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Airport Extreme or other (like Netgear N600)

S

Shivetya

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
1,669
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I have an old Linksys W54T54G hooked up to my cable modem. I am looking for long term support for my Macs, Ipod, blu-ray dvd with live/netflix, and possibly an Apple TV.

1) is it worth upgrading now?

2) which path is better, buy the Airport Extreme (129 refurb) or go with a different brand? I am aiming for dual band support (but maybe I don't need it)
 
Heya

If the items you own are mostly Apple products then use apple router.

That the conclusion i get from "googling" of best routers for Macs.

Somehow it just works BETTER .

So get the airport exreme.
Or if you can wait ,like me, lets see the outcome of the Mac event.

Will they release a airport extreme or maybe even a router with a configurable NAS.
 
Like most things Apple, the AEBS makes everything it does easier to manage. Not that setting up any router is really hard, but I have found that the AirPort Utility is far more convenient for managing setup than the web pages built into most other brands. This is especially true as you add more devices to extend the network; rather than browse to an IP Address, you just fire up AirPort Utility and choose the picture of the device you want to manage. The hardware is on the high end of consumer networking, but it's the software that really makes it shine.
 
Having linksys, netgear and an aebs, they all do the same thing. The aebs has some nice additional features.
I've extended networks on linksys and aebs. No issues on either.
The wrt-400 seems to have better coverage than the aebs.
I have network printers and LAN device storage so the USB feature isn't needed.
The linksys, IMO, has a quick down and dirty interface. The aebs can either walk you thru set up or it can be done manually.
Throughput is pretty much the same.
Price point linksys has some great specials on their site very frequently.
After setting it up it becomes a very transparent device. So transparent that I thought I was running he aebs but had the linksys as the active router for months.
I don't think you can wrong with a $60 linksys or a $130 aebs.
Just depends on how much you want to spend
 
one last question, with the AEBS do I need a hard connection to configure it? My current setup is no where near a computer.
 
configuring routers can be a real pain to configure if you arnt familiar with that sort of thing but ive never had any issues with the setup of an airport extreme base unit, cant recommend it enough
 
Imo get the Netgear WNDR3700 for $150. This is an extremely powerful router that will kick the AE's butt.

Having the 5Ghz band is cool and all, but you won't need it most of the time. If you can sacrifice the 5Ghz then, go with a Netgear WNR 3500L or an ASUS RT-N16. These two retail for around $80 to $90.

All these routers kick butt. The setup is done through the web interface, but it is also very easy to use.
 
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