How can you make a claim like "most consumers are looking to drop Airport Extreme prices", and be mad about it? Just because there are cheaper routers on the market doesn't mean that the Airport routers are equal on all fronts, but at a higher price. The hardware and software is generally superior to many third-party options, even from a pure integration with Macs and iOS devices standpoint.
Apple is a hardware company and needs to make money. The "bargain" they offer (and there is one!) is the longevity of their hardware and software. You get more than you paid for it, easy. If you want a cheaper router, get a cheaper router.
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Crippled? That's a bold claim. You do realize that these devices are mini-computers, right? They do a lot of work beyond just routing your network traffic. The Airport Express is a tiny device, and to cram even more functionality and demands into it may have exceeded processing and heat thresholds beyond Apple's quality of standard. What if they decided to roll out that Network Disk feature to the Express and it performed poorly? How pissed would you be then?
Would be nice if they incorporated AirPrint into the Airport - effectively turning any printer into an AirPrint printer. Not being able to print from my iDevice because my printer is too old is a drag.
I'm not sure if this is true. I have one of each at home and was looking to swap them to improve signal strength where it's needed, but from what I was able to gather from the Internet, the output signal strength is identical between the two.
Configured right, it might've given okay performance. I wouldn't expect anything great though, smaller antennas for one.
I have one of these, great product. Would be wonderful if I could attach a USB hard disk to it for time machine backups!
Apple originally included TM capability with the Airport Extreme but pulled it at the last minute
And 802.11ac
?? The current AirPort Extreme does support Time Machine via an attached USB drive. It specifies that right in the manual. I've been doing it for several months and it works perfectly.
How can you make a claim like "most consumers are looking to drop Airport Extreme prices", and be mad about it? Just because there are cheaper routers on the market doesn't mean that the Airport routers are equal on all fronts, but at a higher price. The hardware and software is generally superior to many third-party options, even from a pure integration with Macs and iOS devices standpoint.
Apple is a hardware company and needs to make money. The "bargain" they offer (and there is one!) is the longevity of their hardware and software. You get more than you paid for it, easy. If you want a cheaper router, get a cheaper router.
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Crippled? That's a bold claim. You do realize that these devices are mini-computers, right? They do a lot of work beyond just routing your network traffic. The Airport Express is a tiny device, and to cram even more functionality and demands into it may have exceeded processing and heat thresholds beyond Apple's quality of standard. What if they decided to roll out that Network Disk feature to the Express and it performed poorly? How pissed would you be then?
Manual? Lucky you! My time machine did not come with a manual nor did it come with any software. I purchased the time machine before having one Apple computer in the home. It was somewhat of a chore to setup and install, but I was able to do it.
If your printer has Ethernet, connect it that way. I have an ten-year-old OKIdata C5150N (GDI) printer and I have always used the Ethernet port for printing. If your printer does not have Ethernet, then perhaps its time to update? I highly recommend OKI laser printers. As long as you have a Ethernet port on any printer, you can print to it using ANY computer (MAC or PC) on your network - wired or wireless.
Even if the output signal strengths were identical, the antennae are higher up in the Extreme, and with its 802.11ac WiFi technology, and 'Beam forming', the Extreme reaches further and faster, and will definitely outperform the 'N' tech of the Express.
Needless to say, you need computers with ac WiFi capability built-in to take advantage of that performance boost.