Airport Extreme 802.11n base station tested and dissected

We've already seen Apple's 802.11n-enhanced Airport Extreme base station unboxed, but that'll hardly satisfy those more curious about the router's inner working than its shiny exterior. Thankfully, the folks at iFixit ripped theirs apart so you don't have to, also taking the time to run the base station through some benchmarks to see how it performs. On that point, they found that the base station definitely delivered the goods, providing a 10x performance boost and 3x range increase over the non-802.11n base station. In transfer rates, that translates to a speedy 9MB/s in short range tests, and a still-impressive 500KB/s when put to a long-range test, with some 300 feet (and a building) separating their MacBook Pro and the base station. As for that peek under the hood, you can check out another pic after the break, then click through to iFixit for a look at the complete operation.

[Via Digg]

[CTSF @ Feb 6th 2007 2:24PM]

Does anyone know if the USB port will support a USB hub to attach multiple devices (hard disks, printers, etc.)? Thanks.

[jkapla8106 @ Feb 6th 2007 2:32PM]

Yes you can, says right on Apple.com

[MIke @ Feb 6th 2007 2:37PM]

Yes - you can hook a hub to it.

[DB @ Feb 6th 2007 2:33PM]

USB hubs are supported, check here: http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/sharing.html

Does anyone know what devices: drives & printers are supported? Is there list of unsupported devices?

Thanks.

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Feb 6th 2007 3:00PM]

Hubs, disks and printers. All of them can be hooked up to the new APE. I have to assume there are some things that are unsupported, but Apple says USB disks should work just fine. As for printers - I would see if there are any USB printers that haven't worked well with the AirPort Express (APX) and stay away from those (unless Apple says they work fine with the APE).

[BandB @ Feb 6th 2007 3:16PM]

how does it compare the other "n" capable stations ?

[Bob @ Feb 6th 2007 4:10PM]

On the subject of USBs: are you able to hook up an ipod and have it be recognized as a hard drive if Disk Mode is enabled (not show up as an ipod in iTunes but be displayed as a HD)? Anyone?

[Zandr @ Feb 6th 2007 4:28PM]

Argh... they couldn't have pulled the heatsink off, could they.

This is really sweet hardware, but I'd be much happier with it running something OpenEmbedded based.

[mbp2781 @ Feb 6th 2007 4:52PM]

im pretty stoked about this cuz ive been waiting for n for a while o and on another note on those superbowl ads that everyone hated me n my friend actually shot the spec for the gmc commercial like 3 r 4 months ago and they even used some of the same shots its kinda funny but ya heres the link see whats up http://www.radicaldunce.com/comments.php?y=06&m=09&entry=entry060919-223558

[Mark Barron @ Feb 6th 2007 5:08PM]

Why only 10/100 ethernet and not Gigabit?

[Harvey Lubin @ Feb 6th 2007 6:41PM]

That's my concern too!

Since all Macs come with Gigabit Ethernet (1,000 megabits per second), and IEEE 802.11n has a data rate of 540 megabits per second, doesn't the 100 Base T Ethernet ports (100 megabits per second) become a bottle-neck, restricting both wired and wireless network speeds to a maximum of 100 megabits per second?

It doesn't seem possible that Apple might have overlooked this problem when they put slower 100 Base-T Ethernet ports on the new AirPort Extreme Base Station, instead of using Gigabit Ethernet ports. But, on the other hand, I just can't figure out how the 100 Base-T Ethernet ports on the new AirPort Extreme Base Station/Router will not end up slowing down both wired network speeds (example: 2 Macs with Gigabit Ethernet ports connected to each other through the base station's 100 Base-T Ethernet ports) and wireless speeds (example: a desktop Mac with a Gigabit Ethernet port connected to the base station's 100 Base-T Ethernet port, and communicating with a MacBook using IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi).

This one is a real puzzler, and I hope I'm wrong about this, or that there is another explanation.

[Hildy @ Feb 7th 2007 11:23AM]

I phoned Apple about the gigE and they didn't have an official reply prepared. I have a NAS that supports gigE and I'd like to access that data at faster speeds to other items plugged into the router than 100 baseT. GigE should be standard by now so why wouldn't they include it so we don't have to use a gigE switch?

[cydeweyz @ Feb 6th 2007 5:16PM]

...and why no Slingbox Mobile on the iPhone!!!

[rip @ Feb 6th 2007 9:04PM]

It's not that much of a bottleneck. The primary use of this device is as a router. If your using dsl or cable, 10/100 should be plenty fast enough. Also, as stated in the post, 9mb/sec performance for the n spec is well within 10/100 speed. By the way, I'm assuming its 9megabit/sec, not megabyte/sec which is how they have it incorrectly written. Megabit is mb, megabyte is MB.

The only time this would be a bottleneck is if you had 2 10/1000 capable computers talking to each other. And if that was the case, just get a gigabit ethernet hub or switch. They don't cost that much...

[Kev50027 @ Feb 6th 2007 8:44PM]

Who gives a damn? It's just a stupid router. I swear the media pisses their pants every time Apple takes a shit.

[rip @ Feb 6th 2007 9:05PM]

I do, since I'm in the market for a new router. So hey, next time Apple takes a shit, which you'll know from the media, please eat some and die.

[Ryan @ Feb 6th 2007 11:37PM]

"At 300 feet (with a building in the way), we were still getting 500 KB/s. We got tired of walking and stopped. "

Anyone else think they should exercise a little more ;-)

[Steve @ Feb 24th 2007 9:19AM]

Does anyone know if the APE is compatible with Vista? I was told by a tech that it was, but I can't get it to happen.

[Dan @ Feb 26th 2007 10:45PM]

Hey Steve,

Any luck? I am having the same problem and have the APE set to a/b/g/n mode for widest flexibilty.

[SRS @ Feb 3rd 2008 1:20AM]

Does anybody know how to attach/share a scanner thru the APE. Apple only mentions shared printers and hardrives. BTW my APE is set up for shared internet and printing with an iMac and Vista PC. Those functions work just fine. Thanks