MAXPower: Adding Wireless Access with Ease

a review by Tom and Jason Piper

What do you do to add wireless capability to your computer if it didn’t come with the right parts? It can be as easy as a USB plug-in dongle.

Newer Technology has produced the NewerTech MAXPower 802.11 g/b Wireless USB 2.0 Stick Adapter for just this purpose. The package comes with an installer CD that puts the right enabling software on PC or Mac laptops or desktop computers. You can then plug in this dongle, and have access to the Internet up to 300 feet away (line-of-sight).

This USB Adapter is a quick and easy addition to any Mac OS X running computer. We installed this on our older Mac G5 tower. The software installation was a simple installation and then a restart of the computer. The provided NewerTech software left something to be desired and didn’t carry over the simple and effortless methods that are achieved with the built-in Apple Wireless Manager. It requires you to first create a profile, then join a wireless network using their software.

In System Preferences, the wireless adaptor shows up at “USB Ethernet”, although without launching their software, you have no quick idea of what your signal strength is. Once established, the Wireless Adaptor worked flawlessly and easily allowed for continuous streaming from a Media Server or File Server. The unit itself worked very well, particularly since it was unimpeded by a computer case.

This is an efficient way to quickly add Wi-Fi to almost any computer. It is available for only $24.99. For more information, go to http://www.newertech.com. This could be your solution to Internet access.

Comments

[Wireless accessories]

This is interesting gadget. I am wondering how good the software and the drivers are. It interacts with your networking subsystem so cannot be fully automatic.