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!
) 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!"
