Airport Express Card for MacPro

Lister1

Trying to get this card fitted has become a real chore as mactivate don't seem to open at weekends(they don't answer their phone then anyway). I tried searching ebay for one so that I could fit it myself but had no luck. I did however come across the below which I think should do the job. $49 versus the 135euro the mactivate option would set me back seems a no brainer.

Anyone else involved in the mac trade know if this would do?

Also is fitting them the same sort of job for the other airport cards? I dont fancy a track up to Dublin and forking out the install charge if it is just a matter of slotting the card in and connecting the wires.



http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AirCardMP/

Sad Professor

This link might help:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/660603.html

Lister1

Thanks for the info Sad Professor.

It strange that the author talks about having to remove a hard drive as I had a look in my macpro and the slot that the wireless card fits is visible and there are no problems with accessibility to it. Any comments on this?

Also anyone know if the link to the card I posted would work? I'd prefer to buy the official card and if this dont work it looks like I will have to fork out the money to mactivate.

Sad Professor

Lister1, if I were you I'd wait a while, Apple are in process of upgrading Airport to support 802.11n so it's possible that a new user-installable card may become available. Installing it yourself will void the warranty. Also the wrong one might cause compatibility problems.

There's a lot of wireless issues in macs at the moment anyway. I have a 3 month old imac which I can barely use wireless on at all due to what seems to be a bad chipset in the pre-installed airport card. Loads of people have the same problem but Apple won't even acknowledge it at the moment. I'm hoping an updated driver will fix it.

So I'd recommend you wait till you can be sure that you're getting a 802.11n card and also that it will work correctly. There's a reason Apple are insisting that it be installed by them.

Lister1

So I'd recommend you wait till you can be sure that you're getting a 802.11n card and also that it will work correctly.

From what I've read on the web all the wireless cards for it are 802.11n cards and just need a software update to enable the feature?

It looks like I will bring it to the service provider but it really pisses me off that I have to do that. User modifiable my arse! It looks like a simple job to install and just seems to be a money maker for the service shops. Scared of losing their business by letting the customer do the job....

Sad Professor

Yeah I wasn't sure if the mac pros had the n card but you're right they do.

Is Mactivate the only place that can do it for you? Have you inquired with Compub or Typetec?

Lister1

Is Mactivate the only place that can do it for you? Have you inquired with Compub or Typetec?

Are both or these authorised service providers? I had thought that Mactivate were the only ones. Also where are compub located? Hard to tell from their website...

Sad Professor

Compub are in Limerick, not sure if they are authorised service providers. Typtec are however, or at least they certainly used to be. They deal mostly with businesses afaik but I bought my old imac G3 from them and they later installed RAM for me. That was years ago though.

Did you try contacting Apple directly?

Is it really essential that the mac have wireless? It might work out much cheaper to just get a cheap wireless router and connect it directly to the mac pro, might be more reliable too.

Lister1

Is it really essential that the mac have wireless?

Yeah looking for the wireless option. Wire free etc...

Thumper Long

from the picture in your link, that is not the right card, when they talk about removing the drive its the second drive bay and that is only to make a litle more room for the install, it is a vey simple part to fit and i can provide you with the official instructions to fit it.

MarkoF

An alternative is to buy a D-Link wireless g USB adaptor from Argos for €39 and update the driver from http://www.ralinktech.com/