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Big difference from 1st Time Capsule to new one?

LevMac

LevMac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 23, 2008
413
2
QLD, Australia
Hey guys,

I currently have the first generation ever made 500GB Time Capsule from back in 2008. Will I notice a big difference in speeds/range with the latest generation Time Capsule?

Thanks
 
If you have a Mac that supports 802.11ac wifi, you should notice a big difference. I am getting between 28 to 30 MB/s wifi data transfer between my new Time Capsule and 2013 MacBook Air. That's almost as fast as my direct-connect USB 2.0 MyPassport drives that clock between 33 to 35 MB/s.
 
I went from the second generation to current and there is a big differences even without AC devices.
 
LevMac said:
Yeah I don't have any AC devices, will it improve my internet speeds? As in what the modem pushes out to the Time Capsule?
Click to expand...

The answer is maybe. The newer TC does have better wireless performance even over just 802.11n. But if you are paying for say 15/2Mbps Internet speeds and you are now able to get those speeds on wifi where you use your computer, there will likely be no benefit with the new TC. But if you are able to get 15/2 on a wired connection and way less than that now on wifi, the new TC might help quote a lot with that.

I just made up the 15/2 as an example, but you get the idea.

Also, your TC does not have dual band wifi. So if you connect a 802.11g device while 802.11n devices are connected, the N devices drop down to G speeds. The newer TC have dual band wifi that overcomes this issue.
 
LevMac said:
Yeah I don't have any AC devices, will it improve my internet speeds? As in what the modem pushes out to the Time Capsule?
Click to expand...

It seems to improve the wireless range. I can now get near the same speed at the far end of the house where before sometimes I couldn't connect. Its seems to improve multiple users using the internet at the same time. It improved streaming performance from the media server. It improves local network file sharing performance.

As far as one or two users getting out on the internet... dunno if you would notice much. It certainly won't hurt, but the ISP pipe may be the bottleneck regardless of what modem/router you are using.

So as weasleboy described, maybe.... :)
 
Thanks for all your feedback guys :)

Might have to give it a go, and I guess my first generation has lasted me 5 years so I guess time for an uprgade :)
 
For the Time Machine function. It depends on your current connection speed, because the HDD may be the bottleneck.

The new TC should give you better range, better intranet speed, but no guarantee to improve the Internet speed or the TM speed, unless your bottleneck is the Wi-Fi connection in your current configuration.
 
h9826790 said:
For the Time Machine function. It depends on your current connection speed, because the HDD may be the bottleneck.
Click to expand...

Here is what I get when accessing the Time Capsule internal hard drive with gigabit ethernet. The disk is clearly a bottleneck, but it's not too bad for a 2TB NAS that only cost $100 more than an Airport Extreme. :) Interesting that write performance is better than read.

ethernet-blackmagic.png




This is 802.11ac wifi on my MacBook Air (I was in the same room, about 3 meters from the TC)

wifi-blackmagic.png
 
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