Airport Express vs Airport Extreme?

[sikkinixx]

I am kinda moving into a new basement suite but leaving my wireless router at home for the folks to use so I need a new wireless source for my mbp/ps3/xbox/wii/whatever else.

I was looking at apple.ca refurbs and they have an airport express w/ airtunes for $90 or the new wireless n extreme base stations for $150.

Is it worth the extra money for wireless n? I can always just hook up my non-wireless router to the airport express if I need slots, it would be nice to already have it but I dunno if it is worth almost double the price.

Plus would I even get any benefit form wireless n? I am going to be in a 850sq/ft place so it's not like distance is an issue and none of my consoles use n anyway... but i would hate to buy the express only to need to buy another router later on


any advice?

 

[Reflow]

Plus would I even get any benefit form wireless n? I am going to be in a 850sq/ft place so it's not like distance is an issue and none of my consoles use n anyway... but i would hate to buy the express only to need to buy another router later on

Well I think you already answered your one question is that one. I personally would only use the express it extend my wireless or to use as a temporally wireless access, but that just me

 

[jackiecanev2]

do you already have wireless recievers for all of your consoles? remember, the airport express has no ethernet connections for any devices such as those; everything must run wirelessly.

i personally LOVE my airport extreme, hooked to my slingbox, tivo, and ps3; the slingbox in particular works much better with a direct upstream instead of the wireless connection. i also make use of the wireless usb hub for networking hard drives and printers.

 

[hotsauce]

Airport express has a very limited range. From my experience it's range was considerably less than the old Airport extreme base station w/o n. So i figure that difference will be even greater compared to the new Airport Extremes. I understand that your living space is small but you need to know that even if within range the connection speed is still affected by a weak signal.

 

[ingenious]

Airport express has a very limited range. From my experience it's range was considerably less than the old Airport extreme base station w/o n. So i figure that difference will be even greater compared to the new Airport Extremes. I understand that your living space is small but you need to know that even if within range the connection speed is still affected by a weak signal.

It, of course, all depends on the type of walls. I work in a small library in our town and we have an Airport Express running at 10% range because we wanted to restrict its use to inside the building so people would have to come in. Half of the building was built in 1912, so its walls are made of plaster, with brick on the outside. We have signal covering the entire building (check out an old one room Carnegie library for an idea, except two of those side diagonally attached) and across the street. It's worked very well for our use, and, if you don't want n (I'd go for it if I had the money), then you'll be fine with the express as long as you don't need absolute top g speed through concrete walls.

 

[sikkinixx]

do you already have wireless recievers for all of your consoles? remember, the airport express has no ethernet connections for any devices such as those; everything must run wirelessly.

yeah i have the ps3 w/ wifi, wii has it built in and i forked over the bucks for the xbox wifi adaptor plus my mbp obviously is fine.


I guess i should just spring for the airport extreme and be done with it. A linksys wireless n router was $125 so I would rather spend $25 more and get the usb port to hook up a printer or external drive.