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Need Help. buying n setting up wireless in 3 story house. New IMAC, apple TV, router

R

rglutz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2012
9
0
More info please
Great replies to the original poster. I'm buying a new IMAC 27" as well. I'm done with windows and want to go completely Apple in the house and connect everything i have wirelessly in a 3 story house. Have two iPhones, a macbook pro. Looking to get my wife a macbook pro. Want to wirelessly connect all of my music and play it to my receiver and send anything to my TV. Need advice on how to setup the place.

I'm going to follow the suggestions listed above. i'm going to order the Fusion drive and the choices are 1 or 3 TB. I'm also not a gamer or doing anything big graphically. I DO have lots of photos and videos. I'm assuming 3 TB will be sufficient.

Also, my N wireless router is old and not strong. I was considering getting the airport extreme and saw reasonable reviews on range but getting the signal from my middle to top floor is a concern. I need the speed. I was considering getting an ASUS RT - N66U with a N66R repeater. Is it easy to hook up two wireless routers? On the third floor is my main tv room where i was looking to do the Apple TV, so do i hook up a wireless router up there to receive a signal from the airport extreme from the second floor?

Lastly, If i have a 3 TB fusion drive, then a time capsule would be worthless, ist that correct? It has the airport extreme which i need a wireless router and then the 3 TB of backup storage. I want a backup. So what is a good recommendation then?

Right now leaning toward IMAC 27", 3TB fusion, 8 GB, 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM (will upgrade that later via the suggestion above), 2.9 GHz processor boosted to 3.6. Looking at the ASUS wireless router with a repeater since the ASUS is brand spanking new with directional wifi antennas rates highly. Also an Apple TV.

Now is the 3 year apple protection plan recommended?
I'm going to do the ONE TO ONE in store one year plan, which they will convert all of my files from my current PC to the IMAC. I need that help and setup along with my wife. Not a techie in any way.

Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
phrehdd

phrehdd

macrumors 601
Oct 25, 2008
4,311
1,311
You seem to be taking on a very large project here and certainly has some complexities.

I wont comment on which Apple computers you buy or other Apple products (save for the ATV).

Obviously a wired set up is commonly the best but most of us tend to go wireless when possible. Given that you have a three story home, you failed to mention the layout and which floor is somewhat your "central hub" area. This makes it hard for anyone to make some real world applicable suggestions. I would highly recommend you visit a site called smallnetbuilders. They cover a gambit of routers, have some articles on set ups etc. They also cover NAS type units as well with some excellent reviews.

You might want to look into other types of connectivity including power-line. The short version is that you plug into an outlet a small module and your data travels along the power line to another module. You connect switches, routers or direct from these modules. Success or lack of is more determined by how the home is wired. In an ideal scenario, it would be faster than wireless.

ATV - I admit I am not a big fan of ATV as it has some limitations and is really just a front end for buying iTune music and movies. This is somewhat like years ago when Kodak put out snapshot cameras so they could sell film.
I am sure others will disagree and rave about the ATV. This would be a good time to check into other devices and contrast and compare. Western Digital, Netgear and others have streaming devices that work reasonably well and often superior to the ATV (though from what I recall, they wont play iTune movies due to DRM). Many people who wish to stay in the Apple family of products opt for a new or used Mac Mini and use the free apps - PLEX or XBMC. Both have sites that you can check out and those apps also have versions for Windows (so you can play with it before deciding). The advantage of the Mini is that it pretty much can handle what the ATV does and much much more.

Back up - I am not a fan of Time Machine but I have to say it has been a very useful tool for many of my friends. It is an effective tool but I prefer old fashion back ups via tools like Carbon Copy and SuperDuper along with media discs (DVD, CD etc.).

Hopefully, the above gives you some ideas. Also, you may want to post your home layout for others to give their advice, experience and so forth.

Good luck!
 
braddicted2mac

braddicted2mac

macrumors member
Dec 5, 2012
88
0
Canada
well id definitely go with the asus router IU have a wd n900 crashes when too much bandwidth is being used.. that would be my selection !

----------

for back up I bought a LaCie 6tb thunderbolt external HD More than enough with a 3tb fusion drive. ! Its quiet too I don;t hear it at all ! Also have a ethernet 6tb WD drive and I hate it always crashes when I copy too much information to it ! not a fan of Western Digital products anymore !
 
R

rglutz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2012
9
0
phrehdd said:
You seem to be taking on a very large project here and certainly has some complexities.

I wont comment on which Apple computers you buy or other Apple products (save for the ATV).

Obviously a wired set up is commonly the best but most of us tend to go wireless when possible. Given that you have a three story home, you failed to mention the layout and which floor is somewhat your "central hub" area. This makes it hard for anyone to make some real world applicable suggestions. I would highly recommend you visit a site called smallnetbuilders. They cover a gambit of routers, have some articles on set ups etc. They also cover NAS type units as well with some excellent reviews.

You might want to look into other types of connectivity including power-line. The short version is that you plug into an outlet a small module and your data travels along the power line to another module. You connect switches, routers or direct from these modules. Success or lack of is more determined by how the home is wired. In an ideal scenario, it would be faster than wireless.

ATV - I admit I am not a big fan of ATV as it has some limitations and is really just a front end for buying iTune music and movies. This is somewhat like years ago when Kodak put out snapshot cameras so they could sell film.
I am sure others will disagree and rave about the ATV. This would be a good time to check into other devices and contrast and compare. Western Digital, Netgear and others have streaming devices that work reasonably well and often superior to the ATV (though from what I recall, they wont play iTune movies due to DRM). Many people who wish to stay in the Apple family of products opt for a new or used Mac Mini and use the free apps - PLEX or XBMC. Both have sites that you can check out and those apps also have versions for Windows (so you can play with it before deciding). The advantage of the Mini is that it pretty much can handle what the ATV does and much much more.

Back up - I am not a fan of Time Machine but I have to say it has been a very useful tool for many of my friends. It is an effective tool but I prefer old fashion back ups via tools like Carbon Copy and SuperDuper along with media discs (DVD, CD etc.).

Hopefully, the above gives you some ideas. Also, you may want to post your home layout for others to give their advice, experience and so forth.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I thought it was clear in my original message but i will reiterate it more clearly. The hub in on my 2nd floor where the IMAC and main router will go. There inlies the problem since i have to get a strong signal to the 3rd floor where my TV and audio receiver is and where we spend the most of our time. I guess i could try and run and ethernet cable up to the third floor but difficult logistics. Rather just do it wirelessly and make it so much more simple. Then attach Apple TV to that wireless router on the third floor.
 
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