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airport extreme: buy now or wait?

LucasLand

LucasLand

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 6, 2002
759
93
New England
I'm just getting into the whole wireless setup for my place. I think airport extreme would be great for me. Is this one of those products they update every now and then? Is there anything they can do to this to make it better, which would make me wait for an update?
 
I got Airport Express as I was not sold on the $199 price tag of the extreme and did not need extra Ethernet outputs.

Both Airport express and extreme come with Wireless N compatibility. I do not think they are updating their expresses anything soon besides a possible price cut.

Good luck. :cool:
 
foofan said:
I'm just getting into the whole wireless setup for my place. I think airport extreme would be great for me. Is this one of those products they update every now and then? Is there anything they can do to this to make it better, which would make me wait for an update?
Click to expand...

Doubtful. They just updated the Time Capsule line (Airport Extreme w/ built-in hard drive) but only bumped up the size of the drives. Unless Apple's got some thing super secret in the pipeline, there aren't any major features that are missing from the airport extreme. I believe there are a few routers out there that get better performance but--as someone who owns an older Extreme--there is something nice about an all Apple setup. It doesn't take the headache out of it completely but it does seem to help. Plus Apple actively develops the compatibility between their devices so my experience has actually improved dramatically since I first bought the device with firmware updates on both my MBP and AES.

As far as Express vs. Extreme I would say it depends what you want to hook up and what kind of range/speed you need. While they both have wireless-N, the Extreme does have a better range and better speed, plus if you have both N and B/G devices the new Extreme will segregate them wirelessly and thereby speed up your N devices. Might be worth the extra cash if you've got heavy traffic on your home network.
 
I'm in the same boat (e.g. In the market for a new router). The Wireless-N specification was finalized. I was wondering if Apple will just update via firmware or will they refresh the product line.

Also, I noticed (e.g. CNET "Where to buy" list) that "Beach Camera" and "BuyDig" has the airport extreme for $149, product codes look to be the most recent revision. Anybody have any experience with either of these companies?
 
bbucy said:
I'm in the same boat (e.g. In the market for a new router). The Wireless-N specification was finalized. I was wondering if Apple will just update via firmware or will they refresh the product line.
Click to expand...

Knowing Apple, it will probalby introduce new unit so that you can spend.
 
It's just a router; I works and right now they work very well, so I don't see the need to hold off.

rgarjr said:
Knowing Apple, it will probalby introduce new unit so that you can spend.
Click to expand...

Well they might put out an update for a $20 up-to-date fee…
 
foofan said:
march was a few months ago. Maybe its due a refresh? I'll hold off a bit and see what happens
Click to expand...

You are going to have this problem with all electronics. You will always buy one and a revision will come out later.

Once you wait for the revision you think is coming, are you going to think about holding off for the revision coming after that?
 
What revisions are you hoping for? They're already dual band, they have gigabit ethernet ports, wireless N, and they have a print/hard drive usb server built in. I can't see Apple implementing any other physical revisions, especially since dual band just came out. And if they revise the firmware, you'll be able to upgrade. I say buy now.
 
The AEBS is already at the top line in wireless technology (simultaneous dual band, Wireless-N, gigabit ports and ipv6 support). There won't be updates for quite a while, I'd say.
 
Comparing the airport extreme and the express it seems that the express hasn't been updated in well over a year and lacks the simultaneous dual band capabilities of the extreme.

Does anyone foresee the airport express getting updated soon? Does the simultaneous dual band even make that much of a difference in performance?
 
I don't foresee the dual band feature going over to the express. It would most likely require an increase in the size of the device and that would require a new case, new packaging etc... It's also not really in line with the intent of the express. The express is not really meant to be the anchor of a wireless system, just part of it or a nice device to create a wireless network while traveling. That's also why it doesn't include firewall features.

I honestly doubt we'll see any hardware enhancements to the express anytime soon.

Now if I could make a wish, I'd love for the Airtunes feature to be expanded to carry video. It would be a pretty nifty little trick to have an express with an HDMI port to plug into your tv. Stream from itunes to your tv wirelessly. Fun for the masses.
 
I think there is a new one in the works!

I just moved and left my 2 year old Airport Extreme with my previous roomates, and was going to purchase a new one today at work (I work for a large retail electronics retailer), anyway WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY IN STOCK. I did some checking an hardly any of our stores in the region have any either and our warehouse has 0 to order from (usually hundreds here).

I think there will be a refresh/update, which is always in March, so i'm gonna use my POS Linksys until then. I had heard rumors almost a year ago that the airport extreme and Apple TV would merge together, so I'm hoping for that or something like it.
 
foofan said:
I'm just getting into the whole wireless setup for my place. I think airport extreme would be great for me. Is this one of those products they update every now and then? Is there anything they can do to this to make it better, which would make me wait for an update?
Click to expand...

I'll tell you what I did.

I bought it today.

Replaced a Linksys WRT54G, can't be happier. All basic configuration done automagically, all my devices work as before, all but the Mac, which is four times faster on the N network now.

For a reference, I tried Powerline (D-link 303), but got around 40 Mbps if attached to the power directly (if you put a plug multiplier in the middle, it lowers brutally). I got steady 25 Mbps with my G network, so it wasn't much of an improvement. Returned the D-link. Tried a direct cable, got around 100 Mbps. My wife balked at the cable as it was (it would need some drilling and polishing). Bought the AirPort. Now I got cable-like throughput with the N network: around 90 Mbps, with peaks of more than 100 Mbps.

And my Windows PC which is connected directly to the AirPort runs MUCH FASTER, thanks to the Gigabit connection. I didn't expect this, it is a great bonus. It turned out that the 10/100 ethernet adapter was a bottleneck for internet access (either this, or the Airport managed to configure itself with my cable modem much better).

I spend half an hour opening the ports for bit torrents and the like, the only tweaking I had to do beyond passwords and the like.

I can't be happier with this thing. I should have bought it long ago.

Now I will be paying attention to the reliability but for what I read on forums this router seems very stable.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm not sure what they would upgrade on the AEBS except make it smaller and allow it to stream iTunes (stereo out like AEx).

I would say buy it now. :D
 
I have an aebs and couldn't be happier. I doubt that apple will update the airport extreme soon because it already comes equipped with state of the art features such as dual-band, guest networking, and wireless n.
 
5DollaFootlong said:
I doubt that apple will update the airport extreme soon because it already comes equipped with state of the art features such as dual-band, guest networking, and wireless n.
Click to expand...


Well, Apple guys do have an imagination, right?

They could make it better. They could make it thinner. They could make it faster (by adding multiple simultaneous N channels?). They could make it greener. They could make it cheaper. They could throw some disk in (and call it Time Capsule).

As I said before, knowing all these things, I bought it just hours ago.

I think that product announcement frequency is the thing to watch. When could this new AirPorts be announced? Some speculate March. I saw no rumors about an impending launch. And they are relatively new (2009).

But it could be. Who knows?

However, in absence of more or less credible rumors, or the high probability of a product release in, say, two months from now, I decided to buy the baby.

Again, can't be happier.

Regards from Barcelona.
 
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