My new Airport Extreme Base Station just arrived

[dernhelm]

Just thought I'd mention that my new Base Station arrived yesterday (Feb 5), which was 9 days earlier than promised in the previous e-mail they sent me.

The 802.11n enabling software came on the disk in the package and installed on my iMac without any issues. I was up and connected to my provider in about 15 minutes (ended up needed to reboot twice, not sure why).

I wasn't able to test the 802.11n speeds for want of an ethernet cable to hook my PB up, but my PB found the network without any issues, and one WPA password later, Bob's your uncle. My ethernet enabled printer was also a snap, the only thing left is the Wii.

So I got my Valentine's day present 9 days early! Replacing a dying Linksys that we literally were rebooting several times per day...

Anyone out there get an Apple TV yet?

 

[MRU]

good news. Q. Where are you in the world ?

I'm in Ireland but mine is still showing 21st Feb and I ordered the day of the keynote too.

 

[dernhelm]

good news. Q. Where are you in the world ?

I'm in Ireland but mine is still showing 21st Feb and I ordered the day of the keynote too.

Michigan, USA. I ordered mine literally the minute after the store came on-line.

I wonder if the Apple TV is shipping right now as well.

 

[MacWalk]

Could you tell us how the speed is to transfer files back and forth from a USB drive to the computer on the wireless network.

 

[dernhelm]

Could you tell us how the speed is to transfer files back and forth from a USB drive to the computer on the wireless network.

Not right now, but hopefully soon. I don't (yet) have an external USB drive I can hook up. But I'm ordering one from newegg soon. That's one of the main features I was looking forward to using.


BTW - anyone have any suggestions as to who makes a fast and reliable external USB 2.0-based hard disk between 500-750GB? I was looking at both Maxtor, and WD , and LaCie but the LaCie seemed a tad more expensive.

 

[MRU]

I like the WD mybook essential for USB2 external drives. They look great and are good value for money too.

 

[Maynerd]

Be sure to post how your wii experience went.

 

[puckhead193]

pics?

 

[PlaceofDis]

i'm not trying to be rude, but i'm going to guess that you're talking about the Airport Extreme Basestation and not the Express.

 

[dernhelm]

Be sure to post how your wii experience went.

Will do. I'll work on it tonight.

pics?

I'm not home right now. Doesn't look like much anyway, but I can post something later if you like...

i'm not trying to be rude, but i'm going to guess that you're talking about the Airport Extreme Basestation and not the Express.

I am of course, many apologies. Made the post a little too early in the morning it appears.

I like the WD mybook essential for USB2 external drives. They look great and are good value for money too.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind! I might stop at CompUSA on the way home just to see what they have.

 

[dernhelm]

Be sure to post how your wii experience went.

The Wii was totally straightforward. Should've just done it in the morning before I left for work (especially since the kids were home all day - it's subzero Farenheit out here this week).

Anyway - no worries at all - since I don't have any wifi competition out here (I have the only wifi access point in range), I didn't even have to fill in my ssid. Just left that blank, filled in the WPA password, and zam - connected. It downloaded an update pretty quickly, I hooked it to our my.nintendo.com account, and we could buy old NES games, try out the google web browser, etc. etc.

I wouldn't actually recommend browsing the web using the Wii, but it did work, strange as it seems.

 

[psycoswimmer]

Congrats on the AP Express, I bought one on Black Friday last year. You'll enjoy it. Just so you know, my DS Lite and Wii found the signal right away, and my Wii is in the basement, with the AP upstairs.

Edit: Just a little bit of my experience; you get used to browsing on the Wii. It becomes easier over time and I type twice as fast on-screen as I did when I got my Wii.

 

[rogersmj]

Not that I'm one to buy Apple's overpriced networking hardware anyway, but I just learned something yesterday that ensures I will not: the ethernet ports on the new Airport Extreme are only 10/100, and not 1000Mbps! I am flabbergasted at Apple's stupidity. This is inexcusable for three reasons:

1. It's pretty much the most expensive consumer wireless router out there, and for that money you should get the best technology, especially when it's been around for years. Making those ports gigabit would have cost only a few bucks.
2. All Macs come with Gigabit network interfaces...so why the hell doesn't Apple's own networking hardware support that?
3. The 802.11n wireless is indeed speedy -- so speedy that you're not going to see those speeds unless you are going wireless-to-wireless, because it outperforms (in ideal conditions) a standard 100Mbps ethernet connection.

It really makes no sense to me why Apple would shave a few bucks -- or maybe even only a few cents at volume, because all it takes is one different chip -- and cripple the wired portion of this product. For that reason, I will never buy one. Just my $0.02. Those of you that got one, I hope you enjoy it for your purposes.

 

[Maynerd]

Not that I'm one to buy Apple's overpriced networking hardware anyway, but I just learned something yesterday that ensures I will not: the ethernet ports on the new Airport Extreme are only 10/100, and not 1000Mbps! I am flabbergasted at Apple's stupidity. This is inexcusable for three reasons:

1. It's pretty much the most expensive consumer wireless router out there, and for that money you should get the best technology, especially when it's been around for years. Making those ports gigabit would have cost only a few bucks.
2. All Macs come with Gigabit network interfaces...so why the hell doesn't Apple's own networking hardware support that?
3. The 802.11n wireless is indeed speedy -- so speedy that you're not going to see those speeds unless you are going wireless-to-wireless, because it outperforms (in ideal conditions) a standard 100Mbps ethernet connection.

It really makes no sense to me why Apple would shave a few bucks -- or maybe even only a few cents at volume, because all it takes is one different chip -- and cripple the wired portion of this product. For that reason, I will never buy one. Just my $0.02. Those of you that got one, I hope you enjoy it for your purposes.

Interesting.

 

[Velo-Guy]

Well................I got mine yesterday and the joker is faster than anything else I've had........I know that is subjective statement but it definetly seems very fast or atleast fast enough for it not to be an issue. A friend that lives two blocks from me knows my nickname and he called and said "you put up an new wireless, cause I just started getting a hot signal and its got your nicknames network on it" I was suprised he is several hundred yards down the street and he is getting 5 bars off my AEB.

 

[Maynerd]

Anyone test if a drive that is formatted Fat32 is recognized thru the USB port on the AEBS?

 

[Chef Medeski]

Not that I'm one to buy Apple's overpriced networking hardware anyway, but I just learned something yesterday that ensures I will not: the ethernet ports on the new Airport Extreme are only 10/100, and not 1000Mbps! I am flabbergasted at Apple's stupidity. This is inexcusable for three reasons:

1. It's pretty much the most expensive consumer wireless router out there, and for that money you should get the best technology, especially when it's been around for years. Making those ports gigabit would have cost only a few bucks. Pre-n hasn't been around for years. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!
2. All Macs come with Gigabit network interfaces...so why the hell doesn't Apple's own networking hardware support that?
3. The 802.11n wireless is indeed speedy -- so speedy that you're not going to see those speeds unless you are going wireless-to-wireless, because it outperforms (in ideal conditions) a standard 100Mbps ethernet connection.

It really makes no sense to me why Apple would shave a few bucks -- or maybe even only a few cents at volume, because all it takes is one different chip -- and cripple the wired portion of this product. For that reason, I will never buy one. Just my $0.02. Those of you that got one, I hope you enjoy it for your purposes.

1. NO its not. Its competively priced, now the previous basestation at about what!?! doube the price was way too expensive since Gs are now going for like $40-$60.
2. Yes and how often do you sit down with ur mac behind your base station. They all come with firewire too, should the AP have that too? This makes no sense. This is a wireless router. Its prime purpose is wireless solutions.
3. So since the wireless is so fast, you thus need gigiabit ethernet less.... oh wait this is a reasoning why you need it. Logic buddy, use it.

Great gigabit is nice and all but if you really need it pick up a $50 gigiait ethernet switch or just dont buy it. We understand the product is not for you the sultan of sitting behind wireless points with his iMac trying to use the port to share gigiabytes of data daily. For the rare occurence where one could use the extra throuput.... say when transferring gigabytes of data, both machines would have to put hooked up directly to the machine to make it worthwhile. The likelihood of that is about what 1 in a million out of all Apple AE buyers. Yes some people might benifit sporadically from being able to use this, yet i would probably to venture not more than 10 people would actually be able to use such an added feature to an extent where one would be content to say I KNOW THERE IS A REASON WHY APPLE PUT THIS ON!

And yes we know the sky is falling when of all things, Apple forgets gigabit ethernet. Its as if Steve Jobs wore a suit or something.

 

[CalPoly10]

1. NO its not. Its competively priced, now the previous basestation at about what!?! doube the price was way too expensive since Gs are now going for like $40-$60.
2. Yes and how often do you sit down with ur mac behind your base station. They all come with firewire too, should the AP have that too? This makes no sense. This is a wireless router. Its prime purpose is wireless solutions.
3. So since the wireless is so fast, you thus need gigiabit ethernet less.... oh wait this is a reasoning why you need it. Logic buddy, use it.

Man, you are being really ignorant. You are such a legit Apple fanboy, that by Apple putting crap technologies on that AE Router, you still vouch for it!

1. The AE is competetively price, but is still pricy, and it doesn't have Gigabit networking.
2. a LOT of people use the Gigabit networking my friend. My house is wired with it, and my Dad has a Core2Duo laptop, and we are all connected on Gigabit computers. If he were to transfer...say...a Movie to my computer wirelessly, Gigabit would be used. You are so BLIND when you say it isn't an important feature...realize this router won't be changed by Apple for a long time. Enough people use Gigabit for Apple to throw that option on there.
3. I guess you didn't know, but the Theoretical throughput of the 802.11n router is FASTER than regular ethernet. In order for the product to reach it's potential, Gigabit is needed. So apple is crippling this new technology by limiting a Gigabit port. What don't you understand?

 

[weckart]

Man, you are being really ignorant. You are such a legit Apple fanboy, that by Apple putting crap technologies on that AE Router, you still vouch for it!

1. The AE is competetively price, but is still pricy, and it doesn't have Gigabit networking.
2. a LOT of people use the Gigabit networking my friend. My house is wired with it, and my Dad has a Core2Duo laptop, and we are all connected on Gigabit computers. If he were to transfer...say...a Movie to my computer wirelessly, Gigabit would be used. You are so BLIND when you say it isn't an important feature...realize this router won't be changed by Apple for a long time. Enough people use Gigabit for Apple to throw that option on there.
3. I guess you didn't know, but the Theoretical throughput of the 802.11n router is FASTER than regular ethernet. In order for the product to reach it's potential, Gigabit is needed. So apple is crippling this new technology by limiting a Gigabit port. What don't you understand?

The theoretical output is very nice. How about the actual sustained output? Not that I'm supporting the fact that hardly anyone of all the pre-n manufacturers has seen fit to include Gbit on its products, but does it matter in real life? Could you really output faster wirelessly to a hard disk connected to the ethernet port than the current 100Mbit speed limit? Given that the max increase in speed in certain jurisdictions is limited to 2.5x current levels anyway due to broadcasting restrictions, I think probably not for many.

Unless the finalised protocol coincides with a substantial increase in speed (actual sustained transfer, not theoretical) then whether the routers have Gbit or not is no more than a pissing contest.

 

[petvas]

The new Airport Extreme should have at least one Gigabit port.

Despite that fact, I ordered it the day of Steve Jobs Macworld keynote ang got it today.

Its certainly a nice router, the speed is great, I am synchronising my Macbook Pro with my iMac and the speed increase was obvious. I havent tested the Disk sharing feature yet but overall I am a very happy owner!

 

[rogersmj]

1. NO its not. Its competively priced, now the previous basestation at about what!?! doube the price was way too expensive since Gs are now going for like $40-$60.
2. Yes and how often do you sit down with ur mac behind your base station. They all come with firewire too, should the AP have that too? This makes no sense. This is a wireless router. Its prime purpose is wireless solutions.
3. So since the wireless is so fast, you thus need gigiabit ethernet less.... oh wait this is a reasoning why you need it. Logic buddy, use it.

Great gigabit is nice and all but if you really need it pick up a $50 gigiait ethernet switch or just dont buy it. We understand the product is not for you the sultan of sitting behind wireless points with his iMac trying to use the port to share gigiabytes of data daily. For the rare occurence where one could use the extra throuput.... say when transferring gigabytes of data, both machines would have to put hooked up directly to the machine to make it worthwhile. The likelihood of that is about what 1 in a million out of all Apple AE buyers. Yes some people might benifit sporadically from being able to use this, yet i would probably to venture not more than 10 people would actually be able to use such an added feature to an extent where one would be content to say I KNOW THERE IS A REASON WHY APPLE PUT THIS ON!

And yes we know the sky is falling when of all things, Apple forgets gigabit ethernet. Its as if Steve Jobs wore a suit or something.

Wow. Just wow. That's probably the most childish post I've seen on here in awhile. Who ruffled your moron feathers the wrong way?

Yes, it is expensive, and it should have gigabit. Who uses gigabit? Me, for one. I have a wired network throughout my home, with a media server that has 1.6TB (1,600 GB) of media, an Xbox media center, a TiVo, several workstations, and of course a couple laptops. I don't use wireless for all that, that would be stupid and slow -- just the laptops. It incurs too much overhead, plus it's not as reliable as wired networks. For moving huge amounts of data, wired networking is a must and gigabit is very important.

Who sits down with their mac connected to their router? Uh, a lot of us, buddy. I don't just use laptops. How about YOU try some logic, you might like it. Don't just flip a lid because someone found a fault in an Apple product. If no one needs it, as you claim, then why does Apple put it in all of their Macs? It's a nice feature, it costs next to nothing, and it greatly helps out in a highly connected household, which is something Apple promotes a lot. If you disagree with me fine, I can handle that if it's in a mature and objective manner. But you're clearly someone who has some childish issues, so why don't you work that out and then come back here when you want to talk in a calm and reasonable manner.

 

[phuong]

wow man. felt really sad when i learned about that non-gigabit thingy. i guess i'll just connect it to my other router and set it up as an access point. (although i'm not even sure if that'll work)

 

[micsaund]

While I agree that it's lame that Apple didn't include gigabit (my house is wired also), I will attempt to divert the conversation to something else:

What is the configuration for this router like as far as port forwarding/port triggering (ie. for BitTorrent, games, etc.) I have never owned an Apple router, so that's all a mystery to me. Can anyone post screenshots from the new 'n' Extreme showing these settings?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[rogersmj]

While I agree that it's lame that Apple didn't include gigabit (my house is wired also), I will attempt to divert the conversation to something else:

What is the configuration for this router like as far as port forwarding/port triggering (ie. for BitTorrent, games, etc.) I have never owned an Apple router, so that's all a mystery to me. Can anyone post screenshots from the new 'n' Extreme showing these settings?

Thanks,
Mike

I was curious about that as well, and I found the answer on page 60 of the Designing Airport Extreme Networks manual (PDF). Looks pretty straightforward.

 

[danielsan26]

Mine arrived today. The AirDisk speeds are nice, faster than I expected. It's not FW800, but acceptable. The other interesting thing is that it gives you an AirDisk menu bar option, I just attached a picture of it. It's the icon on the far left. Another interesting thing about AirDisk is it lets you mount a printer and more than one USB disk through a USB hub, I connected my ipods--the computer recognized them as ipods on the desktop but they didn't automatically sync with itunes. I'm sure someone will figure out how to do that soon....