Buying a macbook pro and wondering about a network

[Caine]

Okay, here's my situation:

I'm usually a PC guy, I have a pretty nice PC at home, but I'm looking to get a new laptop (haven't had one in awhile) and finally I decided that I'm getting a Macbook Pro, probably today. While I'm at it, I'm considering getting an airport wireless system going. My reasons for wanting to do this are because I'm going to be using my computer for film editing and I want to be able to store raw video file on an external hard drive while I'm not using them so my laptop doesn't become cluttered. I also want to hook up my laptop to my printer wirelessly for convenience. Lastly, I want to move all my music from my PC to my laptop, and I want to be able to do this easily as I will probably download music onto my PC and then port to my laptop.

Here's my options as I see it:

Airport Express: I really like the Airtunes feature of the Airport Express model, and I would probably get a lot of mileage out of that, however, I'm not sure I can get all of the functions I want out of the Express, as I'd need to have an external hard drive, a printer, two computers, internet, and Airtunes on the network. If I can do that somehow I'd like to, but I'm not sure I can.

Airport Extreme: It seems like I'd be able to do everything I want with the Airport Extreme, my only concern is the external hard drive, because if it's going to be too complicated I will probably want the:

Time Capsule: Airport Extreme + External Hard Drive? This seems like the obvious choice, but once again, I want to make sure it'll do what I want.

Forget The Network: I could just get the external hard drive and plug the printer in manually when I need it. It's not as cool as this other stuff, but I'll do it if I have to.

Also: any recommendations on usb bluetooth connectors for my PC? I'm pretty sure I'll need one for the airport network to work with my PC. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[iToaster]

I'd recommend the AirPort Extreme as that is the only product that can handle an external hard drive and printer off a USB hub, the Express cannot do this. Time Capsule is intended for backing up via Time Machine, but I'm not sure if it can be used as a non-backup external. For your PC, bluetooth is not the way to go as it is not the right method to try to use. You need a wireless (as in 802.11 a/b/g/n) USB dongle (or your could put one in your PC that used a PCI slot).

 

[Caine]

Maybe I'll wait on the network then, since it sounds like it might be more hassle than it's worth.

 

[RevK]

Maybe I'll wait on the network then, since it sounds like it might be more hassle than it's worth.

Actually I wouldn't say that; I have a 500 GB Time Capsule and I can store files and backup wireless to it. It's is AMAZINGLY fast over my network, and was extremely easy to setup.

 

[Caine]

Actually I wouldn't say that; I have a 500 GB Time Capsule and I can store files and backup wireless to it. It's is AMAZINGLY fast over my network, and was extremely easy to setup.

Actually, I ended up snagging a 16 gig ipod touch so I'll be holding off on the network for now, but I think that if the Time Capsule can be used for things besides Time Machine it's probably my first choice, although AirTunes is really cool.