Airport Express vs Airport Extreme

[msduncan]

About three weeks ago I bought an Airport Express (n) for travel. During testing I was amazed at how much faster it was than my net gear (g) router, and so I kept my Airport Express live instead as my primary router. My question:

Should I buy an Airport Extreme? Would it buy me anything? I.e. Does it have even higher bandwidth, speed, etc than my express, or are you paying essentially for more connections and network drive capabilities?

 

[J&JPolangin]

I did it the other way, had the extreme base station due to wanting the sim dual band (which the express doesn't have) as I have 6 PC's and Mac's in the house with an iPod touch so 4 of the devices didn't have N wireless... my Linksys G router was working fine but I wanted the N speeds on my 3 N machines and the USB port, guest networking and sim dual band sold me on the apple unit...

I liked it so much I got an N express to extend my network at my 3 story house or use when I travel... all of which would work for you also...

 

[mikes63737]

The extreme's USB port works with both hard drives and printers, the express only works with printers.

The extreme has gigabit ethernet ports (not sure if WAN is gigabit or not, but it doesn't matter since home internet speeds are not anywhere near 100mbps yet).

The extreme accepts more wireless clients, and has dual-band, guest network, etc.

But... the extreme does not have AirTunes.

So, if you have the money and don't want AirTunes, get the extreme.

 

[hellfire88]

I believe the Express also can only have 10 computers/devices connected to it at once time, just something to keep in mind in case you have lots of other computers/ipods/iPads. If not and you don't really used wired ethernet nor will you hook up a hard drive to the USB port for Airdisk I don't really see a reason to get the Extreme.

 

[msduncan]

Number of connections is not as big of a deal as performance to me. Does the Express match the Extreme in performance? Does it have better range or bandwidth?

 

[Adam0306]

One thing I noticed that the Extreme has that the Express does not is it is VPN capable. So depending on whether that is a benefit for you or not. Other than that I don't really know the pros and cons of either. If you have the money go for the Extreme.

 

[mstrze]

Number of connections is not as big of a deal as performance to me. Does the Express match the Extreme in performance? Does it have better range or bandwidth?

I would assume....and this is only an assumption...that the Extreme's larger surface area would allow a larger antenna and therefore, a longer-distance, stronger signal, yet I have no real-life data to back this up.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...do you have any G devices in your house?

If so the extreme has simul dual band capability that the express DOESN'T have so your N devices run at full N speeds while your G devices run at full G speeds and doesn't dumb down your N connection to compensate...

 

[itickings]

...do you have any G devices in your house?

If so the extreme has simul dual band capability that the express DOESN'T have so your N devices run at full N speeds while your G devices run at full G speeds and doesn't dumb down your N connection to compensate...

My experience is the opposite actually, it is the G devices that suffer much more than the N devices if the base station isn't simul dual band.

 

[Tex-Twil]

What are the performances of the wifi 802.11n on the Express vs Extreme ? I have the Express and the fastest transfer I can get is 5 MB/s on local network. I read that the Extreme is faster (12 MB/s).

 

[haloplay3r16]

Number of connections is not as big of a deal as performance to me. Does the Express match the Extreme in performance? Does it have better range or bandwidth?

I dont have proof by experience, but on Apple's website, it says that he extreme has Simultaneous dual-band(2.4 GHx And 5 GHz) and the express has just plain dual-band (2.4 GHz OR 5 GHz)
Also in the recommended uses, it says the Express is for "Apartment, smaller home, or dorm" and the extreme is for "Larger home, office, or classroom". That description suggests more range.

 

[NorCalLights]

Number of connections is not as big of a deal as performance to me. Does the Express match the Extreme in performance? Does it have better range or bandwidth?

Extreme definitely has a longer range. I had an Express, replaced it with an Extreme, and now I get signal around the pool in the back yard, where before it was only in the house.