Is the airport extreme any good? or should i look at another brand?

morrisman1morrisman1
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
ive just ordered a new macbook and will need a wireless router. I like the airport extreme because it has the usb port. on is page on the apple store there are some pretty bad reviews and that is somewhat offputting. ive looked at the linksys WRT300N. what are the advantages of using a airport extreme on a mac rather than another brand? also is the airport extreme really that bad?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    iamjustiniamjustin Posts: 32member
    the main reason i bought it was because of the 802.11n wireless. the set up was simple and it works great with the iphone. i have not had any trouble with it, so far.



    i tend to not read reviews on the apple site because any average joe could go write a bad review because they dislike apple inc.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    guinnessguinness Posts: 473member
    You can buy a D-Link 802.11n router, with a USB port, for about $80 from places like Best Buy even...I bought a Netgear 802.11n router last night instead @ BB, as I like their stuff, even though it didn't have a USB port, and it was $100. I was looking hard at the D-Link though, as I never know when I might actually want the USB.



    The Airport is just too expensive for what it is, 802.11n is 802.11n, and my Netgear router is pretty and white too, and $80 cheaper, sans the USB.



    Also. most routers are really simple to setup, even if you have to do things like port forwarding, it's not hard with Netgear or Linksys from my experience.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    i got the linksy 300n from sams club, wish i had waited for a recent review somewhere (pop sci, pop mech, or pc world etc) that said the easiest to set up were apple AND buffalo brand, my linksys was a snap but had to direct connect to the router using an ethernet cable, put in a web address using safari and was able to set the thing up in about 3 minutes. BUT it doesn't have a usb port (which i thought it had when i bought it) so i would have liked to add a usb printer or HD

    they both can have new security features.



    buffalo has a lot going for it including range and minimal interference (mimo)

    apple, does also

    if i can ever find that review i will let you know.



    i only thing is when you set up you security, copy paste the "key" to somewhere (i did to gmail) so you can keep a copy of it (i had to have security that would work with my 2 mb's , a ibook g4 and my sweet little g3 strawberry)
  • Reply 4 of 8
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    The Airport is nice because it has a bridge mode. The USB port, however, has been problematic. It is also nice because it's dual band and finally GigE.



    Personally, the USB port is not a big deal if it also doesn't come with a print server. For drives I'd rather get a cheap NAS and use ethernet.



    Any draft-N router today has issues I think and these will get better over the next couple years. By that time you might want to retire your current router and the Airport, having a bridge mode, makes a nice little satellite node that hopefully will work with the final N standard.



    I have a Buffalo G router in bridge mode connected to a Vonage box that I wanted in a certain location. It also provides ethernet to the TiVO nearby. The Airtunes Extreme is a bit pricey as a "game adapter" like thingy but most companies charge $100 for "game adapters" and if you already own an extreme it's "free". For reference the Buffalo was like $60...$10 less than the cheapest game adapter.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    fishyesquefishyesque Posts: 725member
    Get it, for the sake of beauty.

    Really though, it does work well. Shouldn't give you trouble.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    kestralkestral Posts: 308member
    I got the Airport Extreme because I wanted to be able to print wirelessly and also have a wireless hard drive attached to it. That way I can hide the Airport Extreme, hard drive, printer and other miscellaneous computer stuff in a cabinet so my space stays looking nice and minimal.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kestral View Post


    I got the Airport Extreme because I wanted to be able to print wirelessly and also have a wireless hard drive attached to it. That way I can hide the Airport Extreme, hard drive, printer and other miscellaneous computer stuff in a cabinet so my space stays looking nice and minimal.



    Question:



    Can you connect a wireless hard drive to the Airport Express? I'm asking because I'm interested in doing just that if Apple ever enables Time Machine to work with AirPort connected hard drives.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Updated Ars review.



    Money quote:



    Quote:

    If you want to jump on the 802.11n bandwagon now and don't care about backwards compatibility, we recommend getting the Apple AirPort Extreme and running it in 802.11n-only mode.



    http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardw...-roundup.ars/1
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