Networking with an iMac

[clyde88]

Well, i have been a pc user forever, but when i saw the imac in bestbuy, i fell in love. But now i have some questions.

I'll assume that a powerhorse like the imac should have wireless built in, so thats not a "question"

1. I have a ipod 2G 4GB nano, and a ipod classic 80GB, and was wondering if there was a way to use a wireless router to fileshare between both the imac and pc, so i wont have to transfer all the songs using a external hdd.

2. I obviously want internet on the imac, but since im such an imac newbie, would i need the airport express, or will the imac recognize the network if i put a regular wireless router(because it costs much less)

3. If the above works, can this enable printer sharing?

4. Would i use 802.11N or 802.11G? Because my internet is 21MB/s(Which i was told is UBER FAST!)

 

[nazuk]

Well, i have been a pc user forever, but when i saw the imac in bestbuy, i fell in love. But now i have some questions.

I'll assume that a powerhorse like the imac should have wireless built in, so thats not a "question"

1. I have a ipod 2G 4GB nano, and a ipod classic 80GB, and was wondering if there was a way to use a wireless router to fileshare between both the imac and pc, so i wont have to transfer all the songs using a external hdd.

2. I obviously want internet on the imac, but since im such an imac newbie, would i need the airport express, or will the imac recognize the network if i put a regular wireless router(because it costs much less)

3. If the above works, can this enable printer sharing?

4. Would i use 802.11N or 802.11G? Because my internet is 21MB/s(Which i was told is UBER FAST!)

---

Just to clarify, YES - the iMac does have built-in Wireless.

1. Transferring your music is gonna be incredibly slow and tiresome, and possibly error prone with potential signal loss with WIRELESS. However, a better solution would be to network the two computers (Mac and PC) with a Cat 5 Ethernet network cable. Not only faster, but more reliable connection.

2. I use a regular Wireless router - it works great, both wirelessly and if I want to, directly with ethernet cable. Mac's recognise wireless routers easily, infact too easily - in a sense that you'll be wondering how this could just work with a click or two. Ensure you configure the router with the SSID and the appropriate security key, then on the iMac - click the wireless icon, and choose your network (SSID), enter inthe appropriate security password already entered into your router. (Apologies if you already know this stuff).

3. Printer Sharing - Yes !

4. Lucky you with such superfast broadband. Anyway, you would use the fastest available (802.11N in your case), however I understand, someone will correct me if i'm wrong - that all your devices need to be at the same speed, or everything defaults to the slowest device on the network. But everything will work anyway.

The new Alu iMac is a fantastic machine in my opinion, i've had mine since the month of release (August) - enjoy!!

 

[clyde88]

4. Lucky you with such superfast broadband. Anyway, you would use the fastest available (802.11N in your case), however I understand, someone will correct me if i'm wrong - that all your devices need to be at the same speed, or everything defaults to the slowest device on the network. But everything will work anyway.

The new Alu iMac is a fantastic machine in my opinion, i've had mine since the month of release (August) - enjoy!!

Firstly, i would like to thank you for your help. So far, i understand everything that you are saying. Now, with the 4th answer, i understand that you said if theres a slow device on the network, then it will defeault to the slowest device.

Now is there a printer sharing tutorial, because when i had my first laptop, i couldn't even print share with Xp and vista(laptop had vista, pc had XP) without upgrading them both to vista, let alone Leopard and vista(i mean come on one is good and one is really, really, bad)

 

[nazuk]

Firstly, i would like to thank you for your help. So far, i understand everything that you are saying. Now, with the 4th answer, i understand that you said if theres a slow device on the network, then it will defeault to the slowest device.

Now is there a printer sharing tutorial, because when i had my first laptop, i couldn't even print share with Xp and vista(laptop had vista, pc had XP) without upgrading them both to vista, let alone Leopard and vista(i mean come on one is good and one is really, really, bad)

Hi Clyde88, pleased you found my response useful.

I must admit, printer sharing between Macs is **absolutely dead easy** - but I have always found it such a pig to share with Windows XP (never tried Vista).

However, you could give this a try... in System Preferences on the Mac side, go to Sharing - tick both WINDOWS SHARING, and PRINTER SHARING.

On the Windows side, you need to download a utility called Bonjour for Windows:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/bonjourforwindows.html

Articles around there somewhere should also help you. I haven't done this with Windows for such a long time, that when and if I need to, it's just as easy for me to email the document to myself, and print it on the Mac or alternatively stick it on a USB stick and again, print from the Mac - (this has always been my Windows XPerience). PS: ensure your windows firewall allows mac incoming/outgoing connections - Bonjour should help with this.

good luck!