Apple MA073LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using many wireless routers (Linksys, D-Link, SMC, Netgear, Siemens...) over the years, since the early days of 802.11b, but this is my first experience with an Apple router.
There is no need to comment on the manufacturing quality, design and packaging: in typical Apple fashion, they're miles ahead of the competition. For instance, unlike all the other routers I ever used that came with a 110v only power supply, the Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS for short) comes with a universal worldwide power supply equipped with a standard power cord.
Performancewise, it is exceptional. I have been putting it through its paces over the past few days and it's barely breaking a sweat in situations where my previous routers (Linksys WRT54G and Netgear WGN824) would progressively get slower, or just plain crash and require a reboot. Coverage is excellent, better than my WGN824's which was already quite impressive.
Apple has traditionally be doing things differently, and it shows here again: unlike most routers, which are managed by accessing a built-in web server, this router can only be configured using the "Airport Utility" configuration program. The bundled CD contains a Mac OS X and a Windows version of the utility (I can already hear groans from the Linux geeks). The utility is extremely simple to use, although I haven't tried to use the more advanced features such as setting up another router like the Airport Express as a range extender.
One problem you might run into is the lack of support for "legacy" devices: although the AEBS offers a compatibility mode with WEP devices called "WEP (Transitional)" which lets WEP and WPA coexist, this mode imposes restrictions on the keys that may not work for you (for instance you won't be able to reuse an existing 40-bit WEP key). The problem is that WEP-40 and WEP-128 are not compatible with the 802.11n standard, so you have to choose between speed or full backwards compatibility. Also, you should know that WEP-40 and WEP-128 are not very secure: there are utilities out there that can crack these keys easily.
Note that 802.11n gives a significant speed boost to the AppleTV and laptops equipped with compatible cards (such as Apple's Core 2 Duo laptops with the 802.11n enabler installed -- you can find the enabler on the AEBS CD). Unless you own one of these machines, there is no harm in switching to a non-802.11n radio mode. How? Just hold the command key (or control on Windows) while clicking on the "Radio Mode" popup in the Wireless tab of the AEBS configuration utility. Extra, non-n modes appear in the list, and once one is selected the WEP-40 and WEP-128 modes become available under Security. If you select WEP-40 or WEP-128 security, you can enter a hex key by prefixing it with a dollar sign.
The AEBS also comes with a versatile USB port, which can be used to attach hard disks and/or a printer (USB hubs are supported). Unlike other base stations or NAS boxes, the AEBS does not require that you reformat the disk; all you have to do is plug it in and voilà! Instant NAS, all your files show up on the network. Some very basic access control features are provided. I plugged in the external USB drive I use to backup my MacBook, and now I can do automated backups without having to worry about remembering to plug in the drive: it just works wirelessly. The AEBS also lets you share a USB printer.
In conclusion, this router is a fantastic performer. Although it's one of the most expensive 802.11n routers out there, its feature set, build quality, performance and top-notch customer support more than make up for the price difference. I recommend it highly.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Apple MA073LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station

Apple has updated its highly rated wireless router with faster speed, twice the range, a lower price, and wrapped it all up in a whole new design. The new AirPort Extreme Base Station now has extra Ethernet ports for making wired computer connections and/or sharing network printers. It even has a USBslot, for connecting a USB printer, external hard drive, or other USB device. Also, it works with both Mac and Windows machines.
About 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station is compatible with the 802.11n draft specification, the new, all-but-finalized (as of February, 2007) standard for wireless networking, or Wi-Fi. Apple says their 802.11n is up to five times faster than the currently ubiquitous 802.11g. It uses three discreet antennas that not only double its range over previous AirPort base stations, but allows up to 50 simultaneous connections. Unless you're an office manager, school principal or a cafe owner, you probably don't care about that much capacity. Still, it's nice to know you can, say, telecommute over the Internet while someone else in your household is streaming video without slowing each other down. Thankfully, AirPort Extreme is backward compatible with 802.11a/b/g devices. Apple does caution, however, that "speed and range will be less if an 802.11a/b/g product joins the network."

And while setting up a Wi-Fi network in your home can often be a confusing, frustrating experience, consumers have learned that Apple is adept at painlessly guiding even novice users quickly through a set-up process. Apple promises that their wizard will have you up, running, and secure in the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee. It offers WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP encryption, as well as a built-in firewall, which helps protect you from Internet intruders.


Sharing Features One of the most interesting features of the new AirPort Extreme Base Station is its ability to turn almost any external USB hard drive into a network attached storage (NAS) device. Just plug the disk directly into the AirPort Extreme Base Station's USB port, and it will be accessible through the built-in file sharing capabilities of both Windows and OS X. The AirPort Disk Utility software helps you set up permissions and passwords, keeping the disk (or parts of it) inaccessible from others on your network. You can similarly turn a standard USB printer into a network printer. The AirPort Extreme Base Station only has one USB port, but you will be able to plug both of those devices and more in by using a separately sold USB hub. Like most wireless routers, AirPort Extreme Base Station lets you create a list of devices allowed to access your network. A new parental control feature in this router, though, lets you lock out specific devices, like a kid's computer, from connecting during certain hours of the day, such as after bed-time.

What's in the Box Apple MA073LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station, AirPort Utility for Mac and Windows, AirPort Disk Utility for Mac and Windows, 802.11n Enabler for Mac, Bonjour for Windows, power cord, printed and electronic documentation.

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Apple MB763LL/A AirPort Extreme Dual-band Base Station Review

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(More customer reviews)Hi All,
True to my gadget envy, I acquired one of these dual band extreme base stations to see if they held up to the hype. Sure enough, Apple has improved an old mediocre product with a new more powerful hardware engine and improved software abilities.
Features:
802.11 A/B/G/N DUAL Band radios at 2.4ghz and 5ghz simultaneously.
Gigabit Ethernet ports 1x Wan and 3x Lan.
Guest wireless network.
Disk sharing via USB connected drive.
Access to shared disk via MobileMe (apple mobile me subscribers on os x).
The box comes with the router, the power cord, software cd, and documentation....limited documentation.
Time to test.
Setup: Setup of an apple base station is unlike any other in that you cannot access the setup portal via your web browser. You must install the Apple Airport utility (both mac and windows) in order to set the router up. The software is built very well and provides the typical ease of use known to MAC users. You simply walk through a setup wizard and define simple options for your internet connection, your wireless network, etc, etc. NOTE: When setting up your wireless networks you are able to hit the options button so that you can define a 5ghz network as well (example, main wireless network called wifi, the 5ghz is called wifi (5ghz)). Very easy to setup and get going. You are also able to easily define a SECURED (wpa/wpa2) guest wireless network....which simply means that if you have a visitor they can use wi-fi but not get to any of the computers on your home network. Very Secure....and a great feature to boot.
I was using the old Apple Base Station and kept switching between it and a d-link wireless n router.... I got one of these primarily due to dual band and guest access.
Yes, there are other routers out there that can do this for a bit of a lower cost...but the elegance of the Apple Airport Utility make this a router that can be setup without too much hassle. The software will also identify problems in the setup and have you correct them before it uploads them to the router. These abilities alone make this a router for the non-geeks to be able to setup a robust networking environment at home.
Wireless: As I mentioned before, I am comparing this to an older model apple base station that was single band and worked in the N range. Also compared this against a D-Link DIR-655 which is a 2.4ghz Wireless N router. The section on speed below will detail my wireless experience.
Speed: I have Comcast cable modem service which gives me about 15-25mbps down and 2mbps up....I live in an area where there are probably 5-10 subscribers...so my speed is generally GREAT and never experiences a slow down. The first thing I do when I play with a new router is do a speed test....the new base station is comparable to the others and gets the same exact download/upload speeds over ethernet. There is one exception....using the wireless on this unit yielded BETTER results then the older model and the d-link. Normally when doing a speed test over wireless I get about 12-15mbps and 2mbps up....with this router I was able to successfully hit the 20mbps mark and 2mbps UP. WIN WIN!!!! So I figured that this may be an anomaly and thus proceeded to test a download from Microsoft - a 3.4gb file - which normally downloads anywhere between 900kpbs and 1.2mbps. Surprise.....with the new base station I stayed at 1.3mbps and it did not hiccup even once. The same was true when downloading via a wireless connection, albeit the speed was 1.0mbps....faster then I have ever gotten before. WIN WIN again!
Disk Sharing - Not much to be said here...I attached a Western Digital USB hard drive 320gb and shared it. You simply go into the Airport Utility software and setup sharing of the hard drive and define which password should be used. You can either use the password for the router or setup a separate password to use with Disk Sharing. Speed is dependent upon wired or wireless. I tested while transferring 3 files...one was 2mb one was 100mb and one was a 2.5gb file. The two mb file of course went over before I could blink...the 100mb transferred over in about 3-4 minutes...the 2.5gb took about 15 minutes. The first transfer test was with ETHERNET connectivity. I did the same tests over wireless and found that the times doubled...naturally since wireless is a bit slower I expected that and had no issue with the times.
Mobile-Me - I have not tested the mobile me features just yet but will be testing them in the days ahead and post my results here.
So far I feel this router has hit perfection and will now find a permanent spot in my home...at least until something better hits.
Please do leave me comments with suggestions on the review and or any questions you may have.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Apple MB763LL/A AirPort Extreme Dual-band Base Station

The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school, or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs, and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV.

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Apple Time Capsule 2TB (4TH GENERATION) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've had two hard drive failures recently. I didn't want that to happen again, and Apple's release of revised Time Capsules this week was a signal to do something about it.
It's a fairly small unit, with simple hookups - the power cord, one LAN in, three LAN outs, and one USB port. There's only one light, which only shows two colors - amber (for something requiring attention) or green (for everything running smoothly). My setup was to be using the Time Capsule for Wi-Fi, while piggybacking off a router required by my ISP. Once I hooked up everything, I loaded AirPort Utility on my Mac, which walked me through setup of the Wi-Fi network and TIme Capsule. After setting it up, the unit rebooted and the light started blinking amber, indicating a problem. Here's where the Time Capsule was proven to be worth the money.
Over the years, I've spent a lot of time dealing with network hardware and traversing through the router's confusing interface. The blinking amber light gave me flashbacks to those days. But, this was different. I loaded up AirPort Utility, and it walked me through all indicated problems along with recommended solutions. After five minutes it was running correctly, indicated by a steady green light. I hooked up my PS3 and Xbox 360 to the Time Capsule Ethernet ports and they connected to their services flawlessly.
The summary here: Thirty minutes after taking the Time Capsule out of the box, I had a perfectly running Wi-Fi network, 2 devices running through the ethernet ports, and all my data being backed up to the hard drive. I've used a lot of consumer-level network hardware over the years, but nothing was as straightforward and pleasant to use as Time Capsule. I don't know why every company doesn't make it this easy, but it is how it should be. Highly recommended.
Edit: I just got a printer and hooked it up to the Time Capsule a few days ago. As with everything else, setup was absolutely no-fuss. Through USB, everything set up automatically and all I had to do was add it to the printer list in preferences.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Apple Time Capsule 2TB (4TH GENERATION)


With the Apple Time Capsule, you'll be able to give your computer automatic, constant protection over a blazing-fast, secure wireless connection. Time Capsule includes a wireless hard drive designed to work with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard or later. Just set Time Capsule as the designated backup drive for Time Machine, and that's it.
One-click continuous backup for your Mac using Time Machine.

Get 5% OFF

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Apple Time Capsule MB764LL/A 500GB Review

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(More customer reviews)Hi All,
Please take a look at my review of the Dual Band Airport Extreme: Apple MB763LL/A AirPort Extreme Dual-band Base Station I have pasted it below this review for your convenience.
Since I have already reviewed the airport extreme, I will not go into details on the routing/wireless/speed options of this time capsule...they are the exact same product and I assure you, you can get great details from my review below.
Time Capsule remains as an exciting niche product that houses a hard drive in its body. The capsule can be purchased with a 500gb and or a 1TB hard drive. Note: the hard drive is not user servicable.
The primary reason for this device to exist was so that MAC users could easily backup their OS X machines using time machine directly to the router. For that it is the ultimate product.
Why then do I give it a 4 out of 5?
Simply because my experience with the hard drive has been that it regularly disconnects and drops connected users....which to me is a flaw when Time Machine is trying to backup my computer. Yes, I have restarted from scratch, reloaded the firmware, etc...but to no avail. I have also spoken to applecare and will be trying a replacement capsule in the days ahead to see if the problem can be alleviated.
I still give this a 4/5 due to my belief in the routing engine and software that sets up and maintains these devices. My review on the airport extreme base station will solidify my 4/5 reviews.
This product is worthy of a 5/5 review once the hard drive issues are ironed out. I hope I am alone in this problematic situation but time will tell. Ironically, my older time capsule has been running for about a year without any issues....so I am hopeful I have a one off problem.
As always, please leave me comments with suggestions, questions, etc.
Below is my review of the dual band Airport Extreme Base Station:
Hi All,
True to my gadget envy, I acquired one of these dual band extreme base stations to see if they held up to the hype. Sure enough, Apple has improved an old mediocre product with a new more powerful hardware engine and improved software abilities.
Features:
802.11 A/B/G/N DUAL Band radios at 2.4ghz and 5ghz simultaneously.
Gigabit Ethernet ports 1x Wan and 4x Lan.
Guest wireless network.
Disk sharing via USB connected drive.
Access to shared disk via MobileMe (apple mobile me subscribers on os x).
The box comes with the router, the power cord, software cd, and documentation....limited documentation.
Time to test.
Setup: Setup of an apple base station is unlike any other in that you cannot access the setup portal via your web browser. You must install the Apple Airport utility (both mac and windows) in order to set the router up. The software is built very well and provides the typical ease of use known to MAC users. You simply walk through a setup wizard and define simple options for your internet connection, your wireless network, etc, etc. NOTE: When setting up your wireless networks you are able to hit the options button so that you can define a 5ghz network as well (example, main wireless network called wifi, the 5ghz is called wifi (5ghz)). Very easy to setup and get going. You are also able to easily define a SECURED (wpa/wpa2) guest wireless network....which simply means that if you have a visitor they can use wi-fi but not get to any of the computers on your home network. Very Secure....and a great feature to boot.
I was using the old Apple Base Station and kept switching between it and a d-link wireless n router.... I got one of these primarily due to dual band and guest access.
Yes, there are other routers out there that can do this for a bit of a lower cost...but the elegance of the Apple Airport Utility make this a router that can be setup without too much hassle. The software will also identify problems in the setup and have you correct them before it uploads them to the router. These abilities alone make this a router for the non-geeks to be able to setup a robust networking environment at home.
Wireless: As I mentioned before, I am comparing this to an older model apple base station that was single band and worked in the N range. Also compared this against a D-Link DIR-655 which is a 2.4ghz Wireless N router. The section on speed below will detail my wireless experience.
Speed: I have Comcast cable modem service which gives me about 15-25mbps down and 2mbps up....I live in an area where there are probably 5-10 subscribers...so my speed is generally GREAT and never experiences a slow down. The first thing I do when I play with a new router is do a speed test....the new base station is comparable to the others and gets the same exact download/upload speeds over ethernet. There is one exception....using the wireless on this unit yielded BETTER results then the older model and the d-link. Normally when doing a speed test over wireless I get about 12-15mbps and 2mbps up....with this router I was able to successfully hit the 20mbps mark and 2mbps UP. WIN WIN!!!! So I figured that this may be an anomaly and thus proceeded to test a download from Microsoft - a 3.4gb file - which normally downloads anywhere between 900kpbs and 1.2mbps. Surprise.....with the new base station I stayed at 1.3mbps and it did not hiccup even once. The same was true when downloading via a wireless connection, albeit the speed was 1.0mbps....faster then I have ever gotten before. WIN WIN again!
Disk Sharing - Not much to be said here...I attached a Western Digital USB hard drive 320gb and shared it. You simply go into the Airport Utility software and setup sharing of the hard drive and define which password should be used. You can either use the password for the router or setup a separate password to use with Disk Sharing. Speed is dependent upon wired or wireless. I tested while transferring 3 files...one was 2mb one was 100mb and one was a 2.5gb file. The two mb file of course went over before I could blink...the 100mb transferred over in about 3-4 minutes...the 2.5gb took about 15 minutes. The first transfer test was with ETHERNET connectivity. I did the same tests over wireless and found that the times doubled...naturally since wireless is a bit slower I expected that and had no issue with the times.
Mobile-Me - I have not tested the mobile me features just yet but will be testing them in the days ahead and post my results here.
So far I feel this router has hit perfection and will now find a permanent spot in my home...at least until something better hits.
Please do leave me comments with suggestions on the review and or any questions you may have.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Apple Time Capsule MB764LL/A 500GB

Wireless hard drive that works seamlessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. It's also a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station Time Capsule works with Mac computers, PCs, iPhone, iPod touch, Apple TV, and virtually all 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless devices all at the same time Protect yourself with the built-in firewall and industry-standard encryption technologies including WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP System Requirements - For Time Machine backup -Mac with Mac OS X Leopard / For setup and administration -Mac computer with Mac OS X v.10.4 or later, CD drive, and Ethernet or wireless networking capability; PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista, CD drive, and Ethernet or wireless networking capability / For wireless client access -Mac with AirPort or AirPort Extreme wireless capability; PC with 802.11a/b/g/n / For shared hard drive -Mac with Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later; PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista; Bonjour

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APPLE M9479LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station Power Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)I ordered this as a replacement for my Airport Extreme power cable. It is not an Apple product and is the wrong size for the Aiport Extreme. Therefore, it was of no use to me. It is very frustrating to have the product listed as being for an Airport Extreme when it is no such thing. Will not buy again from this seller.

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Apple M8799LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port Review

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(More customer reviews)Got this primarily so we could work anywhere in the house on our PC laptops. Granted, a Linksys wireless router would have been cheaper, but the Airport Extreme also serves as a wireless print server and that (plus the fact that our primary computer is a Mac) was what sealed the deal for us. Our cabling setup is:
Cable modem -> Linksys Wired 4-Port Router -> Airport Extreme -> Lexmark Optra E312L
Our laptops use Linksys Wireless-G cards and get good reception throughout the house. Our G4 and PS2 are hooked directly into the wired Linksys Router for their connectivity. The trick to using it with an existing router is to turn off the NAT addressing feature of the Airport Extreme so that it acts only as an Ethernet "bridge" to the wireless computers; the Linksys router assigns all the IP addresses for everything on the system including the PC laptops. The PCs can print wirelessly to the laser printer via the Airport and so can the Mac. Bonus!
Setup was very quick - about 15 minutes to get everything plugged in. The hard part was getting the security set up correctly (and yes, you'd better secure your wireless network) as the format for passwords was different on the Mac vs. PC platforms. Had to do some Web searches to find out how to make them speak the same language (hex). Has worked flawlessly since then. If I had to do it over, would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Apple M8799LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port

The AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port is compatible with the industry-standard 802.11b wireless networking protocol, which means all AirPort products, as well as Wi-Fi certified 802.11b wireless products. For higher performance you will need to have both the Airport Extreme Card and the AirPort Extreme Base Station. The range of AirPort Extreme is up to 50 feet at 54 Mbps and up to 150 feet at 11 Mbps. The Base Station can be used in conjunction with an Ethernet connection (such as with a cable modem, DSL modem, or Ethernet network) through the integrated Ethernet port, or with a telephone line through a modem.
The AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port also supports USB or Ethernet wireless printer sharing. Just plug in a compatible USB or Ethernet printer and with Mac OS X on your computer you can quickly and easily print. You can use the new USB port to attach a USB printer or use the 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN port to plug in an Ethernet printer directly into the base station.
With the new AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port, up to 50 users can work and play on the Internet simultaneously up to 150 feet away from an Ethernet connection or a phone line. The Base Station comes equipped with a built-in firewall to protect sensitive data on your computer and the ability to secure transmissions with support for 128-bit encryption.
The AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port lets you manage the range of your wireless network. An external antenna port is provided for you to attach an external antenna. There are two types of antennas available: an omni-directional and a directional, which extend the range of the AirPort Extreme base station. There is also a software feature that allows you on reduce the size of your wireless network, down to just a single room for extra privacy.

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