I considering to replace my old wifi router and purchase AirPort Extreme.
Why airport extreme feature that make it price is higher than common router WIFI?
it is faster transfer data?
Better WIFI range?
etc...
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Well first, it is made by Apple, so yeah. But really, they did a great job and you can connect all sorts of peripherals to it.– duci9yNov 3, 2012 at 10:11
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Look here I believe it will answer the question, technically apple.stackexchange.com/questions/14832/…– iskraNov 3, 2012 at 12:36
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1One of the best features of Apple's various routers is the Admin software that runs on your Mac for setting them up and configuring them. Over the many years I've been using AirPorts (since the beginning) the Admin software has continuously improved and gotten easier and easier to use. I think this software is part of what makes AirPort a better product and worth some extra money.– RichardNov 3, 2012 at 14:24
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1 Answer
Wireless is a complicated topic and you need to consult a speciality website like smallnetbuilder.com if you want to understand things like range, performance, and capabilities of different routers.
The Apple Extreme/Express are more expensive, require an Apple utility that runs only on iOS/OS X/Windows, and are not the most feature rich. However, they are simple to use if you live in a mostly Apple world and have some unique Apple features that can be useful in that world. For example, it's dead simple to wirelessly extend an Extreme/Express network and Apple Express routers can be hooked to speakers to use with AirPlay.
I just used three Expresses to replace an old 802.11g network (it used four old Linksys routers wirelessly extended to get about 50% coverage) at a friend's condo. It's only a single floor with about 2500sf but the walls are all steel-reenforced concrete so wireless range was extremely limited. It took all of about 10 minutes to install three units and network them with a single SSID and WPA password. I would have preferred wired connections but it wasn't a practical option due to the construction.
I can't see much advantage to the Extreme over the Express with the current models unless you want to use the gIt might have better antennas and thus better performance but I think that's an edge case. It also may have some additional features so you'd need to do a feature-by-feature comparison.
