Airport Express: DOA or N updated?

sandausandau
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I love this little device:



http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/



but holy crap its been 3+ years since its been updated. (released June 7, 2004!!! gggeeeeeeeez!!!)



Is this thing EOL (end of life) or can it go 'N'? Sure, at $99 or whatever it is now, its STILL a cool toy, great for travel, etc, but shite on a stickie pad, this thing is one of the oldest things on the Apple Store!!!



Dead? To Be Updated?



I say its dead. unfortunately.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    I have seen them used by people who have no other Apple gear. The music feature lets Apple distinguish itself in what is very much a commodity market (wireless routers). My gut feeling is there will be an Airport Express N.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    filburtfilburt Posts: 398member
    Sooner than later, 802.11n will become a commodity like 802.11b and 802.11g are now. Although AEBS is a nice product, it's too much (price and feature wise) for many folks. Apple will update Airport Express.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    moochmooch Posts: 113member
    I love my airport express. I use it a lot (just for playing music on my stereo speakers). I hope they don't retire it!
  • Reply 4 of 8
    kareliakarelia Posts: 525member
    It doesn't really need an update right now. The only advantage to 802.11n is LAN speeds. Average internet bandwidth is 3 Mbps, and even an old-school AirPort can handle that. 802.11n isn't something the average user will want to pay for. Like a Mac Pro, you only need it if you have a specific use that something else (in this case, 802.11g) can't handle.



    I say keep the APE as it is. Lower the price, sure. If the APE isn't enough for you, get the APX.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    sborniasbornia Posts: 11member
    I use one in a fun way. A friend of mine lives in the house next door, so we plugged an Airport Express into her home office, which faces my house. Added a USB wireless network stick to her old Windows PC, configured everything, and in about 10 minutes she had my wireless internet running in her house.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,016member
    Mine is a wireless printer router. It has problems acting my main station in an apartment, which is why I replaced with an Extreme with N.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Karelia View Post


    The only advantage to 802.11n is LAN speeds.



    That and significantly improved range.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    bg_nycbg_nyc Posts: 189member
    Airport Express is one of their most ingenious products. I use mine as a wi-fi extender (plugged into a netgear XE-104 powerline adapter in my office), a music player, and a print server. I love this thing, and after 3 years it still works perfectly.



    Its definitely strange that every wi-fi product in the Apple store is N-compatible except the iphone and airport express. Maybe this is reason enough to update it. $99 should represent the cost for the most current technology, not 3-year old technology that is much cheaper nowadays. So I say drop the price or upgrade to N, regardless of the average lan speed. Note: in Japan and South Korea, lan speeds are exceeding 50mps (compared to 3mps in the US). N surely comes in handy there, eh?
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