Airport Extreme vs. Time Capsule

[blackfx35]

All,

I am thinking of upgrading my current Linksys router to the Airport Extreme, but I have a question. It looks like Time Capsule, offers all of the benefits of the Airport Extreme, plus the addition of a HD. So for $120 more, I can get Airport Extreme PLUS 500GB HD? is my understanding correct? Is there any functionality that the Airport Extreme provides that TC does NOT provide? Thanks so much in advance.

 

[skorpien]

They're pretty much the same in terms of being an AirPort Base Station. The only real advantage the TC has over the AEBS in my opinion is the space saving design. Since AirDisk now supports Time Machine backups (not officially, but Apple has yet to disable it), it's possible to attach a USB external HDD to the AEBS and use it for Time Machine. Cost wise, you could probably build a larger external HDD for $120 and connect it to an AEBS. But convenience wise, it's easier to go with the Time Capsule. Not to mention it's officially supported by Apple, so if anything should go wrong they will provide you with support.

 

[blackfx35]

They're pretty much the same in terms of being an AirPort Base Station. The only real advantage the TC has over the AEBS in my opinion is the space saving design. Since AirDisk now supports Time Machine backups (not officially, but Apple has yet to disable it), it's possible to attach a USB external HDD to the AEBS and use it for Time Machine. Cost wise, you could probably build a larger external HDD for $120 and connect it to an AEBS. But convenience wise, it's easier to go with the Time Capsule. Not to mention it's officially supported by Apple, so if anything should go wrong they will provide you with support.

So if I understand you correctly, it might make sense to get the AEBS, and connect an external HDD to it via usb, if I am not concerned with the additional space issues or lack of Apple support? Are there any speed considerations that I should be aware of? Backing up to TC vs AEBS+HDD? Streaming movies or audio (iTunes) to my AppleTV? Which it be just as quick with either of these options? Thanks again.

 

[skorpien]

I honestly can't tell you which is the better setup as I have a Time Capsule myself and haven't tried the AEBS HDD combo. You might be able to google some pages about it. Streaming with the AEBS should be the same if you're streaming from your computer to the ATV, but again I'm not sure about streaming from the external HDD. Just be aware that you're not going to get 480 Mbps with the connected or internal HDDs across the network. From what I've read though, performance should be very similar with both setups. If anyone can elaborate more on the matter, please do so.