Which Airport?

[davidra]

Airport Express (June 2012 Refurb)

or

Airport Extreme Base Station (June 2011, which is the pre-ac unit)

What are the differences?

 

[priitv8]

Number and speed of Ethernet ports
MIMO layout
AirPlay Audio support
USB disk sharing support
http://www.apple.com/airport-express/specs/
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP628

 

[davidra]

Thanks. Don't really need more than 2 ethernet ports. Don't use Airplay. Are there any differences in terms of range or download speed? Looks like the radio has the same power in both units....

 

[Badrottie]

I would buy an Apple Extreme Base Station 5th Gen (2011) model because my 2012 15 rMBP does not have 801.11ac!

 

[NewbieCanada]

I would buy an Apple Extreme Base Station 5th Gen (2011) model because my 2012 15 rMBP does not have 801.11ac!

But neither does the Airport Express!

 

[priitv8]

Looks like the radio has the same power in both units....

But the Express has 2-stream and Extreme 3-stream MIMO. Forgot to mention that and added to my previous post.
If you have a MBA (2x2:2 MIMO) then you wouldn't notice, but with a recent 3x3:3 MBP you lose one stream (150Mbps under best conditions).

 

[davidra]

No MBP....2 iMacs (2012, 2013), 2 iPads and 2 iPhones. Plus a Cisco range extender (RE-1000) if it would connect.

 

[priitv8]

No MBP....2 iMacs (2012, 2013), 2 iPads and 2 iPhones. Plus a Cisco range extender (RE-1000) if it would connect.

According to iFixit, iMacs have 3-stream configurations.
The iPads and iPhones so far are single-stream devices, if I'm not mistaken.