we did.

Good luck!

SEkker · Jul 22, 2003, 02:40 PM

My TiPB has a fully operational built-in airport card and system, and it is functionally deficient compared to other laptops. If in doubt, try using a PMCIA card with an external antenna -- that is very close to the signal strength of a Pismo's or iBook's built-in reception. This approach saved me last year for 2 weeks where my only internet access was via wifi and the builtin system does not work (BTW, this capability to use external cards with the TiPB was OS9 only last fall).

When we assembled our local wifi network, we used a TiPB as test system knowing that if it worked, we'd be able to connect to anything.

Here, I get full strength with my PB17 where the TiPB gets 2-3 bars only (out of 5), and I can see hubs our TiPBs never do.

If the wifi use is dependent upon a clear signal, I really think an Al PB is a better purchase.

paulpolios · Jul 22, 2003, 04:05 PM

thanks all for your responses but again my biggest concern was in a wireless campus library, where most people are using windows pc's and such, do you think the tibook could hold up and get a decent signal. at least enough to work. sorry to sound repetative, i just dont want to spend all the money to show up and school and have it not work.
thanks again for your opinions.

-paul

midwinter · Jul 22, 2003, 04:16 PM

Does anyone know if any 3rd party 802.11g cards work with the TiBook? That's the ONLY thing holding me back at this point.

all2ofme · Jul 22, 2003, 04:39 PM

In my flat there's nothing to choose between my TiSD and the 17" I just bought. Nothing in it at all. My place isn't huge, but it's not tiny either. The signal is going through four walls (same floor, though) and I get almost full reception on both (3/4 bars).

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 22, 2003, 05:13 PM

my PB 12" gets pretty bad reception in my house compared to my mom's iBook. upstairs in my room, through a wall, a floor, and another wall (all thin) around 25' from the base station i get 3 bars most of the time at my desk and 3-4 bars at my bed, which is 4 feet or so closer to the base station. In the family room at the back of my house, about 30 feet from the base station and going through only one thin wall and a glass door, my mom's iBook gets 3-4 bars of reception, while i get 1-2. i can't get any reception on my back deck, which is the same distance as the family room but through an exterior wall, but my mom gets fine reception. It's weird. it may have to do with the fact that the base station (linksys 802.11G router) is on top of a metal filing cabinet, though. I'm seriously considering making a cantenna... since the antennas on there now unscrew, it shouldn't be so hard.

wanderlust · Jul 22, 2003, 06:45 PM

Originally posted by paulpolios:
thanks all for your responses but again my biggest concern was in a wireless campus library, where most people are using windows pc's and such, do you think the tibook could hold up and get a decent signal. at least enough to work. sorry to sound repetative, i just dont want to spend all the money to show up and school and have it not work.
thanks again for your opinions.

-paul

The quick of it is, Paul, the closer you can get to the base station, the better off you'll be. The TiBook's wireless reception is not up to par with other laptops, mac or pc, due to its case design and small antennae.

wanderlust · Jul 22, 2003, 07:04 PM

Originally posted by midwinter:
Does anyone know if any 3rd party 802.11g cards work with the TiBook? That's the ONLY thing holding me back at this point.

Yes. Asante does...

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/06/26/asante/

http://www.asante.com/products/adapt...000/index.html

midwinter · Jul 22, 2003, 07:08 PM

Originally posted by wanderlust:
Yes. Asante does...

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/06/26/asante/

http://www.asante.com/products/adapt...000/index.html

Hrm.

Now I have some serious thinking to do. I have an offer for $500 for my 2001 iBook (dual USB) and I want to get something with better video and a little more horsepower.

Thanks for the heads up!

Cheers
Scott

aktive · Jul 26, 2003, 11:59 AM

I just got the apple base station and I think that it is amazing. My computer get 3 or 4 bars from anywhere around my house and it even works out side.

Airport rules!

dialo · Aug 2, 2003, 02:31 PM

Originally posted by paulpolios:
thanks all for your responses but again my biggest concern was in a wireless campus library, where most people are using windows pc's and such, do you think the tibook could hold up and get a decent signal.

I work at a major university library and get a VERY strong signal in room equipt with wirless, even when I'm right on the other side of walls. In contrast, I get very poor reception in my house. Universities work to make sure the signal is available to everyone, so I wouldn't worry about the library too much if I was you. Anyway, we still have ethernet ports all over the place in our library, and we only got wireless this spring, even though we are one of the world's major libraries.

romeosc · Aug 2, 2003, 05:50 PM

My Ti500 only gets about 30' . I carry an extra basestation when I travel and I hook it up to ethernet in hotel room. It works great in living room, but only 2 bars in bedroom. It does make it possible to be unincombered by wires.