“Apple will soon begin shipping a new version of its AirPort Express portable 802.11n base station, capping a recent series of refreshes to the company’s line of WiFi routers ahead of this fall’s iCloud launch,” AppleInsider reports.
“Although Apple’s online store still reflects availability of ‘AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes,’ authorized resellers like DataVision report that the same model (MB321LL/A) is discontinued, while Amazon estimates it will have new stock sometime in the next ‘2 to 5 weeks,'” AppleInsider reports.
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AppleInsider reports, “Additionally, a person familiar with the matter says Apple is wrapping up the release of AirPort Utility 5.6, makes reference to a second-generation 802.11n AirPort Express in its developer notes.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lava_Head_UK” for the heads up.]
The link to full article appears to be incorrect.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/09/12/apple_readying_second_generation_of_airport_express_802_11n.html
The first generation of the airport express was so well designed that it lasted so many years without a refresh. I have three and I love them. it is hard for me to think on a way to improve it.
me too, BA, 3 Expresses and 1 Extreme. Great products.
They could make it smaller. Add an HDMI out to allow an Apple TV to stream to it.
6/7/2004, according to Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirPort#AirPort_Express
Other than HyperCard 2.3 and those gray SCSI terminators, possibly Apple’s longest shipping product.
Well of COURSE they’re updating them, I just bought an Express a few weeks ago!
I’m glad this came out today, I was just planning on getting another this week. I think I can put it off a couple weeks and get a new one.
Sorry Mossman. You could take advantage of the 30 day return policy I guess.
Will this not be third gen. I have 1 g model and 1 n model. In my world 1+1+1=3
Just a thought.
Must be for the new faster n with more antennas. Or maybe a video out port as well?
Agreed. Gen 1 was 802.11b/g only. I bought one about a month after they came out. Great unit. I’m still using it, these days for connecting a USB printer to my wireless network.
…RETURNS?
Darn it, bought a new one to extend my AirTunes network only last weekend.
You have 14 days to return it.
The next AirPort Express needs to have a 4G option with a car cigarette lighter plug in feature. Maybe the cars should come with one built in already along with an AppleTV option for air Play media feed from Apple iOS devices.
You can’t sell new cars to people because you don’t know what people want to buy. I am told that in hockey, you need to skate to where the puck is going to be hit to next.
Hoping for a more elegant form factor — it sticks out too far and can easily pop out of the wall now. Should rest flat against wall probably.
It has to protrude a distance from the plug because the antenna needs to stick out from its surroundings to give the best signal possible. The higher the antenna is relative to its base, the further the signal will propagate. It has to do with exposed surface area at the transmission medium. If it were to be positioned close to the plug the surface area will need to be spread out like a pancake to be useful.
I assume they will improve the wifi range and the sound quality with a higher sample rate and more bits processing in the DAC, 24 instead of 16 bits.
Now, audiophiles use an external DAC to get better sound.
Ability to connect an external hard drive would be nice
There was an article on this about a month ago. I believe that Apple rejiggered the antennas and gains a bit.