Airport Extreme Base Station vs. any other wireless

snowboarder389snowboarder389
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
So I just bought a new Macbook Pro and am planning on buying a wireless router. I have talked to a few friends who currently have the Airport Extreme Base station and they said they really enjoy it and it has no problems to speak of but I was really curious if anyone knows the reason for the high price tag compared to the any other 802.11g router that I could pick up from Best Buy for $80. Are their any advantages to using the Airport Extreme Base Station?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    rextraverserextraverse Posts: 72member
    Airport Extreme and Airport Express both have a lot of extra features. I think the biggest is connecting a USB Printer directly to the router, but there's a lot more. If you don't plan on needing the extra features, I'd recommend the Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router. It's stable, affordable, reliable, pretty much the benchmark. If you are tech savvy, you can flash the WRT54G's firmware to the Linux based DD-WRT, and you'll easily have one of the best wireless routers on the market.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Null.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    kcdstudioskcdstudios Posts: 95member
    does anybody know if there is a way to employ airport express to play all noise coming from my imac, not just airtunes?



    my gf bought my an express and it will be here in a week. I live in the dorms and im using my mac as a tv and i wanted to use the express to create a surround sound type thing, for watching movies and playing my wii and the like. Ultimately i can just run a cord to the back but i was hoping there would be some other way without it, using the express.



    Thanks so much!
  • Reply 4 of 8
    rextraverserextraverse Posts: 72member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kcdstudios


    does anybody know if there is a way to employ airport express to play all noise coming from my imac, not just airtunes?



    my gf bought my an express and it will be here in a week. I live in the dorms and im using my mac as a tv and i wanted to use the express to create a surround sound type thing, for watching movies and playing my wii and the like. Ultimately i can just run a cord to the back but i was hoping there would be some other way without it, using the express.



    Thanks so much!



    Please correct me here. I think you're idea is to have the front and center speakers set up via wires or just using the built-ins with the iMac but sending the surrounds wirelessly. I don't think you're able to split that up without some sort of specialized program, if that even exists.



    If you truly want a surround experience without cables, an option to consider is the Logitech Z-5450. It's a 5.1 Surround system, completely wireless, and you can use digital optical or 3-analog inputs. It's also relatively affordable if you look around. (<$200, which is a steal for a good 5.1 setup, wireless or not)
  • Reply 5 of 8
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kcdstudios


    does anybody know if there is a way to employ airport express to play all noise coming from my imac, not just airtunes?



    With a name like Rogue Amoeba, it's gotta be good:

    http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/
  • Reply 6 of 8
    snowboarder389snowboarder389 Posts: 16member
    Thanks for the advice everyone, I would like to be able to connect my printer to whatever wireless router that I end up with and the Airport Base Station seems like the way to go.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    mmmpiemmmpie Posts: 628member
    Ive had several wireless routers, and none of them have been reliable. Even the famous wrtg54 would crash while playing games ( had to overclock it ). All up Ive bought, setup and used models from belkin ( worst ), netgear, linksys, dlink, microsoft and cisco.

    I recently bought an airport express, and it has been fantastic. You do lose out on the wired ethernet functionality, but the reality is Im happy hooking up wirelessly.



    pros for the airport:

    - havent had any crashes

    - unobtrusive

    - software is much more convenient than the typical windows app or web page that cheaper products use

    - apple are not producing new versions all the time and dropping support for older products

    - software is easy to use





    If you are in the states you can get one refurbished. Mine cost $60 from an apple store. I just walked in and asked if they had any refurbs out back, and they did. It had been opened, but was in near perfect condition.



    In the end you get what you pay for. How many frustrated hours is $200 worth? Will you suffer that much?
  • Reply 8 of 8
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    Ooops, it seems I posted in the wrong thread. Sorry!
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