Just a bit over a month ago, I observed that Apple appeared not to officially support 802.11n in any of their computers, despite the fact that we all knew they did. Tuesday’s update to the MacBook line, however, made 802.11n support official in all Apple portables. In fact, AirPort Extreme 802.11n is even advertised on Apple’s main page.
Only one minor inconsistency between the MacBook and its big brother, the MacBook Pro, remains. According to Apple’s MacBook Tech Specs page, the MacBook sports “Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification).” The MacBook Pro tech specs page, however, now claims that the computer has “Built-in 54-Mbps AirPort Extreme wireless networking (802.11g standard; 802.11n capable with optional 802.11n enabler).”
It looks like we’ll have to wait for an update to the MBP before we can expect true out-of-the-box 802.11n compatibility from all of Apple’s portables. Until then, at least it’s nice to finally know where Apple stands on wireless networking.
