Airport Extreme Air Disk, and 801.11n Upgrades $4.99 [Update]

[Le Big Mac]

This really doesn't make sense... otherwise why did they give free updates to Aperture? They've added features.... And didn't a couple of the new iPod features get applied to the previous generation?

SOX is a huge quagmire of positives and negatives but I doubt it has much bearing on this. They likely want to sell more airports....

It does seem like a goofy interpretation. I could see how one might get there--some company selling a vaporware product for a lot of money in Q1, only to finish and truly deliver the product in Q2--it's that kind of accounting shenanigan that caused Sarbox in the first place. But it seems pretty strained when dealing with basically an upgrade. How is this different from software updates to Tiger? E.g., better functionality in iSync, or iChat, or Safari?

As for the b/g/n debate, isn't the n-standard supposed to allow multiple types on the network and not slow overall speed, just drop down for the nodes using the b/g technology?

 

[Peace]

The way things look if one buys a new Airport Extreme you'd get a CD with drivers and a firmware for the Airport Extreme AND firmwares for your brand of Mac.So I'm guessing that CD will have files for all the C2D and MacPro's 802.11n wireless..

From this I'm guessing it will take about 20 seconds for the firmware for your Mac to be on the internet.

 

[TheBobcat]

Man they better find a way to get N onto the first wave Intel Macs. This stinks!

 

[Peace]

Man they better find a way to get N onto the first wave Intel Macs. This stinks!

That equates to "They better find a way to put the C2D in the rev. A Intel Macs".

 

[gogoman]

Does this mean you MUST have their new Airport Extreme to use the Apple TV. Shouldn't you be able to go directly from your computer TO Apple TV or does it have to go thru network router. I'm wanting to get that D-link draft-n router with gigabit ports to use with my Mac Book Pro Core 2 Duo. I'm hopin they unlock this feature on my machine and it works with other routers.

 

[dongmin]

I'll be curious about the speed (USB 2.0 versus Firewire) over the network, and if it will support multiple drives and any type of Raid. If they build in smarts to allow the Airport Extreme to be a Network Attaches Storage device just by plugging up USB drives, that could be pretty useful. (Much like being able to hook up a printer, and be able to print any time without leaving a Mac powered up.)

I'd wait 'til you see some benchmarks. Apple claims 5x speed with the new draft-N. That's about 250 Mbps, which is significantly less than either USB 2 or FW. Your transfers will still be limited by your network.

 

[appleguy]

What I wanna see is an 802.11n USB adapter so I can use my older macs on the n network until I can upgrade them

 

[SiliconAddict]

Well that is a steaming pile.

I give it a few weeks and the CD will be on bittorrent and rightly so.

 

[Digitalclips]

It would have met my needs perfectly if they had also developed an iTunes music server within the device -- as it is, I plan to put all my music files on a shared drive and point iTunes to it as my music library, but such an approach makes it more difficult to have that be a shared resource.

Maybe an alias of the iTunes Library on the server will do the trick?

 

[obsoletepower]

Give it some time, it will be available on torrent sites....

 

[MacVault]

Airport Extreme has No Gigabit LAN

OReillynet.com notes that the quietly updated Airport Extreme Basestation incorporates a new feature called Airport Disk:



The new Airport Extreme basestations support the faster 802.11n protocol which is now shipping with all new Macs. Unfortunately, existing Mac customers need to run a special installer that is only included with the new base stations to activate the "n" portion of their wireless hardware.

iLounge offers an unsatisfying explanation for the reason that the installer is only being bundled with the new base stations:



Of interest, surrounding the release of the 802.11n basestation, we heard claims that Apple would eventually be offering the 802.11n installer for $4.99. At that time, the upgrade fee made little sense, but now appears to be due to the account issue described by iLounge.

Arn, Could you update your article to reflect the fact that Apple made a HUGE mistake by NOT including Gigabit ethernet in the new Airport Extreme? I think we all need to presure Apple to not insult us by NEUTERING their products as they often do - this being a great example. So close, yet, due to one or two things, SO far from perfect.

Also, we CANNOT let Apple get away with thinking this (Airport Extreme + USB drive) is in any way a solution to our need for an inexpensive high performance "home network storage server" with mirroring, remote encrypted syncing over the internet, remote access to files, etc, etc.

 

[appleguy]

I'd wait 'til you see some benchmarks. Apple claims 5x speed with the new draft-N. That's about 250 Gbps, which is significantly less than either USB 2 or FW. Your transfers will still be limited by your network.

Do you mean 250Mbps? or 250Gbps?
5x54Mbps=270Mbps
Firewire=400Mbps
USB2=480Mbps

Also, we CANNOT let Apple get away with thinking this (Airport Extreme + USB drive) is in any way a solution to our need for a high performance "home network storage server" with mirroring, remote encrypted syncing over the internet, remote access to files, etc, etc.

and what could be wrong for a small home 2-3 machines
just to plug in a USB drive to have as a backup device?

 

[combatcolin]

and what could be wrong for a small home 2-3 machines
just to plug in a USB drive to have as a backup device?

Fine by me.

 

[xUKHCx]

Does this mean you MUST have their new Airport Extreme to use the Apple TV. Shouldn't you be able to go directly from your computer TO Apple TV or does it have to go thru network router. I'm wanting to get that D-link draft-n router with gigabit ports to use with my Mac Book Pro Core 2 Duo. I'm hopin they unlock this feature on my machine and it works with other routers.

No you can do directly from your Mac to the Apple TV

http://www.apple.com/uk/appletv/sync.html

Sync through walls.
Your computer is in your office. Your TV is in your living room. Apple TV brings them together using its built-in 802.11 wireless capability and your existing wireless network. Pair Apple TV with your computer and your music, music videos, podcasts and photos sync automatically. Through the air. Like magic.

 

[gogoman]

hopefully the iphone has N in it as well and will be unlocked. i see iphone controlling and integrated into Apple TV in the future and if it has G then it will bring the whole network down to G speed correct?

 

[fustercluck]

Arn, Could you update your article to reflect the fact that Apple made a HUGE mistake by NOT including Gigabit ethernet in the new Airport Extreme? I think we all need to presure Apple to not insult us by NEUTERING their products as they often do - this being a great example. So close, yet, due to one or two things, SO far from perfect.

Also, we CANNOT let Apple get away with thinking this (Airport Extreme + USB drive) is in any way a solution to our need for an inexpensive high performance "home network storage server" with mirroring, remote encrypted syncing over the internet, remote access to files, etc, etc.

That's one way of looking at it. Another - and one that I submit is probably more fair - is that Apple could have shipped just the 11g and been done with it. The fact that they even allowed the switch to be flipped to 11n was in a way an act of charity in itself. Wouldn't you be more pissed if you bought a machine incapable of taking advantage of the n in the first place?

I'm not happy about having to pay $5 for an upgrade (or spending a whopping 2 minutes to find the driver on LimeWire if I'm feeling subversive and dishonest), but it's better than having to replace the whole airport card, right?

I don't know - I'd rather it be a software upgrade than a hardware upgrade - is my point.

 

[MacVault]

and what could be wrong for a small home 2-3 machines
just to plug in a USB drive to have as a backup device?

No redundancy, for one thing. Lack of performance. Cables everywhere, drives dangerously sitting here and there, etc. It's cheap and it's a "neat" capability, but overall it just is not a good answer to the problem of home network data storage & archiving, etc. It definitely does not conform to best practices.

 

[xUKHCx]

i would buy one this second if it had a modem in it!

but it doesnt so i will stick to my linksys

Same here but it seems that these devices in the US dont come with built in modem (adsl) but over here (UK) everyone i have dealt with does.

 

[timmillwood]

i would buy one this second if it had a modem in it!

but it doesnt so i will stick to my linksys

 

[mahonmeister]

Air disk looks sweet. No Gigabit Ethernet is puzzling. They should enable your draft-N card for free; the reasoning for not doing that seems ridiculous to me.

 

[jbstew32]

This might be a stupid question, but I just bought a MacBook last week from an Apple store. How do I know if it has the 802.11n capability built in, since it is 'inactive'?

Is there any way to know? I will be a little upset if I could have gotten this capability had I waited a few more days to make the purchase


Thanks!

 

[xUKHCx]

This might be a stupid question, but I just bought a MacBook last week from an Apple store. How do I know if it has the 802.11n capability built in, since it is 'inactive'?

Is there any way to know? I will be a little upset if I could have gotten this capability had I waited a few more days to make the purchase


Thanks!

See posts 48, 49

If your Macbook is Core 2 Duo then it does have the Draft N card

 

[jbstew32]

Oh ok, thanks. Sorry I must have missed it when I was reading through the thread!

Thanks again!

 

[appleguy]

No redundancy, for one thing. Lack of performance. Cables everywhere, drives dangerously sitting here and there, etc. It's cheap and it's a "neat" capability, but overall it just is not a good answer to the problem of home network data storage & archiving, etc. It definitely does not conform to best practices.

What do you mean by dangerously here and there
they will be by your Airport Extreme Basestation, like on top of a bookcase or something like that.
its just a home backup..

 

[Rocketman]

Implementation is a bit costly and burdensome, but it is a law that finally begins a level of government enforcement of corporate america that chips away at the need for class action lawsuits as a primay enforcer of laws towad corporations. When CEO's and management teams can go to jail for screwing the public, there is real accountability.

No benefit will be realized until GOVERNMENT employes can go to jail for screwing the public. Does this law exempt government or treat government workers exactly like corporate citizens?

Cite please.

Rocketman