I've read through Apple's website for Airport Express but I'm still not quite sure what exactly I can use it for. I don't really care about the ability to stream music to my stereo at home, I just want a wireless router for my house. I would just get the regular Airport Extreme Base Station, but it costs $200 and Airport Express costs only $130. Will Airport Express suit my needs? Does it have the same range as AE Base Station?
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Airport Express same as Airport Extreme Base Station?
- Thread starter jamdr
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The differences
I don't recommend those. I have a ton of them in my apartment complex and it's easy to connect to them and get free Internet. Make sure that you can password protect it and give it a name that you can identify. I see people name their router (Linksys or default) all the time.
The difference between Aiport Express and Airport ($200) is very little. You can have up to 50 people on the Airport but the Express goes up to 10. I upgraded my older Airport (802.11b) to the Airport Express and in addition to having faster file transfers between my 802.11g Macs, any of my Macs can print to my USB printer hooked up to my Express. A lot of people wonder why you don't just hook up your printer to your computer and network it that way. The reason is that you have less cords and an extra free power slot by your computer. Also I didn't have to download any drivers with my Canon printer. The speed was the same too.
One more reason for the Airport is that Apple continues to update the software for it. I am curious what the $40 dollar Linksys will provide as far as the interface and software features. If you just need something basic, perhaps the Linksys router is the way to go.
OnceUGoMac said:
I don't recommend those. I have a ton of them in my apartment complex and it's easy to connect to them and get free Internet. Make sure that you can password protect it and give it a name that you can identify. I see people name their router (Linksys or default) all the time.
The difference between Aiport Express and Airport ($200) is very little. You can have up to 50 people on the Airport but the Express goes up to 10. I upgraded my older Airport (802.11b) to the Airport Express and in addition to having faster file transfers between my 802.11g Macs, any of my Macs can print to my USB printer hooked up to my Express. A lot of people wonder why you don't just hook up your printer to your computer and network it that way. The reason is that you have less cords and an extra free power slot by your computer. Also I didn't have to download any drivers with my Canon printer. The speed was the same too.
One more reason for the Airport is that Apple continues to update the software for it. I am curious what the $40 dollar Linksys will provide as far as the interface and software features. If you just need something basic, perhaps the Linksys router is the way to go.
Airport Express works great, and is a good option if you have a USB printer. The shortcoming of AE is it doesn't have a dedicated LAN port; so if any of your computers don't have a wireless card then you'll have to buy one. The Airport Extreme Base Station provides a LAN port.
Configuration is pretty trivial from a Mac, and actually isn't too hard from a Windows machine - I've done both.
Configuration is pretty trivial from a Mac, and actually isn't too hard from a Windows machine - I've done both.
Westside guy said:
Whoa, hold up. You mean even my desktop that is already connected to my DSL modem will need an airport card? Forgot that, I'm not gonna spend $100 on an extra Airport card. I guess I'll get the Airport Extreme Base Station. Just to get this straight, I can plug my desktop directly into the Base Station but not Express, correct?
jamdr said:
Yup. The Airport Extreme has two Ethernet ports - a WAN port (to connect to your cable/dsl modem) and a LAN port (which is where your desktop machine can plug into). The Airport Express has just one Ethernet port. It can act as a LAN or a WAN port - but not both at the same time obviously. So if it's your only wireless router, that port gets tied up by the connection to the outside world.
I was in a similar situation as yours, so I bought the Airport Extreme rather than shell out for a wireless card to put in our desktop PC. Plus I just like having a wired connection available - it's much harder to muck it up than it is to screw up a wireless network.
Of course eventually the time came and I had $120 to burn, so guess what I bought a week ago?
Nevermind, someone said it just as well.
The APX is a great product, but because of its size and cost has a few limitations.
With a laptop the APX is an ideal situation.
The APX is a great product, but because of its size and cost has a few limitations.
With a laptop the APX is an ideal situation.