AirPort on iMac

[TNF]

Hi,

I am a iMac newbie and need some help. What is the Airport utility? Does my mac have built in Wi-Fi?
I don't understand how it works. I also got an iphone 4 and want to be able to play music on my mac through my iphone - is this possible? Do I need to turn on Airport to enable a wi-fi connection between my iphone & mac? Is this also how you sync wirelesly to your mac with the new iOS 5?

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[[)roi(]]

Airport is the product name for Apple's wifi router, the airport utility is used to configure it.
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/

To wireless sync between you iPhone and Mac you need to connect your Mac and iPhone to the same wifi network; iPhone must be on power (charging) for the wifi sync to work.

 

[clasqm]

Hi,

I am a iMac newbie and need some help. What is the Airport utility? Does my mac have built in Wi-Fi?
I don't understand how it works. I also got an iphone 4 and want to be able to play music on my mac through my iphone - is this possible? Do I need to turn on Airport to enable a wi-fi connection between my iphone & mac? Is this also how you sync wirelesly to your mac with the new iOS 5?

Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!

[)roi(] is correct, but you could misread his answer as meaning that you need to buy Apple's router. That is not the case. Whoever provides you with Internet access should have given you a router and 99% of those have wi-fi built in these days. And wifi is wifi is wifi. You don't have to buy Apple's router. I've run wifi from the ADSL router Telkom gave me and now I'm running it from a Huawei router I got from Vodacom. The Mac has never complained.

On the mac, open Safari and type the following in the address bar.

192.168.1.1

That's it. No http or www. That should take you to the router's setup page and you should configure it according to the manufacturer's specs. It is a very un-apple experience; be sure to have your internet provider's support number at hand.

while you're in there, you will give your network a name. Now you want to let all your devices know that this is a network they can log onto. Most macs and iGadgets come from the factory set to search for new networks and ask to join them. You will be asked for a password if you set one in the router (recommended). From then on, your computer and iphone will automatically join your network whenever they detect it.

Just keep the distinction clear in your head. What you join is your local network. The network is what is actually connected to the internet. That may sound pedantic but it will save you problems later on if you get it straight now. Your local network can keep on running even if the internet access is down, so you see lights blinking on the router and wonder why you are not getting anywhere.

For more detailed help: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

 

[TNF]

Thanks for the explanation clasqm! much appreciated!!