airport extreme or express?

[masterjedi73]

Which do you recommend? How does the express connect to my home theater speakers? Is there a difference in the quality of the wireless? I currently connect through my netgear router my ibook, g5 (hard wired) and 360.


oh....and why the price difference between the two?

thanks.

 

[jmann]

I would recommend getting an Airport Extreme. They work great as a router, and you can plug things like a printer/external hard drive to it and wirelessly back up/print documents.

 

[flopticalcube]

Differences are outlined here: http://www.apple.com/wifi/

If you need to stream iTunes to your speakers, Express is the only way. Hook it the audio output (either analog or digital) to and amplifier.

 

[masterjedi73]

thanks for that link. what comes with the airport express? do i have to buy two of them for airtunes?

 

[michael.lauden]

it's just the airport express and an airport utility install CD. i love mine. it has USB and an audio out.

for airtunes you just select 'airtunes' or whatever you name it during setup via iTunes.

works great - do some researching and you will fine it is a great value!

 

[masterjedi73]

Let me see if I get this right:

I have my g5 hardwired to the internet in my music room. I also have a wireless netgear router which I use for my ibook and 360.

In my living room is my stereo that I'd like to set up with airtunes.

I would also like to have wireless printing capabilities from my ibook to the printer, currently connected to my g5.

From looking at the manual for airport express, it won't be possible for me to do all I want to do with it because the express needs to be connected to the speakers in my living room. Therefore I couldn't connect it to the printer as well, right?

Also, would I lose some internet performance on my G5 if I have to go wireless with it?

 

[michael.lauden]

if you have a netgear router you could technically use one of it's LAN ports to connect the airport express to.


but if you want it to stream music to the stereo in your living room... you're going to need a long cable.

and you would lose a little speed while switching to wireless if you have very very fast internet.

i.e 6mb/s would only be about 4 with 802.11N.

but my internet is 1.5 mb/s whether it's wireless or whether i'm plugged into the ethernet straight from the modem so it just depends.


and yeah you can connect the printer and airtunes up at the same time.... USB isn't a 3.5mm (1/8" headphone) jack.

 

[flopticalcube]

Let me see if I get this right:

I have my g5 hardwired to the internet in my music room. I also have a wireless netgear router which I use for my ibook and 360.

In my living room is my stereo that I'd like to set up with airtunes.

I would also like to have wireless printing capabilities from my ibook to the printer, currently connected to my g5.

From looking at the manual for airport express, it won't be possible for me to do all I want to do with it because the express needs to be connected to the speakers in my living room. Therefore I couldn't connect it to the printer as well, right?

Also, would I lose some internet performance on my G5 if I have to go wireless with it?

Since you have a wireless router already, the Express would just be seen as a client of that router so you are already set to stream from the G5. Placement of the Express is another matter. You could place it A) next to the stereo and have a long USB cable to the printer B) next to the printer and have a long analog cable to the stereo or C) in the middle of the two and have two long cables. You could also move your printer next to your stereo, I guess.

Internet connections are generally far, far slower than WiFi but as I pointed out, you just leave your setup the way it is.

 

[masterjedi73]

Doesn't needing a long cable defeat the purpose of it being wireless? lol
And with the printer, i mean would i have to connect the printer directly to the router? if i have the express in my LR hooked up to my speakers, and the printer in my music room, i can't connect the two right?

 

[flopticalcube]

You could always pick up 2 expresses, one for the printer and one for the stereo.

 

[michael.lauden]

Doesn't needing a long cable defeat the purpose of it being wireless? lol
And with the printer, i mean would i have to connect the printer directly to the router? if i have the express in my LR hooked up to my speakers, and the printer in my music room, i can't connect the two right?

i dont know what that means. a lot of this is common sense

move the printer, or move the speakers near the express.

if you can't get everything right next to each other - obviously you can't connect it.

 

[masterjedi73]

i dont know what that means. a lot of this is common sense

move the printer, or move the speakers near the express.

if you can't get everything right next to each other - obviously you can't connect it.

Thanks. That's what I was looking for. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I would need more than one router for what I want to do.

Thanks guys.