Apple Quietly Releases 802.11n Capable Airport Extreme

[MacRumors]

Although not mentioned during Steve Jobs' keynote address, Apple has updated their Airport Extreme base station to include 802.11n compatibility, producing up to 5x the performance and up to 2x the range as the previous Airport Extreme model. The new model also comes in a modified enclosure that closely resembles the Apple TV.

Features
- Protocol Support: 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n
- WEP/WPA/WPA2 for wireless security

Ports
- 1 USB (for sharing printers or USB Disk sharing)
- 1 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet WAN port for connecting to Internet
- 3 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN ports for connecting to local networked devices.
- Security slot and 12v power.

It also appears as though users of Core 2 Duo-based Macs which have been quietly shipping with 802.11n capable chipsets will be receiving "802.11n Enabler" software. The software is listed on the Airport Extreme specification page.

The new base station is priced at $179 and will ship in February, and can be purchased at the Apple Store.

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[iEdd]

Nice. It will be interesting to see when Express gets an update.

[bearbo]

no gigabit ethernet? eh...

[ebow]

Wow, it's more than half the volume of the Mac mini (same footprint, over half the height). ... That seems rather big to me, but to be honest I haven't been around too many wireless base stations / routers. Is this a bit bulky?

[wattage]

Definitely like the hard drive sharing capability, but no firewire port???

[Chef Medeski]

Originally Posted by ebow

Wow, it's more than half the volume of the Mac mini (same footprint, over half the height). ... That seems rather big to me, but to be honest I haven't been around too many wireless base stations / routers. Is this a bit bulky?

Well I think its about the same size as most routers. It doesnt really matter too much since routers are usually tucked away somewhere hidden.

[miketcool]

Now for the MBP wireless 802.11 N card to show up in the store....

[macman2790]

will the 802.11n enabler be available for download if im not using an airport extreme n router, i have an n router.

[dr_lha]

Hard drive sharing is nice, but $179? Seriously?

This plus the AppleTV that won't work with a standard television and no iPhone until June means this will be the first keynote day where I haven't ordered something from the Apple Store.

[KindredMAC]

In my opinion this was the biggest release today.... not the iPhone and not the ?tv.

I'm seriously thinking about getting this to replace my current APEXTREME because I have a new need to run one extra Ethernet cable off of the base station to my PS3.

Plus the extended range is a nice tweak.

[rosalindavenue]

My gut reaction was "too expensive," but the feature set is hard to price. There is the announced but unreleased Linksys WRT600N, (link) with an identical feature (N routing plus UBS port) set PLUS gigabit ethernet (according to some rumors) that is allegedly priced at $199, so it could be my gut is wrong.

[Chef Medeski]

Originally Posted by dr_lha

Hard drive sharing is nice, but $179? Seriously?

This plus the AppleTV that won't work with a standard television and no iPhone until June means this will be the first keynote day where I haven't ordered something from the Apple Store.

Actually thats just in line with most Pre-N routers. Basic ones can run a bit cheaper at Best BUy and stuff on sale but they don't have all the features or simplicity. Overall you will be losing maybe $20-30 which isn't bad for an Apple premium when comparing to the BASIC models. So it really is a very fair price.

Plus its only $160 at edu store. So its hard to beat that.

[emaja]

Originally Posted by bearbo

no gigabit ethernet? eh...

Nope and that's a deal-breaker for me. It seems terribly silly that all currently shipping Macs have gigabit, yet they chose to leave it off the one thing that could tie them all together.

I'll get a Netgear with Draft-N and lose the USB port since I have a network for file sharing and printers shared along with a server setup already.

[uNext]

No airtunes?

So lash out 299 for apple tv for every room to have wireless msuic?

WOW middle finger to us from yours truly STEVE JOBS

[Rocketman]

Steve Jobs interview on CNBC momentarily.

4:30pm Eastern
1:30 pm Pacific

Rocketman

[dr_lha]

Originally Posted by Chef Medeski

Actually thats just in line with most Pre-N routers. Basic ones can run a bit cheaper at Best BUy and stuff on sale but they don't have all the features or simplicity. Overall you will be losing maybe $20-30 which isn't bad for an Apple premium when comparing to the BASIC models. So it really is a very fair price.

Plus its only $160 at edu store. So its hard to beat that.

Fair enough really, I guess it is new tech. The trouble is that if its anything like the other Apple Airport basestations, its price will remain the same while everyone else's plummets. I'm guessing in about 12 months time when I really start to feel I need a "N" router, the Linksys one will be $49 at Walmart, much like their "G" router was when I bought it, but Apple's product will still be $179.

[bradleypjohnson]

Is AirPort Disk a brand new feature? I was going to get an AP Express and forgo the possibility of my external USB hard drive being wirelessly available, but now this...

And I can't just get the AP Extreme instead, since it doesn't have an audio out. I wonder if they will add AP Disk to a much needed AP Express update soon?

[Chef Medeski]

Originally Posted by uNext

No airtunes?

So lash out 299 for apple tv for every room to have wireless msuic?

WOW middle finger to us from yours truly STEVE JOBS

I'm pretty sure you can still use the Aiport Express with this. I mean you don't really need anymore bandwith to stream music so whats the point making it N. The only thing you are missing out on is the maximum extended range, the range will still be extended slightly with any N component. So, nothing really changed. Except that the price for the Aiport Express and Extreme are the same.... better drop the price.

[Wender]

Originally Posted by uNext

No airtunes?

So lash out 299 for apple tv for every room to have wireless msuic?

WOW middle finger to us from yours truly STEVE JOBS

Airport Express will still be fine for music streaming!

[michaelsaxon]

So no download to update to "N" for Core Duo Macbook Pros?

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by emaja

Nope and that's a deal-breaker for me. It seems terribly silly that all currently shipping Macs have gigabit, yet they chose to leave it off the one thing that could tie them all together.

You would think, especially with streaming movies over the new AppleTV...which also, by the way, does not have gigabit.

At least Apple finally realized it was probably a good idea to put more than one LAN port on the router...

[Chef Medeski]

Originally Posted by dr_lha

Fair enough really, I guess it is new tech. The trouble is that if its anything like the other Apple Airport basestations, its price will remain the same while everyone else's plummets. I'm guessing in about 12 months time when I really start to feel I need a "N" router, the Linksys one will be $49 at Walmart, much like their "G" router was when I bought it, but Apple's product will still be $179.

Better than a $300 Base station when others are $50.

[dongmin]

The lack of Gigabit Ethernet is puzzling, but I guess you use the wireless for more-than-100Mbit bandwidth.

I'll wait to see the benchmarks on this thing working with a MBP.

[JeffDM]

If it had gigabit ethernet, the price would probably be pretty good, but it does not. Given that every Mac sold now has gig-e, I don't understand why this thing does not.

[Danksi]

Originally Posted by dr_lha

This plus the AppleTV that won't work with a standard television

Doesn't the AppleTV support 'standard' TV through it's Component connector?