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ribbonthecat

macrumors regular
May 23, 2006
219
2
Chicago, IL
I have an Airport Express as my DSL wireless router. It works flawlessly, in an apartment with three windows laptops, a Powerbook, my iMac, and my iPod touch. It also connects every computer wirelessly to the stereo. It is one of Apple's most elegant products. The addition of the ability to mount a hard drive wirelessly would be great, though.
 

notsofatjames

macrumors 6502a
Jan 11, 2007
856
0
Wales, UK
I currently use the Airport Express as thought my 17" Intel Core Duo 1.83 Ghz imac wouldn't support the Airport Extreme. Is that wrong as I can't find anything about it on apple's website anymore? That would be fantastic if I could upgrade to the 802.11n for my :apple:TV!!! I could stop syncing and start streaming everything on my mac!!!

Your iMac would be compatible with the Extreme, but wouldnt get 802.11n speeds, on the 11g speeds your currently getting. It wouldnt make much difference in your situation.
 

KindredMAC

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2003
975
218
I wonder if the USB port will support full 480mbps now, and if the ethernet port will be full gigabit ethernet...

why would it?

Even at full "real life" transfer speed, Draft N would never get to any kind of speed that you would notice the difference between 10/100 and gigabit. And as for the USB port, it's mainly meant for a printer. You won't see any real benefit from a full speed USB 2.0 connection.

This update is much needed since if you had one of the prior APEXP in an APE Draft N environment, your APE Draft N became a higher priced G router.

About time Apple! Good to hear!
 

BrownManUPS

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2007
824
25
Denver
Yes it will.

So, if I have a standard network cable and I plug it into this station, now I have wireless connectivity?

Why would I need a router then? Isn't this essentially a mini router? Because if I had a DSL modem and it had an ethernet cable coming out of it, can't that just plug into there? I am confused why someone said previously that it isn't the "all in one device and you need a AEBS"....isn't the AEBS the same thing just bigger with more ethernet ports?
 

dbwie

macrumors 6502a
Jun 11, 2007
609
265
Albuquerque, NM, USA
One of Apple's best little talked about products

The Airport Express Base Station is one of Apple's best products that has flown under the radar, for the most part. I used it heavily as my main wireless router for over 3 years, and had an HP laser printer and digital AV receiver hooked up to it. It could handle all three tasks (sending internet data, printing, and streaming through airTunes to my stereo) simultaneously without a hiccup. My new airport extreme base station has taken over the internet routing duties, but still use the Express for printing and streaming music via iTunes and Airfoil. If and when I get an Apple TV, I will again set up the Express as an extender of my wireless network, and attach speakers so I can fill the apartment with music. If I don't need it for that purpose, I can throw it in my laptop bag and use it to set up a WiFi network if needed in places that only have wired.

What a handy device!

I was also wondering if the iPhone can be charged through the USB port on the Express. Has anyone tried this? If so, it would be an awesome iPhone accessory, since iPhone can take advantage of WiFi and the Express can create a small WiFi network in a wired-only environment.
 

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

BrownManUPS said:
Yes it will.

So, if I have a standard network cable and I plug it into this station, now I have wireless connectivity?

Why would I need a router then? Isn't this essentially a mini router? Because if I had a DSL modem and it had an ethernet cable coming out of it, can't that just plug into there? I am confused why someone said previously that it isn't the "all in one device and you need a AEBS"....isn't the AEBS the same thing just bigger with more ethernet ports?

yes. That is what I understand. If you require NO. Wired devices the express will work fine as a wireless router (no LAN ports what so ever)
 

Orre

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2007
14
0
oh yes! I've been waiting for the N express for a long time! Airtunes would be sweet!! :D
 

tgildred

macrumors 6502
May 1, 2007
421
0
It's about time that the AirPort Express got updated. I guess the endless Apple updates continue. :cool:


The iPhone and Leopard seemed to be the bowel obstruction, if you will, that kept all these goodies from streaming out. Now that the big guys have passed, there's going to be steady flow...
 

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

aswitcher said:
Be nice if the new AExp worked as a full bridge so it can join wired networks.

the current express can already do this.
 

chrismac00

macrumors 6502a
Dec 17, 2007
598
2
I went to the Apple Store today and was so eager to buy one, but I started to think that they were kinda old and that new models would be coming out soon. I'm going to get one as soon as they are available. :D
 

calvinline

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2008
28
23
Stream audio for video files and dvd?

Please please let it stream audio for video and DVD files!

I plug my laptop into a projector and would love to stream the audio to my stereo system across the room! I read that previous hacks for this would not work because of latency with the audio compression - perhaps wireless N could get over this? Any thoughts? :)
 

calvinline

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2008
28
23
I nearly bought an old express g today too!

I nearly bought an express g today to but thought - I will just wait a little bit longer (I have been waiting for quite some years now!)
 

aswitcher

macrumors 603
Oct 8, 2003
5,338
14
Canberra OZ
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)



the current express can already do this.

Really? I never got mine to act as an airbridge to IP security camera. I could never see the camera. The ethernet port wanted to be a WAN not a LAN port.
 

dbwie

macrumors 6502a
Jun 11, 2007
609
265
Albuquerque, NM, USA
Please please let it stream audio for video and DVD files!

I plug my laptop into a projector and would love to stream the audio to my stereo system across the room! I read that previous hacks for this would not work because of latency with the audio compression - perhaps wireless N could get over this? Any thoughts? :)

Look at the shareware "Airfoil" from Rogue Amoeba. It might be able to do this. ??
 

Mindflux

macrumors 68000
Oct 20, 2007
1,987
1
Austin
Really? I never got mine to act as an airbridge to IP security camera. I could never see the camera. The ethernet port wanted to be a WAN not a LAN port.

I have my express bridged to my extreme via ethernet. This is essentially a LAN port at that time.
 

mixel

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2006
1,729
976
Leeds, UK
... and an ADSL Modem built in, (in the UK nearly all internet connections are DSL, cable is hardly anywhere). But no, I have to buy 3 products to get that.
Wait, what? I thought cable to be be most places, I'm up in Leeds, and i know more cable than ADSL people by some margin. I'd rather not see Apple confuse the line by adding an ADSL variant of airport.. (though options are good, i think it'd more likely lead to consumer confusion)

I wish extreme had the music streaming too though, seems odd not to.
 

bonzai90210

macrumors newbie
Oct 26, 2007
4
0
Finally!!!!!!

I've been waiting for this. I almost bought a second Airport Extreme last week, but never got around to it. I'm glad I didn't.
 
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