Is The Airport Express still a good buy?

cba

Should i still buy the airport express? I would love to be able to:



Attach a wireless USB device (not just a printer)

Have good reception with wireless internet (does it?)

Airtunes



Is there another item which does the above? Or something that does wireless USB?

Or should I wait for the possible wonders of January 9th?



Many Thanks.....

icfireball

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBA


Attach a wireless USB device (not just a printer)

Have good reception with wireless internet (does it?)

Airtunes

Yes, Yes, and, Yes.



But I don't think its a good buy anymore. 802.11n is just around the corner.

jvb

802.11n is better, use that instead.

cba

Will 802.11n be released in the foreseable future?

And When I looked on the apple website, it said that only a printer can be attached, is that true?



Thanks

cba

I have a MacBook Pro, to save the confucion with the 802.11n compatibility....

carniphage

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBA


Should i still buy the airport express?

The French Mac folks at http://www.hardmac.com/news/2006-10-20/#6054

are convinced that the Airport Express has a habit of going BANG at 13 months of age.

They have traced the fault to an exploding component in the power-supply.



They allege that the Airport Express has a Jekyll and Hyde design. An nice Apple engineered WiFi module and an evil & ugly power supply module which goes bang.



C.

jvb

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carniphage


The French Mac folks at http://www.hardmac.com/news/2006-10-20/#6054

are convinced that the Airport Express has a habit of going BANG at 13 months of age.

They have traced the fault to an exploding component in the power-supply.



They allege that the Airport Express has a Jekyll and Hyde design. An nice Apple engineered WiFi module and an evil & ugly power supply module which goes bang.



C.

Interesting. I have never seen that article before. Nice find.

turnwrite

It seems like a good buy to me, if you need a wireless network, you don't have to go without one until a new standard comes out, the advantages aren't THAT huge.

kishan

I own two and am considering buying a third. At such a cheap price, especially refurbished, I wouldn't hesitate to get one if you need those features you mentioned.

addabox

Maybe not as a straight up wireless base station, but throw in the usb printer connection and the Air Tunes functionality and the combo audio port and I would say, yeah, if you want to use all of those things it's a good buy.



I use all of those things and I don't know of another box that can do all that for less.

addabox

Maybe not as a straight up wireless base station, but throw in the usb printer connection and the Air Tunes functionality and the combo audio port and I would say, yeah, if you want to use all of those things it's a good buy.



I use all of those things and I don't know of another box that can do all that for less, and certainly not one that is smaller or easier to set up.

slewis

I simply love my Own Airport Express, but think of it this way, it's only $79. If something new is announced soon then you can just upgrade



Sebastian

kishan

I disagree with not using it for just a straight up wireless base station. I used a single AE for about two years when I lived in a studio apartment. My upstairs neighbor actually shared the cost of my DSL line with me and the two of us used the connection in a busy Brooklyn neighborhood. At times we had up to 4 computers using the connection and it did a marvelous job.



Now that I am in a larger mutlilevel condo, I got a second AE to provide a connection to the stereo in my living room and to extend the network to the second floor. With typical Apple ease, I had the two stations set up on a WDS network within about 20 minutes (including time for unpacking and routing stereo cables!). If you don't need to plug computers into a router for a high speed network, I would highly recommend using the AE as a dedicated wireless router.

cba

Typing now online with an airport express...I think that they are great! there we go....even answered my own question!

jwink3101

If you are using it as a base station, you may want to wait for 802.11n but honestly, unless you interest connection is slowed by 802.11g, (55 Mbit), it doesn't really matter.



I originally bought mine as a base station but i have since started using a wirelss router when we moved (more practical in my case). I now just use it for printing and music. I love it. It is so easy and sounds great.

smatanovic

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carniphage


The French Mac folks at http://www.hardmac.com/news/2006-10-20/#6054

are convinced that the Airport Express has a habit of going BANG at 13 months of age.

They have traced the fault to an exploding component in the power-supply.



They allege that the Airport Express has a Jekyll and Hyde design. An nice Apple engineered WiFi module and an evil & ugly power supply module which goes bang.



C.

Mine died at 15 months.

carniphage

Quote:

Originally Posted by smatanovic


Mine died at 15 months.

I guess you were lucky. You got two extra months for free!

This article put me right off buying the Airport Express.

However...

I'd put money down on there being spanking new wireless hardware tomorrow.



C.

swansong

Quote:

Originally Posted by CBA


Should i still buy the airport express? ...

Or should I wait for the possible wonders of January 9th?

I hope you waited the five days. Anybody who buys anything Apple after January 1 but before MWSF either has an urgent need or isn't taking a moment to think.