My mom got a G5 for our house and I just ordered a 12" ibook. I want to be able to use wireless internet in our house. Do we need to buy the AirPort Extreme Base Station (with modem and antenna port) or does the AirPort Express Base Station with AirTunes do the same thing plus give me the ability to play my music through our stereo?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Wireless question
- Thread starter veronicaleo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If depends on your internet connection. If you have a broadband connection (Cable or DSL internet), then the AirPort Express will be perfect. If you have Dial-up internet (AOL, EarthLink), then you'll need the AirPort Extreme Basestation with the modem. If you are on a dial-up connection, running it wireless will be extremely slow.
We've got a cable connection so it sounds like we won't need the base station with modem connection. Do you know what else I'll need aside from the Airport express to play my music through our stereo?
veronicaleo said:
The AE will need to be connected to your cable modem and also be near your stereo to connect to it. It can connect to your stereo with a standard mini-RCA jack or a Toslink cable. Apple sells a connection kit with an AE extension power cable (otherwise the AE plugs directly into a wall socket with no power cable) and both cables to connect to your stereo. As a bonus, you can connect a USB printer and print wirelessly.
Westside guy said:
You will need an Airport card for the G5 as they don't come as standard, the G5's are only Airport ready. The new iBooks now have Airport built in as standard.
Thanks everyone
My mom had the airport card installed when we bought the G5 so it's all set. I got the Airport Extreme today because our house is three floors and the guy at Apple seemed to think it would work better than the Express. Did I fall for a lame sales tactic?
My mom had the airport card installed when we bought the G5 so it's all set. I got the Airport Extreme today because our house is three floors and the guy at Apple seemed to think it would work better than the Express. Did I fall for a lame sales tactic?
veronicaleo said:
According to the tech specs on the Apple web page, the Express and the Extreme have identical ranges. 50 feet for 802.11g, and 150 feet for 802.11b.
Yes. If you wanted to, you could add the A. Extreme card with antenna to the G5 and share the internet from it wirelessly. I like the A.Express alot and in the best world, I would choose it. As long as no one needs to plug in, it's fine. The A.Extreme Base station is a nice piece of hardware. You can dial into it and extend the network range with an antenna but it's not a bargain. You may consider a less expensive albeit less integrated router from linksys, d-link, netgear, etc. for more wired/wireless options. The Airport cards work with all the major routers.
Well, I would think that the Express would, in many cases, have less range than the Extreme - basically because you'd have almost no control over location/placement with the Express (unless you go and pay more for the extension cable).