Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do you think... (wireless N in MacBook pro)

pianodude123

pianodude123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 1, 2005
698
0
in the internet
Do you think that Apple will include new wireless N in the next revision of their MacBook Pros?

This would be a key selling point between the Macbook and MBP
 
pianodude123 said:
Do you think that Apple will include new wireless N in the next revision of their MacBook Pros?

This would be a key selling point between the Macbook and MBP
Click to expand...
That seems very unlikely. The N cards themselves are quite new, and there are few supporting routers.

We can always cross our fingers anyways....:D
 
The support for N would definately be nice, but I haven't seen any rumors of an N capable AirportExpress card as of yet. When and if they become available it could be upgraded quite easily in either the MB or the MBP.

I've been thinking about picking up one of the new Linksys N routers but then I remembered I don't have any N NIC's :p
 
I think they'll adopt N, but I don't think they'll make it a differential feature, because it would cause confusion with regard to which laptops work where, and so on.... That's what I think personally, although in truth the penetration of WPA and 802.11g in hotspots is so low that.... *le sigh* it might not make a difference.

The only places where Apple has really used connectivity as a differential feature in the past have been FW800 (and the lower end computers all have FW400) and Gigabit ethernet. BT2 and 802.11g came out quickly for computers across the board. I hope that Apple will avoid the confusion of making some of their computers and hardware 802.11N and others not....

EDIT: FragTek, I think Airport Express cards are basically a dying commodity, right? The only Macs in which they really exist anymore are the PowerMacs, and that's only because they haven't been updated yet. I think we're only going to see integrated on logic board wireless from here on....
 
mkrishnan said:
I think they'll adopt N, but I don't think they'll make it a differential feature, because it would cause confusion with regard to which laptops work where, and so on.... That's what I think personally, although in truth the penetration of WPA and 802.11g in hotspots is so low that.... *le sigh* it might not make a difference.

The only places where Apple has really used connectivity as a differential feature in the past have been FW800 (and the lower end computers all have FW400) and Gigabit ethernet. BT2 and 802.11g came out quickly for computers across the board. I hope that Apple will avoid the confusion of making some of their computers and hardware 802.11N and others not....

EDIT: FragTek, I think Airport Express cards are basically a dying commodity, right? The only Macs in which they really exist anymore are the PowerMacs, and that's only because they haven't been updated yet. I think we're only going to see integrated on logic board wireless from here on....
Click to expand...

The MacBooks and MacBook Pro's both use Airport Extreme cards in them, they aren't integrated.
 
mkrishnan said:
Sorry -- I just looked this up, and you're quite right. I wonder why they went that way....
Click to expand...
I would imagine so that the card can be upgraded to conform to new networking standards such as 802.11n. I for one am super glad they didnt take the integrated wifi card route, that would suck :(
 
FragTek said:
I would imagine so that the card can be upgraded to conform to new networking standards such as 802.11n. I for one am super glad they didnt take the integrated wifi card route, that would suck :(
Click to expand...

Well, when has Apple ever offered a plug-in upgrade like that for existing users? I had just figured that they would move to more frequent logic board revisions with Intel on board.... So that the pace of change would quicken. And since Intel is so big on integrating wireless onto the board.
 
I think there's a good chance that Apple could intro them in the next revision. Apple is willing to use technology that has quite hit the mainstream, case in point, ExpressCard slot in the MacBook Pro's were built into the machines without many products that use the technology.
 
mkrishnan said:
Well, when has Apple ever offered a plug-in upgrade like that for existing users? I had just figured that they would move to more frequent logic board revisions with Intel on board.... So that the pace of change would quicken. And since Intel is so big on integrating wireless onto the board.
Click to expand...
Well just for arguments sake couldn't u get the PowerBook's without the Airport card and then install it later if you wanted to upgrade to wireless?

I'm just saying that this gives Apple an extremely easy way to be able to offer users a way to upgrade to the newest wireless technology without having to buy a brand new computer. Good move IMO.
 
Anyway...I will be waiting until August at least to buy my MBP because I would like to see the Merom revision in the line as well as some other upgrade (FW800, Airport-N, etc...)
 
pianodude123 said:
Anyway...I will be waiting until August at least to buy my MBP because I would like to see the Merom revision in the line as well as some other upgrade (FW800, Airport-N, etc...)
Click to expand...

Airport N cards will come out alongside an Airport N router.

FW800 wont be seen on the other MBPs, only the 17" - unless demand is very high, which I doubt as although there are a lot of people who do use FW800... there are even more who don't.
 
dextertangocci said:
How fast is 802.11N?
Click to expand...

Typical Data Rate is 8 times faster than 802.11g (Airport Extreme/Express).

Theorectical Speed 802.11n: 540Mbit/s
Theorectical Speed 802.11g: 54Mbit/s

So theorectically... 802.11n is 10 times faster than current g networks.
 
I don't think there will be N (or rather pre-N) support in the next rev. MacBook Pros. And I'm not even sure that the cards will be firmware upgradeable to N later.

When the IEEE workgroup turned down the N draft in May, all bets are off when it comes to implementation, even on hardware.

Also, IEEE has been very clear about excluding any manufacturers that release pre-N equipment before the final draft is approved. They don't want a repeat of the pre-G mayhem of differences in implementation from manufacturer to manufacturer...

Next summer though... :)
 
I've been hearing horrible things about the current Draft-N routers that are out right now. Apparently if every computer on your network isn't using a Draft-n WiNIC everything goes to hell. The second a b or g connects it shuts down the Draft-n connections and takes everything back to g standard including the range.

But, the people that have spend the money upgrading their household with all Draft-n NIC's are very happy with it. I guess it's just insane fast with the most killer range imaginable (I always buy my routers based on real world range estimates as I serve a whole apartment complex with internet).

N will be killer.... Someday.
 
i believe that the Intel 965 mobile chipset is supposed to support 802.11n, but if that chipset won't be out until '07, when we get 800mhz fsb and socket P, it won't be in the next rev of MBP. I could be wrong of course ;)
 
SpaceMagic said:
Typical Data Rate is 8 times faster than 802.11g (Airport Extreme/Express).

Theorectical Speed 802.11n: 540Mbit/s
Theorectical Speed 802.11g: 54Mbit/s

So theorectically... 802.11n is 10 times faster than current g networks.
Click to expand...

WOW!:cool: :eek:
 
benthewraith said:
Wow indeed. 540 Mbps....my question is, what do you need with speed like that? Well, other than file sharing. Internet is at most right now 24 Mbps so...why?
Click to expand...
File sharing :)

If you've ever used a gigabit LAN and transfered large files between two computers you'll know why Wireless N is so exciting :) Granted it's only half the speed of a gigabit LAN but a HUUUUGE leap ahead of Wireless G.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back