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AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station?

Dr. Pookey

Dr. Pookey

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I'm thinking about getting an AirPort to replace my piece-of-junk Linksys router. I'm wondering if the Express and Base Station have the same range? I don't need a dialup connection (did they stop making the AirPorts without modems?). Would you recommend one over the other? I would like to save $75 if I can.

Thanks.
 
Dr. Pookey said:
I'm thinking about getting an AirPort to replace my piece-of-junk Linksys router. I'm wondering if the Express and Base Station have the same range? I don't need a dialup connection (did they stop making the AirPorts without modems?). Would you recommend one over the other? I would like to save $75 if I can.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

it depends how far you go from your router; if you are thinking about the Aiport Extreme base station, i wouldn't waste your money- it is expensive and the range is not very good (even with the range extenders); I went through about 4 routers before settling on my D-Link 624, which is excellent, and has much better range than the Apple base station; i also have an aiport express, which i pretty much use when i travel or to stream i tunes; it doesn't have great range, so i wouldn't use it as your primary router / base station, unless you are living in a relatively small place; that's my advice, hope it helps.
 
Dr. Pookey said:
I'm thinking about getting an AirPort to replace my piece-of-junk Linksys router. I'm wondering if the Express and Base Station have the same range? I don't need a dialup connection (did they stop making the AirPorts without modems?). Would you recommend one over the other? I would like to save $75 if I can.

Thanks.
Click to expand...


one more thought, for the money you would spend on an Apple Airport Extreme ($199), you could get the D Link for well under a $100 and use the left over for the Airport express. just a thought
 
Thanks!

Thanks for your help! I guess you have a point. I was just hoping the AirPort would be better because I could really use the printer port without having to buy a printer server. Thanks again.
 
I was in your situation a few months ago, and ended up getting the Airport Extreme base station - mainly because we have a desktop computer. If you need to have a wired connection you'll need the base station, which has both a WAN and LAN port.

The USB printer port is really handy. Previously we had to leave our Windows box on all the time because it was acting as the print server. This was sub-optimal also because the Canon i550 drivers for Mac basically don't work with a remote SMB printer. But the USB port on the base station is treated as "local" by both Macs and PCs (a bit of monkeying around is sometimes required on the PC though).

The main problem i can see with a non-Apple base station plus the Airport Express is you might not be able to use the AE as a repeater/extender for that wireless network. I'd be curious to hear if vkapoormd has his AE working with the D-Link router, or independently.
 
I have the original graphite ABS, looking to upgrade to the Extreme ABS. From all the research that I have done, seems best to go with the ABS Extreme and use the AirPort Express as an extender or to stream iTunes, unless you only have a laptop.

I was going to just buy the AirPort Express but from what I have read, the Express and the graphite ABS don't work together (someone please tell me I am wrong).

I personally was hoping for an AirPort Extreme update, maybe including AirTunes but that is another thread.

Sorry that my comments are not much help... came looking here because I am in the same boat I guess.
 
Westside guy said:
I was in your situation a few months ago, and ended up getting the Airport Extreme base station - mainly because we have a desktop computer. If you need to have a wired connection you'll need the base station, which has both a WAN and LAN port.

The USB printer port is really handy. Previously we had to leave our Windows box on all the time because it was acting as the print server. This was sub-optimal also because the Canon i550 drivers for Mac basically don't work with a remote SMB printer. But the USB port on the base station is treated as "local" by both Macs and PCs (a bit of monkeying around is sometimes required on the PC though).

The main problem i can see with a non-Apple base station plus the Airport Express is you might not be able to use the AE as a repeater/extender for that wireless network. I'd be curious to hear if vkapoormd has his AE working with the D-Link router, or independently.
Click to expand...

That is true about not being able to use it as an extender (or at least i think that is the case; but i admit that i haven't tried it, partly because i am living in a small apt these days temporarily, and don't need the range); furthermore, you are right about the convenience of the USB port for printing, but it wasn't an issue for me as my printer was networked (via ethernet through my router). So there are pros and cons of both, and if you have a desktop, then go with something other than the Airport express. Now you have me thinking i should try to configure it as an extender? 😕
 
vkapoormd said:
Now you have me thinking i should try to configure it as an extender?
Click to expand...

It might be fun to try - I know I've read that people have had success extending a Linksys 802.11g network. They did have to tweak some stuff though; but it didn't sound like anything risky (no opening of the hardware involved, etc.).
 
OK. I feel misguided. I was under the impression that Airport Express would work with any pre-existing network.

That stinks because I have Linksys 802.11b router that works great (all I do is share a DSL connection, so no need for me to go to g) and I asked for AE for Christmas, but if I can't add it into my existing network, it is really worthless to me as I won't be able to stream music from my iMac to the stereo and I don't have another DSL modem to dedicate to the AE.

Anybody sucessfully add AE to an existing Linksys 802.11b network? Or any other way around this? Or am I missing something here?
 
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