The new Time Capsule and Airport Extreme design look...awful!

[animatedude]

6.6 inch thick?! are you kidding me?! Steve Jobs would've never approved such design they look awful.

the flat design of the previous ones make sense because it's much safer to mount them or sit them on a desk but these 6.6 towers look horrendous!

first they ruin the design of the Airport Express and make them look unsuitable for travelling and now this?!


AAAAArgghhhh! between the design of these and the scary black R2 i don't know what to say!

Steve should never have said to Tim Cook "don't think what i would've done!"

 

[rgarjr]

I wonder if the antennas have to do with the tall design.

 

[maflynn]

Its definitely un-apple like in design. Why not just show the antennas instead of the long tube type of design.

 

[aristobrat]

6.6 inch thick?! are you kidding me?! Steve Jobs would've never approved such design they look awful.

the flat design of the previous ones make sense because it's much safer to mount them or sit them on a desk but these 6.6 towers look horrendous!

first they ruin the design of the Airport Express and make them look unsuitable for travelling and now this?!


AAAAArgghhhh! between the design of these and the scary black R2 i don't know what to say!

Steve should never have said to Tim Cook "don't think what i would've done!"

I thought during the keynote that they said it was tall to allow the antennas to do the beamforming? Did you see that part?

 

[animatedude]

I thought during the keynote that they said it was tall to allow the antennas to do the beamforming? Did you see that part?

yes i saw that part.It's called Marketing.

 

[balamw]

Honestly I don't get the hate. It's not much bigger than a Nalgene water bottle or large coffee mug. Takes up a lot less desk/table space than the existing model.


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yes i saw that part.It's called Marketing.

It's also called physics. Antennas generally work better when they are off the ground or other surface.

B

 

[animatedude]

they look like the old Mac Mini except they are thicker this time....wow this is innovation indeed.

 

[aristobrat]

yes i saw that part.It's called Marketing.

Maybe. I'll bookmark this thread and come back after Anantech and/or Arstechnia do detailed reviews of the product, because I'm pretty sure they'll comment on the antenna orientation.

 

[drsox]

I wonder if the antennas have to do with the tall design.

I bet there are antennae at the top and the bottom and the 6ins gives a minimum angle to work with between top,bottom and target device. But I agree the shape is crude. I also guess the disk in the TC version sits vertically ?

 

[balamw]

I also guess the disk in the TC version sits vertically ?

it must. The overall profile of the unit is not much larger than a 3.5" HDD standing on end.

I wonder if the Airport Extreme is just a Time Capsule without the drive or if there are real differences in the PCBs.

B

 

[arbogast777]

I have no problem with what the thing looks like. It's not like my router is something I keep out on the coffee table...

 

[gnomeisland]

I have no problem with what the thing looks like. It's not like my router is something I keep out on the coffee table...

agreed, but it does look ugly. However, I'd gladly take that if it means better range and real beam forming.

 

[CaptHenryMorgan]

I swear to god if someone says "Jobs never would have X" one more time, I'm going to invent a way to strangle them through the internet. Jobs is dead. It doesn't matter what he would or wouldn't do. Besides, we're still in the tail-end of his product influence pipeline, so odds are, Jobs DID approve this design.

People seem to believe that Jobs was infallible. Anybody remember the puck mouse? The Mighty Mouse? The Flower Power and Blue Dalmation iMac? Heck, the 3rd Gen Shuffle was stupid ridiculous.

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they look like the old Mac Mini except they are thicker this time....wow this is innovation indeed.

It is, there's no other wifi base station on the market that looks like this.

 

[mwhities]

I'm excited about AE and TC. I think it's a great design and functional as well. (More so the latter.) This will enable a greater distance from the AP from the already great distance of the older generations.

I might go to the MarketPlace and sell off my older gens to get the newer ones.

 

[MCAsan]

A flat design is/was terrible RF engineering! To get max performance the vertical design with multiple antenna doing beam forming (like LTE cellular base stations) makes total sense.

Form follows function.

My new 3TB TC will be here early next week. Note they are less expensive than previous generation. So dealers should be putting old ones on clearance.

 

[SR45]

Reason for new design...

Apple site says:


"Designed with performance in mind.
With the antennas at the top of the elevated design, AirPort Extreme now has a higher platform for dispersing the signal. We also increased the number of antennas. There are now six of them — three for the 2.4GHz band and three for the 5GHz band. Together with 802.11ac technology, they let you connect faster, farther, and with more power than ever before."

PS: Lets get over this what Steve Jobs would or would not do. He is dead.... over a year now and no one knows what he would do today. Put it to rest for goodness sakes

 

[marzer]

6.6 inch thick?! are you kidding me?! Steve Jobs would've never approved such design they look awful.

the flat design of the previous ones make sense because it's much safer to mount them or sit them on a desk but these 6.6 towers look horrendous!

first they ruin the design of the Airport Express and make them look unsuitable for travelling and now this?!


AAAAArgghhhh! between the design of these and the scary black R2 i don't know what to say!

Steve should never have said to Tim Cook "don't think what i would've done!"

Its called beam forming. The technology has been around for decades in phased array radars and other industrial/military solid state transmission applications. It permits energy to be directed without the need for mechanical pointing. However, to do so requires "surface face" - vertical area that permit the antennas to generate sufficient energy variances across the surface to actually steer the energy in a specific direction.

Yes it could be done on a horizontal surface but you need to put your computers in the attic to get the most from the directed energy

 

[madsci954]

I swear to god if someone says "Jobs never would have X" one more time, I'm going to invent a way to strangle them through the internet.

If you go Kickstarter, I will be your first backer!

 

[theSeb]

Reason for new design...

Apple site says:


"Designed with performance in mind.
With the antennas at the top of the elevated design, AirPort Extreme now has a higher platform for dispersing the signal. We also increased the number of antennas. There are now six of them — three for the 2.4GHz band and three for the 5GHz band. Together with 802.11ac technology, they let you connect faster, farther, and with more power than ever before."

PS: Lets get over this what Steve Jobs would or would not do. He is dead.... over a year now and no one knows what he would do today. Put it to rest for goodness sakes

Indeed. I think it should be an immediate ban for those that post that tripe.

 

[portishead]

If you go Kickstarter, I will be your first backer!

Seconded!

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

yes i saw that part.It's called Marketing.

No, reality:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17408580#post17408580

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they look like the old Mac Mini except they are thicker this time....wow this is innovation indeed.

It seems you have some personal problems with Apple products. I doubt that this forum can solve your personal problems.

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I swear to god if someone says "Jobs never would have X" one more time, I'm going to invent a way to strangle them through the internet.

Same here.

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Its called beam forming.
...
Yes it could be done on a horizontal surface but you need to put your computers in the attic to get the most from the directed energy

That is probably a good alternative for our animatedude.

 

[537635]

Still... the new Airport looks like a big EMPTY box. Without the 3,5'' HDD there is really no point in having such a tall enclosure. I wish they put it in the Airport Express box.

 

[wct097]

Still... the new Airport looks like a big EMPTY box. Without the 3,5'' HDD there is really no point in having such a tall enclosure. I wish they put it in the Airport Express box.

Actually, there is a point.... the antenna array. If you care so much about form and don't care about function, just buy the Express. The only point in buying the Extreme is to get the 802.11ac functionality which requires the size.

 

[537635]

The only point in buying the Extreme is to get the 802.11ac functionality which requires the size.

Can you explain that?

See the attached picture. The antenna sits at the very top of the "tower" and nowhere else. The rest is empty space, reserved for the HDD in Time Capsule.

I care about the form AND the function. That is why I buy Apples and not oranges.

 

[balamw]

Can you explain that?

See the attached picture. The antenna sits at the very top of the "tower" and nowhere else. The rest is empty space, reserved for the HDD in Time Capsule.

I care about the form AND the function. That is why I buy Apples and not oranges.

The antenna is not electrically separate from the rest of the enclosure, heat sinks, etc... . (To a lesser extent than the iPhone 4 etc. where the enclosure is the antenna). hey would likely have had to design a completely separate antenna for the Extreme if they didn't make them as similar as they are.

Plus, it doesn't hurt that antenna efficiency improves with height off the ground.

B