Any thoughts on the Airport Extreme?

L

limike28

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With all the hoopla over the AppleTV and the iPhone, seems no one is talking about the Airport Extreme. Anyone have any thoughts on this device? Seems like a pretty good wireless hub, and the Airport disk seems like a simple NAS solution.
 
Having a Core 2 Duo MacBook and MacBook Pro in the house, I’m going to upgrade to take advantage of the new 802.11n protocol. It also has a larger range and can operate at 5GHz, which should make it a lot better for my house. I just wish they were out now :p
 
It's actually a fairly competitive device if you factor in the USB port and built-in storage. Linksys offers a similar device for about the same price. Don't forget, too, that you can add a USB hub to the Extreme and add multiple printers or drives. Also, it's going to be a heck of a lot easier to setup - on Macs, anyways.
 
I don't think the storage is built-in though is it? Looks like "Airport Disk" is an option if you plug in a USB drive...
 
Airport disk is a feature that let's you plug in a usb hard drive and share it over the network. Definitely seems useful to me having a MBP with a couple of external drives I use for backup and such.
 
I apologise, I didn't realise Apple had released a new Airport Extreme, I was referring to the old base station that really was overpriced.

where the heck did this come from? looks awesome.
 
It was released with the iPhone and iTV, just not mentioned in the Keynote, I believe. That hard drive sharing feature will come in handy in Leopard. Especially with the speed of 802.11n, backup will be a breeze.

You could make quite a tower if you stacked all these Mac Mini footprint products - Mini + iTV + Airport Extreme + Hard drive + Hub..
 
I think it looks like a good device but I don't get why it doesn't have gigabit ports. If you want to transfer from a wireless computer to a wired one you're stuck at 100Mbit. I hope it has more configuration than the old one such as QoS.
 
It could be Apple trying to get people to move to wireless N - and new macs - to get networks faster than 100 mbits.
 
Yeah, wonder why they never mentioned it. It is a major update of sorts...I did find it strange that it didn't have gigabit ethernet too, but I'll still get one when they come out next month. I'll just sell my current AirPort Extreme base station.
 
I have a cable modem and a new macbook pro with core 2 duo. Will the new router be faster than my Airport Express? I'm fine with my range but if it'll deliver faster, I'll spring for it even though it will nix my itunes wireless capabilities. My understanding is that the iTV will be required to wirelessly connect my iTiunes library to my stereo...true?
 
Since you have a core2duo you will be able to take advantage of 802.11n when that is made available. (I believe the code is going to cost $4.99) This will definitely be faster than what you are using now.

You could then either opt for the appleTV, or continue to use your Airport express to stream music. (It's just a hassle switching networks and stuff)
 
The problem with .11n wireless networks is that each program varies on how well it supports it - for example, I recently brought an N wireless system (for Age Of Empires 3) - works fine on that. However, with First To Fight, connections were lost, packets dropped etc etc.

I'll be going for wired Gigabit switch soon, especially as I want a network storage system - wireless over 54Mb is too unreliable.
 
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