AirPort reception

[JRJ26]

Well, one of my friends is debating b/w the iBook and PowerBook. I tried to convince him that the 12" PowerBook 1Ghz G4 is the best buy, much better than the 12" iBook G4. One thing that he said is bad about the PowerBook is the receptiveness of the AirPort. On Amazon.com, ONE reviewer said that the iBook has better reception than the PB. Is this true? What have your experiences been with both? I would think that if this was true, the reviews of the PowerBooks would cover this, but I have yet to see ONE magazine review that mentions it. My friend says that it's because of the metal enclosure of the PB that interferes with the reception of the AirPort. This makes the iBook's plastic enclosure more suitable. is this true?

 

[trpnmonkey41]

The metal casing does affect it a bit but not noticable unless you are running strength tests

 

[WilliS]

it wont matter....the airport card is mounted under the keyboard, which is plastic with a thin layer of (probably tin) backing. both are in the same spot on both models.

ive used them both in a school setting... they dont seem to be any different. what will probably make more of a difference is if its airport extreme with an airport extreme base station...

and the reviewer was probably doing something stupid like using them in differnet locations.. and the big brick wall was his problem, not the ibook or powerbook

hope this helps...

***edit***

actually, now that i think about it... the powerbooks might have the card underneath... but it really shouldnt make a difference...nothing should be noticeable

 

[trpnmonkey41]

it wont matter....the airport card is mounted under the keyboard, which is plastic with a thin layer of (probably tin) backing. both are in the same spot on both models.

ive used them both in a school setting... they dont seem to be any different. what will probably make more of a difference is if its airport extreme with an airport extreme base station...

and the reviewer was probably doing something stupid like using them in differnet locations.. and the big brick wall was his problem, not the ibook or powerbook

hope this helps...

***edit***

actually, now that i think about it... the powerbooks might have the card underneath... but it really shouldnt make a difference...nothing should be noticeable

The card itself is under the keyboard but the receptors are in the screen.....also just the whole thing being metal will slightly lower the reception

 

[rman]

In the Ti powerbook line, there was reduce reception. I don't know if this still applies.

 

[Padawan]

Well, one of my friends is debating b/w the iBook and PowerBook. I tried to convince him that the 12" PowerBook 1Ghz G4 is the best buy, much better than the 12" iBook G4. One thing that he said is bad about the PowerBook is the receptiveness of the AirPort. On Amazon.com, ONE reviewer said that the iBook has better reception than the PB. Is this true? What have your experiences been with both? I would think that if this was true, the reviews of the PowerBooks would cover this, but I have yet to see ONE magazine review that mentions it. My friend says that it's because of the metal enclosure of the PB that interferes with the reception of the AirPort. This makes the iBook's plastic enclosure more suitable. is this true?

To begin with, depending on what your friend intends to use the machine for, the PowerBook may or may not be the better buy. The $500 price difference could be put towards additional RAM, an Airport Extreme Card, a mouse, speakers, software, etc. In addition, the iBook comes with certain software that the PowerBook doesn't, such as AppleWorks and World Book, which your friend might find useful. Yes, the PowerBook is the more powerful machine, but there are other factors to consider as well.

Regarding the Airport reception, there were complaints and problems with the previous gen. Titanium PowerBooks, but reports seem to indicate that the reception has been much improved with the new PowerBooks, so this is really no longer an issue.

 

[TylerMoney]

It definently still applies, but it hasn't been a problem for me yet...I've been able to easily get reception w/o anyproblems anywhere I need it.

 

[adam80]

your all wrong the airport card in the PB is next to the battery (to access the airport card you must first remove the battery). I have no idea how the new iBooks are but all g3 powerbooks you do remove the keyboard to install the airport card but this is not true of powerbooks. The range of iBooks is greater than powerbooks, I have seen reports of this and have experienced this myself, I saw a reduction in range when moving from my old iBook to my new Powerbook.

 

[Osiris22x]

Yeah, the airport card is next to the battery...I just installed mine a couple weeks ago. However, this doesn't matter because the actual antenna that plugs into the card, is around the lining of the LCD screen. With the TiBooks this was a huge problem, and they had horrible wireless reception. The new aluminum Powerbooks have a plastic rim around the edge of the monitor now, so that the metal doesn't block the signal so much. I've found in testing that my Powerbook has just as good reception as my Dell Inspiron (which has an external wireless card).

 

[StarManta]

With the TiBooks this was a huge problem, and they had horrible wireless reception.

Dunno what you're talking about... my reception rocks.