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Airport Extreme Base Station -- Worth the $?

N

neoelectronaut

Cancelled
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
3,417
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Well, a recent thunderstorm took out our D-Link router, (Along with the touch-lamp in my room) so I figure I need a new one.

...is the Airport Extreme worth the $159 it's being sold for?
 
I haven't used any other routers, so I don't know if this is specific to Airport, but the fact that "it just works" really impressed me. I mean, as soon as my PowerBook got through the little "Welcome" movie you get upon first turning on your new computer I was connected to the Internet via Airport.

I also like the knowledge that I'm using an Apple peripheral with my Apple hardware.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that the Airport Extreme base station is a really well made, reliable piece of equipment. I've never had any problems with it whatsoever. But like I said, I don't really have anything to compare it with :eek:

Oh yeah, it also looks really cool!
 
Well, just spending 4 times as much on something doesn't sound too appealing if I can get something else that does the exact same thing.
 
What are your wired port needs? I have an Airport Extreme, but I wouldn't buy a new one today... I think I would buy an Airport Express, and maybe use a wired router to back it up (but then I have onesuch sitting around), because I do have one wired device. I have to say I love mine -- printing works great, it does, to me, have better "it just works" than most routers. But not worth that much money.
 
neoelectronaut said:
Well, just spending 4 times as much on something doesn't sound too appealing if I can get something else that does the exact same thing.
Click to expand...

BINGO!! you dont need us at all !!! at the end of the day, its going to do the samething a $40 router would do. NOW IF speed was an issue go for it...but ive been using my $35 belkin router...and have NEVER had a problem.

P.S. think of the other mac stuff u can buy if u save the $$ :rolleyes:
 
I have an Airport Extreme and I think it's wonderful. It was extremely (pardon the pun) easy to set up and has been flawless in terms of speed and range. In my opinion, It's worth every penny...
 
Well I'd say it depends on a few things. For one, it makes a great USB print server. Sure you can buy a network printer instead and hook it up to any D-Link or similar router, but if you spend an extra hundred bucks on a printer to work around the lack of USB networking capability, just spend the money on the AEBS. For another, I bought mine not knowing that everywhere I lived would have broadband access. That paid off (I bought the more expensive one) because I'm now sharing dial-up through it. (Yay! :rolleyes: ) However, if I had gone the cheaper route I'd be dragging a long phone cord around right now. Hopefully this is not a problem you face.

Next, ease of integration. Not knowing how savvy a tech user you are, I'd say the AEBS is VERY easy to use as has been mentioned. Airport Admin Utility is a breeze to use.

Lastly, have you considered the Airport Express? If you're not mixing your wireless/wired networks, and you have less than a dozen computers on your network, it would make a good solution and save you a few more dollars. Plus it has that nice stereo link so you can listen to your music wirelessly. That is a trick that rarely fails to amaze windows users. "Look, no cords. I've got nothing up my sleeves. Now, I'm going to play music and print to my ink jet. Tada!"
 
I use the APX BS b/c I use wireless printing w/ my laptop and my parents have the modem in their room, so they also have a wired connection to their PC through it. As of now our basestation has 3 or 4(when my grandfather comes over) computers hooked up to it and is extremely fast. We have never had a problem with this one or our original snow APBS. The only reason we replaced was for the wireless printing. They are great.
PS:My friend has gone through 4 or 5 linskys routers in the past year and a half
 
Short answer to your question: no, its not worth the money. It is pretty much a standard 802.11g router but much more expensive. I would go for the Linsys WRT54G, or GS, as they are cheaper, work just as well, and can be heavily modified to support really high-end features due to the fact that they are based on Linux.
 
pmartin said:
Short answer to your question: no, its not worth the money. It is pretty much a standard 802.11g router but much more expensive. I would go for the Linsys WRT54G, or GS, as they are cheaper, work just as well, and can be heavily modified to support really high-end features due to the fact that they are based on Linux.
Click to expand...

I keep hearing people mention this... but I don't understand it completely. What are the high-end features you can add via mods? Obviously you can't give it a USB print server or streaming audio, because it lacks the hardware support. Are you talking about WPA2 or other 802.1x stuff?
 
Id say that the Airport Express, is worth it, the streaming audio. But not the regular Airport Extreme.
 
You can use a WRT54G to add advanced networking and routing features to make it similar to a much higher-end router. You can also increase the transmit power, extending the range considerably. I reccomend you check out sveasoft.com if you are interested in these mods. There is also a distro for it called OpenWRT and another called HyperWRT that you can look into. USB Print Serving isn't built in, but a USB to Ethernet print server adapter is only $15 and will work.
 
I got an Airport Express right after it came out, and with the portability and the music streaming, it was worth every penny.
 
Another vote for the AirPort Express. Fantastic little device. Just as good as the Extreme (unless you need the modem or want to accommodate 50 clients).

Again: It just works... :)

And AirTunes is the best invention since the wheel, IMHO... ;)
 
I have the Airport Extreme Base Station... It was worth every penny. It just works. I can reboot it remotely. I like the way it's setup and I didn't need the music streaming. In addition, I like being able to support more than 10 clients.
 
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