Tell me this isn’t one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. Apple has been shipping MacBooks (both models) and iMacs with an 802.11N wireless card, but has left the feature disabled.

Because of some legal issue (the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) , they can’t simply turn on the feature, since they didn’t advertise the systems coming with it. The loophole is to charge for the feature to be enabled.

It is a “$1.99 distribution fee,” and rumored to be distributed through iTunes. Makes sense every mac included iTunes on it. This enabler is free for anyone who purchases one of the new Airport Extreme routers, which is getting some great reviews, being Apple’s most affordable router to date.