Airport Extreme and Airport Express-What's the Difference?
On June 11, 2004, Apple announced Airport Express, a new wireless network hub. How is it different from Airport Extreme, and perhaps more importantly is it compatible with Airport Extreme?
In 1999, Apple released its first 802.11b wireless hub, which it called an "Airport base station". Several years later, Apple released an 802.11g hub that it called "Airport Extreme". As 802.11g is backwards compatible with 802.11b, the new hub allowed computers with either type of wireless interface to connect with them. The Airport Extreme base stations come with a USB port into which a wide variety of printers may be plugged for the purpose of sharing that printer with all the users on the wireless network. The high-end Airport Extreme base station comes with an external antenna port that allows users to add an antenna to the base station in order to increase the range of the base station. The current low-end base station is Ethernet-powered, meaning it needs no external power supply other than a 10baseT connection to the Internet. It is certified for use in areas like dropped ceilings. Airport Extreme hubs can be set up to act as a bridge to other Airport Extreme hubs, allowing users to extend the range of their network without having to run additional wires. One hub would act as the gateway, or router to the Internet, and the other one would be placed somewhere within 150' of the router. It's a simple and effective way to extend the range of any Airport Extreme network.
Airport Express is an 802.11g wireless hub that has several features that make it useful in both home and small office situations. First, it's very small (2.5" x 2.5" x 1"), and can be plugged directly into any power outlet without any external power adaptor. In addition, it has a USB port into which users can plug a wide variety of USB printers. A printer plugged into this USB port is automatically accessible by any computer on the wireless network. There is also a 3.5mm mini-Audio jack for analog or optical digital sound. Any computer on the wireless network running iTunes 4.6 or later can choose the Airport Extreme hub and stream music from their iTunes library to the speakers plugged into the mini-Audio jack. Finally, Airport Express hubs can act as bridges with other Airport Express hubs or with Airport Extreme hubs.
For more information, please visit the Apple web site.
NOTE: Apple has released a new generation of Airport Base Stations which support a preliminary version of 802.11n as well as 802.11b and 802.11g. For more information please visit the Apple web site.
Current Record: 1795
Create Date: 06-11-2004
Last Reviewed: 02-22-2008
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