This is a yawn update. It's hard for Apple to top it though as it's such a good piece of hardware!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Quietly Updates Time Capsule (2TB and 3TB) and AirPort Extreme
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Seriously, for any of you thinking this needs a Thunderbolt port, here's a bit of info for you:
USB 2.0 = 480mb/s
Wifi N = 450mb/s
Therefore USB > Wifi which means that the USB is still faster than the fastest wifi connection you can have with this thing.
Even if you are wired to one of the gb ports, you are only going to double the back up time since:
USB 2.0 = 480mb/s
gb wired = 1000 mb/s
Also remember that modern mechanical hard drives (SSD's are not found in TC's) max out at roughly 100MB/s (and more like 70-80MB/s). SO using this:
USB 2.0 = 480mb/s
Hard Drives = 800mb/s (more like 560-640mb/s)
What are my points by all of this? That even if Apple could put a Thunderbolt port in it (which they couldn't unless they went to an Intel processor in it which would dramatically increase the cost), there WOULD BE LITTLE BENEFIT TO IT.
USB 2.0 = 480mb/s
Wifi N = 450mb/s
Therefore USB > Wifi which means that the USB is still faster than the fastest wifi connection you can have with this thing.
Even if you are wired to one of the gb ports, you are only going to double the back up time since:
USB 2.0 = 480mb/s
gb wired = 1000 mb/s
Also remember that modern mechanical hard drives (SSD's are not found in TC's) max out at roughly 100MB/s (and more like 70-80MB/s). SO using this:
USB 2.0 = 480mb/s
Hard Drives = 800mb/s (more like 560-640mb/s)
What are my points by all of this? That even if Apple could put a Thunderbolt port in it (which they couldn't unless they went to an Intel processor in it which would dramatically increase the cost), there WOULD BE LITTLE BENEFIT TO IT.
Power users do not tend to look at AEBS for the same reasons that you point out about the missing features. If they need those, they buy the high end Linksys/Cisco, Netgear and D-link routers.
For majority of people that don’t care and just browse the network that needs to be reliable and stable out of the box without all the complicated settings, Airport Extreme is one the best out there for them (Mac + iOS users). I doubt Windows users would buy it.
I have gone though dozens of Linksys (after Cisco purchased it), D-Link and Netgear routers for many people that I worked with. The most common problems that people have were connection drops, confusion over settings and so on. Replacing the cheap-medium end with high end AEBS helped in majority of the cases. They simply don’t care about the missing features, they were just glad that the wireless network worked reliably with no need to configure it.
3+1/4+1 ports really doesn’t matter. If you need more, you can get an excellent 8-port switch for 30-40$ or use an airport express to extend the wireless coverage for people who don’t need the wired connections.
Fair enough, but you are still stuck with an extra device. I personally doubt everyone has a dual band 802,1n router at home.
I agree, your getting more functionality for less but at the end of the day the average person doesn't need all those extra features and they want something that is easy to set up. Hence the TC. Like every other Apple product it is made for the average person who doesnt want to do all the extra work.
Even though I consider my self a technical person, I would be happy with the TC as it would integrate much better with my Mac's and iOS devices and it provides me with exactly what i need. That little extra $ is worth the convenience and piece of mind.
Probably apple will use "their" own connector and drop standard SATA HDD to prevent folks from upgrading.
If someone needs network HDD Synology ds 110 is great. Apple tv or airport express (you can buy refurbished for 69$), or buy hard drive and plug it to your machine. So many options to choose from, why should we care about sh...y update.
If someone needs network HDD Synology ds 110 is great. Apple tv or airport express (you can buy refurbished for 69$), or buy hard drive and plug it to your machine. So many options to choose from, why should we care about sh...y update.
i'm confused... what does wireless or usb or being plugged into the gb port have to do with it? if it had a thunderbolt port it would obviously only affect the speed while being plugged into the thunderbolt port. Ok, so the hard drive itself could limit the speed, but then you can argue why even bother putting a thunderbolt port on a mac when ssd drives aren't standard?
Apple isn't trying to make pro routers. Cisco will be more than happy to sell you what you need. These are consumer devices for regular people.
I think you're missing the point. I don't want Thunderbolt on my router for an external HDD. I want thunderbolt so that I can have an external display, all my external HDDs and a hardware network connection on my laptop all by plugging in a single cable.
The point is that USB 2.0 is not that much of a bottle neck to a single hard drive. That actually your network bandwidth is a bigger bottleneck than the ports afforded.
That's all she knows. Have to wait a few days for it to be torn down and reviewed.
They weren't too dumb to realize a computer can't connect to a TC at anywhere near TB speeds, thus saving us the expense of upgrading the OS and chipset in the TC to add a feature that you can't even take advantage of.
"Just run out of HDD's (sic)"? A company of Apple's size and experience doesn't just run out of HDDs, and then issue a new product as a stop gap.
That’s not technically correct.
With USB 2.0, you can only get ~20MBps in one port, regardless of a hub with multiple drives (imagine a JBOD DAS connected to it). Latest HDDs can do 100MBps (some of the 2-3TB drives can do 125MBps maxed). A single gigabit port can do around 100MBps but more like 80MBps average.
You’re also assuming that it’s a one data stream to the hard drive. Imagine multiple computers sharing files via both the wireless and wired networks at the same time, 100MBps is totally possible at once and even more with a thunderbolt port. Now, imagine that you can daisy chain multiple drives via that port.
The internal routing capability is much bigger, it should be able to handle 4 Gbps+ with 10 Gbps bi-directional bus to the thunderbolt port. It does not just stop at 1Gbps with one port that is maxed out. We’re talking about 4 gigabit ports (WAN included) and the wireless network, that’s 4 Gbps+ included as the entire network bandwidth capacity internally. Even at one direction to the USB port, that’s still 2Gbps going to an interface that’s limited to 20Mbps.
Last edited:
Keep in mind that all you're doing is using an airdisk to host the iTunes media files. iTunes just reads that folder like it would any local folder (i.e. you still have to have iTunes running).
But yes, with the last gen airport, I can: airdisk(iTunes library) -> MBP (iTunes running) -> ATV2 with no issues. In fact, there's enough bandwidth that I can stream video to at least two ATV2's, or music (lossless format) to ~5 airport expresses/ATV's at the same time without a glitch. The computer is on the 5 Ghz A/N network BTW.
The only tricks are that you have to manually mount the airdisk *before* you run itunes, and you'll have to wait a minute while it spins up before you can browse the iTunes library on the ATV.
I have a second disk on the AE (via powered USB hub - unpowered don't work) for my TM backup. No glitches when a backup runs while streaming either.
Best thing I'd suggest is:
1) Copy a movie file using finder to your airdisk
2) add it to the itunes library (turn off the 'copy to library' option first)
and test it with one file before you bite the bullet.
The reason I want Thunderbolt is because the time it takes for doing a full system backup and restore. When using USB2.0 I normally see the speed ranging from 18-35MB/s, with USB3.0 I normally see 75-95MB/s in other words you can get quite a speed boost by going Thunderbolt.
If it wasn't for Apple completely ignoring USB3.0 in order to focus on Thunderbolt they've could have simply added USB3.0 instead but as they wanted to go all-in on Thunderbolt they should also take the additional cost for adding this to their own lineup of accessories to their Mac machines.
I'll guess I have to disable AirPort Utility and enabling ethernet connection and simply plug my MacBook Pro 2011 model directly to the TimeCapsule in order to actually not getting my speeds bottlenecked while doing full system back and restore.
And yeah, we all know USB2.0 never reaches it's full potential speed.
If it wasn't for Apple completely ignoring USB3.0 in order to focus on Thunderbolt they've could have simply added USB3.0 instead but as they wanted to go all-in on Thunderbolt they should also take the additional cost for adding this to their own lineup of accessories to their Mac machines.
I'll guess I have to disable AirPort Utility and enabling ethernet connection and simply plug my MacBook Pro 2011 model directly to the TimeCapsule in order to actually not getting my speeds bottlenecked while doing full system back and restore.
And yeah, we all know USB2.0 never reaches it's full potential speed.
Those are theoretical numbers, protocol overhead and network/bus collisions drop them substantially, so it's actually even *less* important to have a thunderbolt port on a network router. If someone wants fast backup, just hang a thunderbolt or FW800 HD directly off the computer.
My TC experience was mixed. Had a drive die from overheating (not sure you can fix that in such a tiny enclosure), and you can't upgrade to a new/bigger drive without voiding warranty and a whole lot of pain. HD's hung off an AE work just fine, and are a heck of a lot more maintainable.
How do you think your are going to connect your Mac to a Time Capsule? It's either wireless, or ethernet. Both are the bottleneck and far slower than TB. TC currently uses SATA, there's no point in going faster than that.
Ethernet is still slower than TB. That's why it's stupid to put TB on a router. Any interface faster than Ethernet is pointless.
The internal routing capacity is much higher. We’re talking about 4 x 1gigabits + 450Mbps bandwidth capacity limited to a 480mbps port.
Not every network has just one Mac.
Add multiple computers in the mix, not just one Mac.
I believe some of us are talking about using TB on the AEBS more specifically. It makes more sense to have it there. Compare TB to USB 2.0 port, not TB to SATA/Ethernet.
Last edited:
i appologize for my technically challenged question...
What is the difference between a TC with a thunderbolt port and an external hard drive with a thunderbolt port?
I guess I was viewing the TC as both a router and an external hard drive and thought with a thunderbolt port you'd have the option of bypassing the limitations of wifi/ethernet for doing major backups/restores. But after reading all these comments I'm guessing i'm wrong.
What is the difference between a TC with a thunderbolt port and an external hard drive with a thunderbolt port?
I guess I was viewing the TC as both a router and an external hard drive and thought with a thunderbolt port you'd have the option of bypassing the limitations of wifi/ethernet for doing major backups/restores. But after reading all these comments I'm guessing i'm wrong.
So much for the rumors of the much NEEDED iTunes server (so one wouldn't have to keep a computer on 24/7 to make their full libraries available to all their AppleTV units....
Between this and the no physical media Lion distribution that means you have to install and old operating system before you can install Lion I can only say one thing.
Apple is really starting to suck.
I think I'll keep Snow Leopard on my MBP and I'll think twice before buying a Mac again in the future.
I wonder what I can get to replace AppleTV since it'll apparently never work transparently with a UPnP/DLNA server or NAS device.
Between this and the no physical media Lion distribution that means you have to install and old operating system before you can install Lion I can only say one thing.
Apple is really starting to suck.
I think I'll keep Snow Leopard on my MBP and I'll think twice before buying a Mac again in the future.
I wonder what I can get to replace AppleTV since it'll apparently never work transparently with a UPnP/DLNA server or NAS device.