Apple's AirPort Express Base Station has always been remarkable in that
it is networking hardware that people actually seem to get excited about.
Thanks to an update to the 802.11n wireless networking standard, this
compact, easy-to-use device can now add increased wireless networking
performance to its list of pros. It might not be as fast as some of the
more robust 802.11n wireless devices, and at $99, it's also on the pricier
side of basic 802.11n routers. Still, for its portability and its
integration with iTunes, we recommend it to anyone interested in setting up
a wireless network on the go, or if you're after some basic music streaming
capability.
Design and setup
Aside from the upgrade to the 802.11n, Apple made no other changes to the
original AirPort Express design. It remains the exact size (3.7 inches
high, 1.1 inches wide, 3 inches deep), weight (.4 pounds), and shape
(little, boxy) as the original model, which lends the AirPort Express a
unique degree of portability. It also has the same snap-in, fold-out power
plug, and it retains the same array of ports. You get one 10/100 Ethernet
port to connect the AirPort Express to your main wired Internet connection,
one USB port that lets you install a printer on your network, and a single
audio jack that doubles as an analog and an optical audio output.
As with the original model, setting up the AirPort Express is
remarkably easy. You simply plug the AirPort Express into a power outlet,
install the software onto a PC on your network, and follow the basic
prompts via Apple's AirPort Utility. The experience is basically the same
on a Windows PC, the main exception being that it installs Apple's Bonjour
network device discovery software as well, if you don't already have it.
The AirPort Express supports both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz wireless
frequencies, so you can opt for the faster 5.0GHz band if you only need to
worry about 802.11a/n-compatible devices.
Features
Although nothing aside from the networking standard has changed in the
AirPort Express, with Apple's new Time Capsule and the older AirPort
Extreme Base Station out there as well, it can't hurt to clarify the
characteristics of Apple's family of networking products. All three are
802.11n capable, but the AirPort Express is the only one that offers
built-in iTunes audio streaming over a direct connection. The AirPort
Express is also the only one that won't support an external hard drive over
the USB port, although like the others, it does support a USB printer over
the network. The AirPort Express can support 10 simultaneous users, while
the AirPort Extreme and the Time Capsule can both support up to 50. And
where the others offer Gigabit Ethernet jacks, the AirPort Express also has
only a single 10/100 Ethernet jack. That's fine, since the AirPort Express
isn't intended to accept any client systems wired directly to it.
That audio out is one of the main features that the AirPort Express can
hold over Apple's Time Capsule, the pricier AirPort Extreme Base Station,
and indeed most other wireless routers. If you plug a set of speakers (or
any audio output device) into the AirPort Express, you can then use any
iTunes-equipped computer on the AirPort's network to stream music to that
device. It's no replacement for a dedicated music-streaming device like
Logitech's Squeezebox Duet, but if you're OK with playing DJ through the
iTunes interface on your computer, the AirPort Express can provide a
straightforward way to pipe music throughout your house. Apple also still
hasn't opened up iTunes' DRM to other audio-streaming hardware vendors,
which means the AirPort Express and the Apple TV are still the only
networking devices that can stream music from iTunes.
Because audio streaming is generally not that demanding on your
networking bandwidth, the benefit of the AirPort Express's move to 802.11n
feels like more of a "keeping up with the Joneses" kind of
upgrade, although its wider bandwidth opens up the possibility for
streaming HD-quality video smoothly across your network. Other vendors sell
non-Gigabit 802.11n routers for between $50 and $100, which made Apple's
older 802.11b/g version of the AirPort Express look dated and overpriced.
The 802.11n standard certainly has its benefits. The rated specs for the
standard include twice the bandwidth of 802.11g (74 megabits per second
versus 23 megabits per second), and also twice the range, with about 70
meters for 802.11n versus 35 meters for the older standards. But, as you'll
see from our testing, the AirPort Express's actual network performance sits
on the lower end of the 802.11n scale.
