Is an airport just a router?

[thedon1]

Hi, i'm new to macs, looking to pick one up as soon as there is a refresh.

Just doing my research and wanted to know what an airport is. It seems to me that it's just a router but i'm not 100% sure.

Is there anything that differentiates this from a normal router?

I am in the UK and sky is my isp. They provide a netgear router with my log in details installed. Is there any reason i would need an airport?

 

[miles01110]

If you already have a router that you're satisfied with, you don't need an Airport Extreme Base Station or an Airport Express.

 

[spinnerlys]

Apple calls its wireless devices AirPort. There is the AirPort Express, a small router and network extender. Then there is the AirPort Extreme Base Station, a base station and router and network switch.

Apple has put up some information on what is what: http://www.apple.com/wifi/

 

[Schtumple]

Unless you have cable there isn't much point getting an airport, I've got the express and to be honest it's not very good, I've found my mac often can't find it if there's more than 2 or 3 other wifi boxes around, and the signal is pretty poor compared to other wireless n routers.

 

[mikes63737]

Airport devices are routers with additional features.

The Extreme supports external USB hard drives and printers to be shared over the network, while the Express supports sharing USB printers and wirelessly playing iTunes music.

Also, these routers are configured using desktop software instead of a web interface. Apple's interface makes it easier to configure more advanced features like WDS.

 

[Frosties]

I think Apple is still alone with the feature to be able to wake an apple computer from sleep on a wireless lan. Pretty cool feature.

Mac OS X v10.6: About Wake on Demand

But I would just the same skip the expense and use the provided router. Use the money for something else fun.

 

[ggogins]

i bought a used one from eBay and i prefer it over the linksys...way too connection problems for me