Depending on whether or not you need 802.11N with mobility, your best bet may be to get an 802.11N router that supports wireless bridging through a third-party firmware, and connect it to your MBP via ethernet.
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Apple Quietly Releases 802.11n Capable Airport Extreme [Updated]
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I presently have a MacBook that accounts for 98% of my computer use and a Mac Mini (1st gen) that I'm now basically only using as a server for my iTunes library and printing. I'm very tempted to sell them both, buy a MacBook Pro and a new Airport Extreme and use that as my server, but I can't help being really concerned about the issue of Airport Express music streaming, which is essential to me. Obviously, we don't know yet if putting an Airport Express on the same network would really slow everything down to 802.11b/n/g speeds. Some folks here have talked about setting up separate "slow" and "fast" networks, which kind of confuses me a bit. If I did that, I'd presumably have to manually switch to the "slow" network every time I wanted to stream from iTunes. If/when I do that, how do I maintain an Internet connection if the new Airport Express (and the "fast" network) are attached to the cable modem? Since a lot of the streaming I do is online radio (KEXP rules, baby!), this would be vital to me--I wouldn never go with the slow/fast network scenario if it meant I could only listen to music off my HD and not off the net. Can anyone offer some insight into the situation?
If all you had was a MBP C2D and an APExt, you would be 802.11n all the time and would stream your music from an external drive on the AP (I asume that is what you want to do). If all you are doing now is using the mini as a file/print server, then the APExt will do both and wirelessly and at over 100Mbps to the MBP.
Will MBP N enabler software be available for download???
I realize enabler software (to activate N) will be shipping with the new APE. Will the enabler software be available for free dowhnload to those of us who already own other Draft 1.0N routers? Or will Apple force us to purchase APE to activate the chipset that is already in MBPs???
I realize enabler software (to activate N) will be shipping with the new APE. Will the enabler software be available for free dowhnload to those of us who already own other Draft 1.0N routers? Or will Apple force us to purchase APE to activate the chipset that is already in MBPs???
I've apparently not had as good of luck as you with Linksys routers and reliability (as in not needing resets for random network slowdowns or the router locking up).
I'm confused. Isn't the wifi chipset directly on the logic board?
I thought he was asking if the WiFi could be upgraded as easily as the older Apple laptops (by yanking it out of its slot and replacing it).
Given the fact that 802.11n is still a draft standard, and the standard is not completely stable (e.g. last year's pre-n devices are all 2.4GHz, with the newest ones supporting 5GHz), I'd wait for a while.
IMO, if you don't have a solid need for n's high speed right now, I'd recommend you wait for the standard to be finalized. According to the IEEE timeline, final working group approval is expected for January 2008, standards board approval for March '08, and publication in April '08.
Yeah, 15 months is a long time to wait, but I'd rather stick with g speeds for another year and not have to deal with the possibility of the final spec being incompatible with today's draft-n devices.
Sounds encouraging. My worry is that the APExpress will drag everything down if I keep it connected to the stereo (I also have a switch connected to its ethernet port, which connects my Xbox 360, PS3 and TiVo to the Internet). Presumably the wired devices attached to the switch won't "contaminate" the 802.11n bandwith on their own, but I'm antsy about whether via the ApExpress would knock me back to 802.11b/g speeds. I guess this is one of those things we won't really know about until the new APExtreme comes out. I hope it won't drag the network down, because only having one computer would greatly simplify things for me in terms of backups, knowing which files are stored where, etc. I'd stick with my MacBook in this scenario if it was a C2D unit, but alas it ain't.
As you say, we won't know until it ships and people can run tests, but here's my gut feeling:
- Wired devices will have no impact on the wireless part of the network. It would be a really brain-dead design if it did.
- If the new APExtreme runs 802.11n on the 2.4GHz band (the one used by b/g), then the presence of b/g devices will end up slowing down the n devices. Probably not all the way down to b/g speeds, but top speed won't be possible.
- If it runs 802.11n on the 5GHz band (which is not shared by b/g), then I would expect b/g devices to not impact n devices. 802.11a devices (which run on a few different bands from 5.15GHz to 5.875GHz) might have an impact, but you may not care, because 802.11a is not nearly as popular as b/g.
Stupid question but.
Is this just a Apple router? like will it work with my borthers PC and my Wii ok?
Is this just a Apple router? like will it work with my borthers PC and my Wii ok?
Aiport Extreme, Airport Express, and Macbook Pro will all work fine together. The Airport Express will run at G speeds which isnt a real concern seeing that streaming audio never really exceeds G speeds. And the rest will be N speeds/range. No need for two systems. Very simple. Dont wry about seperate networks, it wont help it probably just make it worst since multiple networks can interfere and since N router do extend the range on G components even if not to the full extend N components would.
I'm a bit new to this wireless stuff, so I'm wondering if someone could shed some light on this for me? I'd ultimately like to get the AppleTV to use with iTunes on my Mac Mini using 802.11n. If I bypass the 802.11g built into my Mini and instead connect the Mini to of the 10/100 ports on the Airport Extreme, my understanding is that I won't achieve the highest possible speed of 802.11n, assuming 802.11n can achieve speeds faster than 100mbps.
Here's a hypothetical scenario that I'm trying to figure out assuming Apple also offered a gigabit version of the new Airport Extreme. Would there be any difference in communication speed between the Mini and AppleTV with these setups?
Thanks,
Jeff
Mac Mini (gigabit) -> connected to Airport Extreme (10/100) -> connected wirelessly to AppleTV
vs.
Mac Mini (gigabit) -> connected to Airport Extreme (gigabit) -> connected wirelessly to AppleTV
Here's a hypothetical scenario that I'm trying to figure out assuming Apple also offered a gigabit version of the new Airport Extreme. Would there be any difference in communication speed between the Mini and AppleTV with these setups?
Thanks,
Jeff
Mac Mini (gigabit) -> connected to Airport Extreme (10/100) -> connected wirelessly to AppleTV
vs.
Mac Mini (gigabit) -> connected to Airport Extreme (gigabit) -> connected wirelessly to AppleTV
The only time you will ever notice the advantage of "N" is when you sync your iTV to your mac for the 1st time, shed load of data being moved when you fill an empty iTV or iPod.
"G" is already many times faster than the fastest Internet access, unless you are a Bond villain and have a secret hollowed out Volcano.
But still, for the cost it should really have 1000BT.
"G" is already many times faster than the fastest Internet access, unless you are a Bond villain and have a secret hollowed out Volcano.
But still, for the cost it should really have 1000BT.
Actually I think N is Apples key to making Time Machine work for MacBook users. Nice seemless synching, and if you attach a USB2 HDD to the AE, that will go faster than N so transfer speeds will be pretty good.
Yeah, at least they dropped the price $20 and added a fairly major feature (sharing of external drives).
I thought all of the Core 2 Duo machines (except the 17" 1.83ghz iMac) have 802.11n.
Oh, good catch. I hadn't even thought about the possibility of using Time Machine with the new AE!
More and more, I'm thinking that $180 is reasonable for this box - as long as the AirDisk* feature works well. Of course, Airdisk is what makes me wish they had put Gig-E on there too. It would make sense for a NAS.
I'm not going to be the first to buy one, but if good reports come on the ease of use with the NAS features, I'll jump in.
*I think AirDisk sounds cooler than Airport Disk.
I'm not going to be the first to buy one, but if good reports come on the ease of use with the NAS features, I'll jump in.
*I think AirDisk sounds cooler than Airport Disk.
USB2 is faster than both 802.11n and 100baseT. You could potentially fill your 100baseT connection with the NAS functions and not leave any bandwidth left for wireless clients to communicate with the rest of the wired network.
I'm guessing that the three RJ-45 ports are not switched and the Airport Extreme has a limited backplane to go with the 100baseT limit. If you're using it as the hub of your wired network, it would slow everything down. Given Apple's emphasis on ease-of-use, it's silly that the only network hub that they sell will slow down all of their computers when used with it.
Seriously, make the thing $199 and put Gig-E in it already.
Agreed. It is quite unusual for Apple not to have the "up and coming" technologies in their products.
I'd prefer to see Gigibait ethernet and a firewire port.
USB2.0 theoretically maxs out at 480Mbps. Practically it maxs out at 240Mbps, 802.11n maxs out at 160Mbps (at least most of the pre-n's do). Same ballpark.