Apple AirPort Extreme 1st Generation Wireless Router

The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station is the perfect wireless access point for home, school, or small business. Blazing fast, it delivers up to five times the performance and up to twice the range compared to 802.11g routers. And you can use it with both Macs and PCs.

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• Reviewed by: sononkyo

  04-26-08

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: 802.11n 5ghz sublime performance; perfect aesthetics; price comparable to other similarly spec'd routers FOR NOW (April 2008); can handle strenuous real world traffic with flying colors

  Weaknesses:legacy 802.11a/b/g mediocore to a capital M

  Overall Evaluation: 802.11n, the latest marketing spec has taken an absurdly long time to gestate. The latest revision is a "draft" specification and manafacturers have gone ahead and adopted it. Apple, no stranger to popularizing new technologies to the masses, have gone ahead and polished the specification very well but to the detriment of backward compatability performance.I come from years of handling routers. Starting with the ubiquitious and satirized linksys router, to the wireless alphabet soups of mainstream taiwanese chipsets, to DD-WRT and Tomato open source firmwares. Along the way, I've come across the whole gamut of marketing jargon "AOSS", "Turbo-Boost", "channel bonding", "108mps" and the sort. When first using the Apple router, I was skeptical to say the least about the "300mb" performance from my wireless Mac. Yes, the 300mb is a misnomer but what I've found is that when operating at a pure 5ghz signal with only 802.11n devices accepted, it approximates close to a 100MB Ehternet connection. The performance is startling. I'm not one to benchmark because I hate synthetic benchmarks. I judge from user experience and this thing is fast.The drawback is when I switch the router to supporting legacy products. Everything becomes SLOW. You have an 802.11g device? It will drag it down. In apple's defense, I think that is true - no matter how mature the technology is.Everything else works in cacophony. The lights doesn't scream its blinding blueness like some technicians fantasy but has a nice neutral amber hue. That is refinement - little-- but it goes a long way for long term usage. You will discover little things. Of course, there is the USB slot which for now, lets you use a USB hard drive as a time capsule. I don't plan to use it and apple doesn't plan to support it long term but it is beneficial to those who use that feature.Apple's prices have always been near the top. Their earlier airport technology was LATE and just average. Unlike luxury brands such as clothing though, Apple's recent products in the wireless arena (802.11n) have merit behind their pricing. You get REFINED technology that really *just* works - take note the 5ghz channel (cheaper products promise 802.11n on 2.4ghz which intereferes if you have any modern appliances). AS you get older, the tinkering spirit I had in my youth no longer is so much fun because I value my time to live my life more. Apple gives me that peace of mind for that internet connection and it deserves a big recommendation for me.

• Reviewed by: vanhalen26505

  08-18-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Allows sharing of devices such as USB printers and hard drives wirelessly

  Weaknesses:Light indicators on front may be overly simplified for more advanced technical tastes

  Overall Evaluation: This is a nice device. It supports 802.11 b/g/n and gives 10/100/1000-base ethernet support. It is aesthetically pleasing as all 3 antennas are internal. Configuration is done through loading software on to a Mac. Once setup, the system can work with both Mac and PC alike. Apple's Bonjour service can be installed on a PC and this allows it to utilize any USB printers or hard drives hooked to this device. It is possible to hook a USB hub to it directly to allow use of more than one device since it only has a single port. The device can be configured, with other compatible equipment, to allow it to become a repeater/extender of existing wireless networks. Well done, Apple. If I were to state anything that might be less than optimal for some, it would be that there is only a single LED on the front of the device to show status. Some may be used to be able to get more visual feedback to troubleshoot. Apple likes to keep things simple. In this case, a little too simple for my taste. One needs to connect to the unit with the software to see what is going on.

• Reviewed by: lingie

  07-14-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: With USB printer connection or hard drive. Easy software installation. Great design.

  Weaknesses:Not a weakness but it IS expensive!

  Overall Evaluation: I love the white Airport Extreme Base Station that looks like the Mac Mini. It is easy to connect up and when you install the software it checks for updates from Apple for Firmware. Airport helps you to go through the steps to create your network and enter your WPA2 password and you can connect to your internet via ethernet cable to your broadband modem. I was able to print rightaway. We have a Macbook Pro C2D in one room and the iMac C2D in another and everything including the USB printer connected up without any hitches.I cannot vouch for anyone who do MS Windows as we are an all-MAC family.

• Reviewed by: jrhusar

  06-27-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Signal strength beats all other base stations; ;signal goes further than other base stations; Ease in set-up. Basically plug and play; lots of extra ethernet ports.

  Weaknesses:Expensive compared to generics; a bit large.

  Overall Evaluation: This new apple base station really does one up on the earlier editions. It was easy to plug in and use within minutes. The distance the signal reaches and the strength of the signal sure beats my old Snow ABS. This worked flawlessly for all my network needs which includes an ancient ethernet HP Laserjet printer. I have a apple desktop and two apple laptops on the internet network non-stop and none of these computers lack internet speed or ability to stay within a strong range.

• Reviewed by: raquelsousa

  06-26-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: It works really well, it's exactly what I needed.

  Weaknesses:Didn't find any

  Overall Evaluation: I'm glad I got this base . It's much faster than any other. I'm very happy with it. I think that anyone that it's not playing around with their speed should invest in one of these.

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