Dan Frakes at
Macworld has published an in-depth article that delves into just what the new AirPort Extreme is all about. Pointing out some of the details we covered in our
original post, Dan goes the full mile and then some with a history of the device and explanations of some interesting new features. Most notably, he unfolds fancy new technology like the
multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) feature of 802.11n, as well as a new time-based access control system which lets you specify times that each device can access the internet. Are your kids (or your roommate?) spending too much time on MySpace when they should be doing homework on their MacBook? No sweat - just use Apple's easy-breezy AirPort Utility to cut 'em off until... well, whenever you feel like it.
Dan also covers what's missing - things like Gigabit ethernet (which, given the fact that it's been in Macs for years, still blows my mind) and the once-standard antenna port. He even pulls an industry price check to make sure Apple isn't taking us for too much of a ride with the new station's $179 price. All in all it's a good state-of-the-AirPort-Extreme for anyone interested in this recent sleeper release from Apple.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DrWho said 8:50AM on 1-19-2007
I was puzzled by the lack of gigabit ethernet ports too.
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icerabbit said 9:16AM on 1-19-2007
I love the rest of the features but this device should have 4 or 5 gigabit ports, and it is a big dealbreaker for us, and many others.
There is no excuse for it. Components are not that expensive any more. Macs have gigabit ethernet standard for how long now. Yet once again we have to keep looking at Linksys, Netgear etc for networking gear. I would love to get rid of some linksys gear and support Apple, but unfortunately that's not going to happen due this stubborn anno 2000 thinking that fast ethernet is good enough. Once you go gigabit, you don't want to look back.
Hopefully if enough people complain and voice their opinions they'll upgrade this model to 4-5 gigabit ports. Of course, in Apple's product cycle that could be another year or two.
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PaperQueen said 10:01AM on 1-19-2007
No antenna port? Are they kidding? In a perfect world, all homes have a central location for the cable connection that flies their network, but...not all of us live in nirvana. Given the size, materials, and layout of my house, the only way to get full coverage is by using a high gain antenna at the Airport base and two additional Expresses upstairs. Without an antenna, I’m toast.
Bummer. Wonder how that’s going to impact my decision to buy - or not - an iTV? Hmm.
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CraigF said 10:38AM on 1-19-2007
The lack of Gigabit ports is a complete oversight on Apple's part.
Consider submitting feedback on this product: http://www.apple.com/feedback
I'll wait for v2 that has gigabit.
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John said 11:09AM on 1-19-2007
In all honesty, though I think there is a lot of misinformation about Macs being overpriced, Apple networking gear is one of those places where the stereotype is definitely true. For that reason, I probably wouldn't buy this anyway, even though I've been a dedicated Mac person since 1988. I said "probably". I DEFINITELY wouldn't buy it without gigabit Ethernet. That's just silly!
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Neil said 12:02PM on 1-19-2007
I was waiting for this update hoping that it would have Gigabit Ethernet, but I finally went and picked up a D-Link DIR-655 instead.
It works great, though I'm waiting with (somewhat) bated breath to see if the pre-n chip in my MacBook Pro will work with it...
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Pepe said 12:53PM on 1-19-2007
I submitted following comment via Apple's feedback form at: http://www.apple.com/feedback/airportextreme.html
If you like, please take time to do the same.
*********************
Hello
I love the new products and exciting innovations you keep pumping out. I also understand that you must have reasoning for your decisions. Nevertheless, I am wondering if it would hurt your strategy/simplicity/cost level much to include Gigabit ports with your new AirPort Extreme. So many Macs have Gigabit Ethernet versus the new N-Wireless. I know you are in the business of selling new Macs but including Gigabit Ethernet would make this (as always) exciting and wonderful new product so very much more versatile!
Greetings
P.S. Please see: http://www.macworld.com/2007/01/firstlooks/apextreme/index.php?lsrc=mwrss
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Tom said 1:12PM on 1-19-2007
I disagree with all this whining around the Gigabit ports not being there. If you accept that this is a consumer-oriented device where 90% of the time at least one end of any data movement will go over the wireless, the speed of the 802.11n network is going to be the constraining factor anyway. Demanding that Apple over-specify the device just because a faster standard exists is silly, and for those who complain about pricing, hypocritical to boot.
By comparison, putting a gigabit port into the laptop or desktop makes a lot of sense, since in situations where you have a gigabit hard network that would become a constraining factor.
95% of potential buyers will never even use the 100bt or 802.11n to its full potential, since they'll be using it to pull data via their slower household broadband connection. To increase costs and specs for the remaining 5% would be silly -- they can always get a dedicated non-wireless 1000bt hub if they care that much. It would also be contrary to Apple's design principal of not over-specifying its products.
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Dan Frakes said 1:13PM on 1-19-2007
PaperQueen: As noted in the article, you can't effectively add an external antenna to a MIMO device. MIMO works with an array of multiple antennas to increase range; adding an external antenna that's not designed as part of that array would actually be disruptive. You'll find that most n wireless routers from other vendors omit antenna ports, as well.
According to both Apple and the wireless industry, MIMO and multiple antennas should dramatically increase range, making external antennas less necessary; I'm anxious to find out if that's true.
(Thanks for the link, David!)
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Alan said 1:19PM on 1-19-2007
I'm still ordering one just because the USB hard drive sharing and the other features.
I am disappointed that Apple didn't add gigabit ethernet, but in reality you won't be able to get an actual throughout-put of over 100MBPS on wireless. If you have one device on wireless and one on the ethernet connection, you probably won't be able to max out the connection speed. If I need to have gigabit ethernet, I have a cheap gigabit switch I can use with it.
Not having the external antenna connector is a bummer, but how many people actually add an external antenna? The new AirPort has a better range than the previous one, so I wouldn't worry too much.
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PaperQueen said 1:49PM on 1-19-2007
@ 9 and 10:
I sure hope you’re both right about the new Extreme base stations having a better range than the *current* model. Without the Hawkings high gain antenna, I couldn’t get a signal in 90% of the house...with it, I’m clear and quick, all the way to the back deck upstairs (aka: my “summer office”).
Hope springs eternal......
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ChillyWilly said 3:14PM on 1-19-2007
I've got mine pre-ordered.
Regarding the lack of gigabit ethernet ports, unless you are running tons of P2P and local traffic between your computers attached to this router, the lack of giagbit support shouldn't be that big of an issue.
The bigger issue should be having 802.11n devices to increase the WiFi bandwidth.
I'm all for better options like gigabit, but given that there's still a lot of businesses that barely have 20% of their computers (mostly servers) running off gigabit ethernet, this seems more like a luxury than a requirement.
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f.mem said 3:18PM on 1-19-2007
For the price of the extreme, I can get a Belkin N1 (which contains the same Atheros AR5008 "XSPAN" chipset as my MBP), a gigabit switch, and a nice dinner.
I'm also gonna have to pass because I set up an old PC with ubuntu linux to share files and print. When I get around to it, I should be able to use it to remotely play music with Amarok's html interface. So the extra features that the extreme has aren't needed here - I can get more for cheaper with stuff that's laying around.
I do wonder if my old ibook can be upgraded to n by adding a new airport card, or if the antennas aren't right. Also, I'd buy an airport express that was n, since the express more closely priced for what it is, not like this $180 joke.
And - the extreme has a power brick. Look at the power slot! Sheesh.
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icerabbit said 3:30PM on 1-19-2007
" 8. I disagree with all this whining around the Gigabit ports ... "
Apple continuously tout themselves as innovators & visionaries. First to do this & that with their products. Some mac lines have had gigabit ethernet standard for years. So why can't their router? By your reasoning there shouldn't even be gigabit ports in over half of Apple's offerings because they'll be used in a home environment.
And, yes, you will have a bottleneck when you connect to a remote system via wireless. But what about Apple users that have wired networks, which are admittedly much faster and more reliable? They only make 1 single network product. This is the big overdue router update, so why not gigabit? Keep it simple with one product. If cost is absolutely prohibitive ... then why not make the extreme 2 edition with a series of gigabit ports and a little extra hard drive space for $50 extra?
Fact is that many pro-sumers & reporters point fingers where they have to be pointed. Some like it. Some don't. A whole bunch of other people don't care. At least by voicing feedback some 'issues' get addressed down the road.
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Sub Genius said 5:00PM on 1-19-2007
I also noticed that Apple went from 3 models to 1.
They no longer have a model that supports Power over Ethernet.
So a simple solution would be to offer another model that has Gigabit.
Here's What I'd like to see
$79 Airport Express
$99 Airport Extreme (3 10/100 ports, 1 USB)
$149 Airport Extreme (5 Gigabit ports, 2 USB)
This would make Apple competitive with the rest of the industry.
Why does it seem like they don't want to sell more of these?l
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henrrrik said 5:01PM on 1-19-2007
I'm getting one. The lack of gigabit ethernet is unfortunate, but not a showstopper for me. I'll just just use it as a wireless accesspoint anyway.
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icerabbit said 10:52PM on 1-19-2007
RE: "unless you are running tons of P2P and local traffic between your computers attached to this router"
This has nothing to do with P2P.
I am talking pure local traffic. Sharing photos, videos and music from shared drives and/or other machines is too slow over fast ethernet. I have two shared NAS drives over fast ethernet and there is always a considerable amount of lag & delay, without having two users on one share.
Over gigabit you get speeds closer to USB & FW drives and there is additional bandwith on the router for other simultaneous uses.
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ywamer said 1:04AM on 1-20-2007
Having converted from PC to Mac early last year, I have been on the lookout for more ways in integrate Apple products into my home and work routine. However, Apple's networking products have a horrendous price/performance ratio. They seem much too overpriced and offer little benefit I can't get elsewhere for much less.
The TUAW article points out... "Most notably, he unfolds fancy new technology like... a new time-based access control system which lets you specify times that each device can access the internet."
Is this a joke? Am I supposed to be happy because Apple will let me do what Linksys, Dlink, Netgear, and most other router manufacturer's have been letting me do for years?
As a new Mac convert, I may have drunk the Apple Kool-Aid, but I have NOT had dollars miraculously appear in my wallet since the conversion.
I still shop with common since, and not mere fashion (oh, look, a router that matches my nifty iMac!), in mind.
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Sejuru said 1:16PM on 1-20-2007
Does anyone know whether there will be a way to upgrade the wireless cards to 802.11n on slightly older Macs such as the early 2006 Core Duo iMacs? Or perhaps a dongle?
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algal said 6:31PM on 1-20-2007
Dudes,
Why all this talk about the missing gigabit? Yes that sucks, but the big win here is the filesharing of USB drives -- not only FAT-formatted drives, but drives formatted in HFS+.
Yes, I've run a filesharing server off Linux, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. You have to manage two OS's, and you're always wrangling compatibility issues like the filesystem issue. Either you store your files in FAT (less reliable) or ext2/3 (can't plug the drive into OS X). Even if you skip running a dedicated server, I'm guessing none of the generic filesharing routers support HFS+.
Also, I would _hope_ that Apple's router would integrate with upcoming Apple technologies -- like letting you back up Time Machine to network-shared drives, or supporting ZFS. But maybe I'm kidding myself there...
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