Airport Extreme launched: draft 802.11n and USB hosting now supported

It may not bring the thunder like an Apple iPhone but the Airport Extreme does bring draft-N of the 802.11 WiFi standard. That means up to 5x the speed and 2x the performance of traditional WiFi networks which should deliver a bit of a rumble to the living room or office. It also support legacy 802.11a/b/g giving it full 2.4GHz and 5GHz coverage. It also features AirPort Disk, a USB host port around back allowing you to share an external USB hard drive over your wireless or wired network. Or just attach a USB printer and share that, your choice. Best of all, it should work with the unannounced, but apparently real, 802.11n draft hardware in your recently purchased Mac -- look for a software update to roll soon. By February anyway, when the Airport Extreme ships for $180.

[Jason Laver @ Jan 9th 2007 3:02PM]

I'm actually more excited about this than the iPhone simply becuase apparently with the included software (on the product page) I get to enable an 802.11n wireless card that I already own! A little freebie from Apple? I'll take that anyday no matter how small it seems!

[Lou @ Jan 9th 2007 3:04PM]

No. I've been hoping that the next (this one) Airport Extreme has Airtunes. Why would they only have Airtunes on the Express. I guess I will never see Airtunes on Extreme now, and then they will try to sell me the Apple TV.

[Phil Gross @ Jan 9th 2007 3:13PM]

Wired ports are only 10/100, not gigabit!? That's ludicrous. How many Apple computers don't have gigabit yet?

[Mr. Tips @ Jan 9th 2007 3:20PM]

"Or just attach a USB printer and share that, your choice."

Actually, you don't have to choose. You can use a USB hub and share both.

And I'm equally surprised that those aren't Gigabit ports. Poor decision, that.

[rip @ Jan 9th 2007 3:25PM]

I'm all over this. The only other decent wireless usb solution that fits my needs is from Belkin and that thing goes for $200. This is a bargain compared to that.

[BillinSoBe @ Jan 9th 2007 3:54PM]

I was really excited to hear about the new Airport Extreme but after reading the specs. I'm very sad.

I had hoped for gigabit Ethernet ports. Looks like I may need to buy to another product when it's time to move to 802.11n.

Sad.

[Jay @ Jan 9th 2007 3:31PM]

good question, if i have broadband at 7Mbps and 802.11g
how will the n series boost my connection if g series is giving me the above?

[Gregory Pierce @ Jan 9th 2007 4:20PM]

It doesn't matter how fast your broadband is if you're moving files between machines in your own network.. like say uploading HD content to an Apple TV.

[Bluephoenix @ Jan 9th 2007 5:35PM]

the device isn't meant to boost your external connection, but the speed at which your home computers can talk to each other over the network.

no gigabit? no thanks

best advice for similar performance is to go get a linksys WRT600N. at least then you get a firewall, gigabit, VPN, and serious flexibility for your money, not to mention great support.

[emile @ Jan 9th 2007 3:55PM]

No QOS. No Gigabit. No Thanks.

[buster @ Jan 9th 2007 5:04PM]

uhh, one question, does the usb port allow me to read/write to the external hard drive like a standard NAS? or does it just allow me to playback the (lets say) audio files on my external drive through itunes??

[Brandon Humphries @ Jan 9th 2007 6:58PM]

What about those of us with CoreDuo Macs (not Core2Duo)? Are we SOL or could maybe someone at least release an ExpressCard 34 upgrade option? I just bought my Macbook Pro last april, I hardly think I should have to buy a new machine just to get 802.11n speed for file transfers.

[Johnny @ Jan 9th 2007 6:15PM]

This isn't the "launch" of Airport Extreme. "Airport Extreme" has been the brand name of Apple's high-end 802.11 gear for a while now (as contrasted with the no-frills "Airport Express"). This is an upgrade to the Extreme base station.

[Pete @ Jan 9th 2007 10:12PM]

I am not sure about the throughput of 802.11n compared to 100/gigabit. But isn't the 802.11n throughput < 100? Isn't that the bottleneck?

[Monty @ Jan 10th 2007 3:22PM]

802.11N is actually >100mbs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11) which makes the 10/100 port and not gigabit even more troubling. This means, the bottleneck will be the 100mbs port and not the wireless. For me, this is the main reason to not get this router. Given the NAS support, gigabit becomes even more important.

[BillinSoBe @ Jan 9th 2007 7:00PM]

I posted a message on Apple's discussion forms questioning why Apple choose 100MB rather then 1000MB.

My post was QUICKLY removed (I mean in under an hour).

Where's my freedom of speech in a public message forum? It's okay to ask lame ass questions but when someone posts a reasonable question they remove the post.

Nice Apple. WE KNOW YOUR GAME.

[Evan Adams @ Jan 9th 2007 8:55PM]

It lacks an external antenna port. Thus it can't cover our house. Also the Airport Express is not upgraded so I can't replace my repeaters to cover the entire house.

a big .. meh.

[darthstupid @ Jan 10th 2007 12:42AM]

We have a large 2 story, 6 bedroom house and a standard linksys 802.11g wap works just fine in it and it sits in an office on the floor and most anywhere I can get full or nearly full strength signal. Unless your house is a bunker or has something particularly 'special' about it I'm guessing it won't have a problem.

BTW, from what I understand the "n" standard should give you more distance with the same amount of signal.

[Tim @ Jan 9th 2007 9:52PM]

umm, can anyone explain why in the world someone would pay 180 bucks for a wireless router that only has a 3 port switch at 10/100? No VPN, no QoS. You are only paying for the name. Go get a Linksys... on the "Human Network"

[Pete @ Jan 10th 2007 7:51PM]

Monty - I looked @ that wikipedia entry and it said 200mbs. But that is theoretical max, isn't it? Wouldn't the actual throughput be much lower?

Bluephoenix - Would the WRT600N work with my MacBook Pro out of the box or do I need to wait for apple or someone else to release software?

pete

[stevesreed @ Jan 11th 2007 10:24PM]

Draft N may be >200 megabit in theory, but you probably will not get any thing like that unless you in the same room...

My D-Link Extreme G 624 wireless router is >100 mbps, but in practice nearly anywhere in the house is I get well under 1/2 that. The same will all my previous WiFi access points, etc.

While, I wish it had Gigabit (and Jumbo packets), I already have a gigabit switch for my wired connections, and it will not both me much...

[Island in the Net @ Jan 17th 2007 9:35PM]

LinkSys Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link has 10/100/1000MB/s 4 port switch and USB for connecting external drive.

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1162354643512&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper