Quote:
Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
I have a PowerBook and a PC laptop (Dell Inspiron 600m), and use the AirPort Extreme, which I can recommend. Just set up the network on the Mac, and then add the PC. Easy peasy. These days, you could probably do the same setup with an AirPort Express.
There are less expensive wireless routers, but the no muss no fuss aspect of Apple design is sometimes worth it.
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I have an Airport Extreme base station set up independently close to a single Comcast cable hook-up. 1 Powerbook which I used to set up everything else. Everything else is 2 Airport Express peripherals which connect a new Dell and an old HP, respectively.
A few tricks to this.... Get your own Modem instead of renting from Comcast, unless Comcast is giving you the newest Motorola surfboard. Older Comcast modems (RCA???) seem to tend to overheat and stall periodically.
Also, when configuring the Airport Express peripherals, do it from the Apple and do NOT do it while the Express is connected to its intended computer via ethernet or USB. If the intended computer is plugged in while you are trying to configure it, Windows XP will not allow you to configure (at least, the 3 Apple dorks I spoke to on the phone couldn't figure out what the problem was while I spoke to them for hours). So configure the Express peripherals from the Apple, and THEN plug them into their respective computers. Once the connections are in place, Windows XP doesn't seem to have any problems using them.
I would dare say that Apple is THE way to go for a mixed setup, as so many other products are not compatible with the Mac O/S, but Apple products are typically compatible with Windows.
On another note, any recommendations for a stand-alone network printer for a Powerbook, a Dell PC and an HP PC (ugh!)? The old HP sucked and Dell scammed me with a piece of junk that loads vertically (and they even made it sound like it was highly desirable by saying there was a backlog of orders that would delay shipment by 3 weeks). I'm looking for something that is fast, compatible with at least the Dell, loads vertically, and I'm not too concerned with price. If I have to, I'm getting one of the $1500 network printers they got at work that print at 60-120 pages per minute (including image files like PDFs). But any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hello
