InfoWorld’s review of Apple’s new 802.11n Airport Extreme Base Station gives the product a score of 8.7 out of 10 or “Excellent.”
“AirPort Extreme is a Wi-Fi base station that works as a secure LAN/WAN gateway or bridge, a four-port 10/100 Ethernet router, a network access controller and a file/print server. No, really, this Wi-Fi box does file and print. Jack USB external hard drives and printers into AirPort Extreme’s USB port and they pop up on your LAN and WLAN as Windows and Mac volumes and networked printers. Not only that, but any Windows or Mac user can choose to auto-mount the device when it’s within range. For all of this, there is zero server administrative overhead because there’s no server,” Tom Yager reports for InfoWorld.
Yager reports, “AirPort Extreme supports the 2.4 GHz 802.11b and 802.11g standards as well as 802.11n and its neighbor in the 5 GHz spectrum, 802.11a. While 802.11n-enabled Macs sniff out WLANs in both bands, AirPort Extreme only operates in one or the other. The administrator chooses the band at configuration time and can change it at will. The fact that Macs, like most multi-standard clients, hunt base stations (or access points) across bands is key to AirPort Extreme’s wireless manageability.”
“Apple claims that AirPort Extreme tests out at five times the top speed of 54 Mbps standards 802.11a and 802.11g, and that it can maintain speeds equal to 54 Mpbs standards’ best at twice the distance. Apple is taking care to be conservative with its numbers, which is wise. I tested AirPort Extreme in ugly conditions and found that in places where the previous AirPort Extreme model (the one with the pointy head) couldn’t see my MacBook Pro eval notebook at all for impediments structural and human, the new AirPort Extreme bathed me in bandwidth,” Yager reports.
Full review here.
Related articles:
Apple’s AirPort Extreme vs. Microsoft’s Windows Home Server – February 23, 2007
Hands-on with Apple’s superspeedy 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station – February 19, 2007
Apple’s new AirPort Extreme offers increased speed and range – February 18, 2007
High-quality Apple AirPort Extreme 802.11n unboxing photos – February 04, 2007
Apple ships new Airport Extreme Base Stations two weeks early – February 01, 2007
Apple AirPort Utility 1.0 screenshots, 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station manuals – January 26, 2007
Apple releases AirPort Extreme Update 2007-001 – January 26, 2007
Apple’s new AirPort Extreme ‘AirPort Disk’ feature: cheap, simple network storage for home networks – January 15, 2007
Apple’s new AirPort Extreme supports 802.11n, enables wireless streaming of HD media – January 10, 2007
Apple introduces new AirPort Extreme with 802.11n – January 09, 2007
its funny how they make a big deal out of wireless printing as if it wasnt a feature on the last base station.
im glad its faster though. ive got the old one and its always dropping the connection even when im in the same room.
I’m holding out for 10/100/1000. Otherwise it looks good.
This thing looks nice. A serverless, networked hard drive makes a lot of sense, too. Maybe I’ll get rid of my Netgear MIMO wireless router and get one of these when i get a new MacBook Pro.
bobby… if you want gigabit ethernet, just buy a gigabit ethernet switch for $40.
“While 802.11n-enabled Macs sniff out WLANs in both bands, AirPort Extreme only operates in one or the other.”
Not true. Airport works in both. I have wireless N and G things connected to my Airport Extreme.
Why don’t they add music sharing to the Airport Extremes like like the Airport Expresses have?
bobby, i was thinking the same thing. gigabit ethernet has been standard on many apple computers for around seven years now. i figure it’d make sense to include gigE in their routers. ah well, other than that it seems like a very impressive piece of hardware, but i’m happy with my ap express for now =)
I am getting one this weekend. I can’t wait to get rid of this overpriced, spotty Netgear wireless equipment I have.
Eric, read the sentence prior to the one you quoted. “One or the other” does not refer to n vs. g. It refers to b/g/n vs. a.
I think he’s meaning it will sniff out 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands.
^^^ my post to Eric, accidently used his name instead… lol =p
With such a glowing review, why not a ’10 out of 10?’
No mention of USB disk access speeds. I am under the impressin that n enabled computers work fine together, but that the attached USB drive does not transfer at n speeeds, but the slower g speeds only.
Got me sold, I’m about to order one now!
Not 10/10 because:
Cons:
All configuration changes require lengthy reboot
No Web or console-based management
Testing initially encountered performance and connectivity problems; resolved by Apple
No hardware for wall or post mounting
I have one and I enjoy it. Only thing about the review, it only has 3 ports to plug in cables. Then the WLAN. And then USB. So other than that fact being wrong, I liked the review and can agree with it.
Hummm….
I wonder when Apple will release and/or upgrade the existing Airport Express units.
It would be wonderful to be “N” everywhere!
I’ve been using one for two weeks. Last night I had some problems with my mail server, and I reset everything and updated my port routings, and got the dreaded Flashing Amber Light. I could not get the app to read the configuration of the AE, as it would just error out every time. I did the paper-clip reset, several times, power-cycled my modem, and the Airport Utility still could not read the configuration. Finally, when I reset everything again, the utility could see the base station, and I went to Manual Setup from the Base Station menu (CMND+L). AT LAST I was able to configure a new setup and now all is well.
This isn’t really a complaint, but sometimes with Apple products, you just have to unplug it for a while, take a lap around the house, eat a cookie, dance a quick jig, and when you come back with a better attitude it just works again. I have no idea why this is, but it’s been true since at least my first Bondi iMac. I think it might have something to do with Voodoo.
-c
MW: ‘wanted’ (for negligent fabulousness)
I’m just a noob and i heard a mimo wireless router has a really good nas. they have a terabyte or something them?
I like his coinage of the phrase “bathing in bandwidth.” I’m taking a bandwidth bath right now, myself. I turned down the range of my AEBS so as to not wet my neighbors.
I have wanted to get an external drive for some time now.
So today I ordered one,, got a Lacie mini 500gb (with the idea of using with Apple TV in the future) , but then realized I needed to stream, so I also ordered the Airport Extreme, will hook up with the external drive.
Then I could just hear the old lady, “why do you need a wireless, you only have the one computer (iMac 20”) and you are hard wired now, works great.
So being quick on my feet, I placed a second order for a MacBook for her, and next day shipping, so she will recieve the MacBook first, and will have to hard wire to our router.
Now won’t she just love it, when the Extreme shows up a few days later!!!
Now I just have to figure out the justification for the iPhone
I REALLY wish it had FIREWIRE alongside USB 2.0. REALLY.
This device could have been the perfect opportunity to reintroduce FW to the PC market.
I will still buy one though.
@ChrissyOne…
Hilarious take, and so true. Usually when it comes to my airport base station or express I just unplug them, get a cup of coffee, go watch the news until I’m angry and then it’s ready to plug back in. You’re SO right about just chillin’ and waiting a bit with apple gear. It’s always been this way.
come to think of it, maybe Apple gear is self repairing? Like the borg…
My old Linksys BEFS41 just went on permanent vacation so I replaced it with an Airport Extreme. I think it’s a bit pricey given the current options, and 10/100/1000 would be nice, but I must say it’s a nice product regardless. Setup was nearly without problems; I had some performance issues that vanished after I toggled wireless off / on. Now the wired and wireless connections are screaming fast even in b/g mode. I especially like being able to configure the entire network in one Mac interface.
http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/airportn/
🙁