Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit) MB053LL/A | 
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| Brand: Apple
Category: CE
List Price: $179.99
Buy New: $136.99
You Save: $43.00 (24%)
New (13) Used (9) Refurbished (1) from $129.00
Rating:  141 reviews
Sales Rank: 153
Format: Cd
Platforms: Macintosh, Windows
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: Windows & Macintosh
Modem: None
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.3
Warranty: Parts- 1yr limited, Labor- 90 days limited
MPN: MB053LL/A
Model: MB053LL/A
UPC: 885909171057
EAN: 0885909171057
ASIN: B000UZCR56
Release Date: August 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for connecting computers or network devices | | • | Wireless networking router based on the 802.11n draft standard | | • | Interoperable with Wi-Fi Certified 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g Mac computers and Windows-based PCs | | • | Up to 5 times faster and twice the range of 802.11g routers | | • | USB port turns external hard drives, printers, and other devices into network resources |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station is the perfect wireless access point for home, school, or small business. Get up to five times the performance and up to twice the range of conventional 802.11g routers. Quickly set up your wireless network with AirPort Utility, available for both Mac OS X and Windows, to your DSL or cable modem. Within minutes, you and up to 50 other users can stream videos, share photos and more without wires. Next-generation 802.11n wireless technology features multiple antennas to deliver maximum speed and range. You can even connect a printer to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme Base Station and it will instantly become available to everyone on your wireless or wired network. AirPort Extreme offers a built-in firewall and supports industry-standard encryption to prevent unauthorized intrusion into your wireless network. WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP let authorized users to connect to it easily with simple setup utility and powerful access controls.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 136 more reviews...
 Best of the best September 28, 2007
75 out of 77 found this review helpful
I own an iMac G5, a Nintendo Wii, an Airport Express, a Nintendo DS, a HP Printer, and an XBox 360, and this thing works flawlessly with all of them. I can't speak for Windows based PC's, but the Airport Extreme was a breeze to setup on the Mac. The new Airport layout does most of the work for you and all you have to do is click when it tells you to. So simple a caveman could...well, you know.
*One note: If you install it, it says its working, but you're still not on the internet, then restart your cable provider's box and when it comes back on you'll be up and running. This didn't happen to me, but it did happen to a friend of mine. Just thought I'd pass the word.
Excellent wireless router.. September 21, 2007
51 out of 53 found this review helpful
First, I have to comment about another reviewers statement that the Airport doesnt work with XP SP2. I set it up wirelessly for my wifes Dell that has XP SP2 on it and have no problems whatsoever. The setup was simple and as with most Apple products it walks you through the process and I had her computer up and running within 10 minutes. If you need to share a (PC) printer through the Airport, it includes Bonjour software which will walk you through the set up process for a pc and in an additional 10 minutes she was printing from the Airport as well. If you have a Mac it's even simpler. The data throughput is exceptional and I have never had a problem with a sluggish connection. The range is also pretty impressive as my wife will sometimes go out on the deck (the Airport is on the second floor on the opposite side of the house) and has never had a problem. I recently switched to this router after using a another "n" router and had quite a few problems with it. The Airport is the type of device that Microsoft has never mastered...a true plug and play device.
What Apple doesn't tell you but should January 4, 2008
57 out of 69 found this review helpful
Apple can tell you a lot of good reasons to buy almost any of its products. I should know because I have bought an awful lot of them.
But I did not "get" why I might want Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit) MB053LL/A. It is true the base station was adopted for the new 802.11n draft standard, but my two Macs predate the introduction of either the standard (which is still in draft) and the base station. So I figured to take advantage of the extreme speed increase 802.11n offered over 802.11g, I would need at a minimum a new air card, adding significantly to the cost.
I even stood around the Apple Store staring at the box for the Airport Extreme trying to figure out why I might want to spend a significant amount of money for a base station whose capabilities required even more money to be spent. So I didn't get it.
At home I continued to ask myself that question, and then in a MacWorld blog I found the answer. I wasn't even sure I had the right information so I called Apple and the product specialist had to look it up to confirm it.
OK so what should Apple have told us right off the bat? It is this:
ALMOST ALL INTEL-BASED CORE DUO iMAC, MACBOOK, AND MACBOOK PRO MODELS ARE PRECONFIGURED FOR 802.11n.
The software for the base station includes unlocking software for you Mac. Install the software after you have plugged in the base and you will fly. This base station allows for very high-speed wireless connections.
So why is this product worth $179 when you have a perfectly good 802.11g router running your system? That is sort of like asking why you might want a Ferrari to replace your Ford Focus. Speed, speed, speed.
One of the best, if not the best pre-N router on the market today April 27, 2008
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
I have been using many wireless routers (Linksys, D-Link, SMC, Netgear, Siemens...) over the years, since the early days of 802.11b, but this is my first experience with an Apple router (second, really: I've just replaced my first generation Airport Extreme router with this one which has a Gigabit switch instead of the original 100BT, so this is an update of the review I posted for the original model)
There is no need to comment on the manufacturing quality, design and packaging: in typical Apple fashion, they're miles ahead of the competition. For instance, unlike all the other routers I ever used that came with a 110v only power supply, the Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS for short) comes with a universal worldwide power supply equipped with a standard power cord.
Performancewise, it is exceptional. I have been putting it through its paces over the past few days and it's barely breaking a sweat in situations where my previous routers (Linksys WRT54G and Netgear WGN824) would progressively get slower, or just plain crash and require a reboot. Coverage is excellent, better than my WGN824's which was already quite impressive.
Apple has traditionally be doing things differently, and it shows here again: unlike most routers, which are managed by accessing a built-in web server, this router can only be configured using the "Airport Utility" configuration program. The bundled CD contains a Mac OS X and a Windows version of the utility (I can already hear groans from the Linux geeks). The utility is extremely simple to use, although I haven't tried to use the more advanced features such as setting up another router like the Airport Express as a range extender.
One problem you might run into is the lack of support for "legacy" devices: although the AEBS offers a compatibility mode with WEP devices called "WEP (Transitional)" which lets WEP and WPA coexist, this mode imposes restrictions on the keys that may not work for you (for instance you won't be able to reuse an existing 40-bit WEP key). The problem is that WEP-40 and WEP-128 are not compatible with the 802.11n standard, so you have to choose between speed or full backwards compatibility. Also, you should know that WEP-40 and WEP-128 are not very secure: there are utilities out there that can crack these keys easily.
Note that 802.11n gives a significant speed boost to the AppleTV and laptops equipped with compatible cards (such as Apple's Core 2 Duo laptops with the 802.11n enabler installed -- you can find the enabler on the AEBS CD). Unless you own one of these machines, there is no harm in switching to a non-802.11n radio mode. How? Just hold the command key (or control on Windows) while clicking on the "Radio Mode" popup in the Wireless tab of the AEBS configuration utility. Extra, non-n modes appear in the list, and once one is selected the WEP-40 and WEP-128 modes become available under Security. If you select WEP-40 or WEP-128 security, you can enter a hex key by prefixing it with a dollar sign.
The AEBS also comes with a versatile USB port, which can be used to attach hard disks and/or a printer (USB hubs are supported). Unlike other base stations or NAS boxes, the AEBS does not require that you reformat the disk; all you have to do is plug it in and voila! Instant NAS, all your files show up on the network. Some very basic access control features are provided. I plugged in the external USB drive I use to backup my MacBook, and now I can do automated backups without having to worry about remembering to plug in the drive: it just works wirelessly. The AEBS also lets you share a USB printer.
Now that Apple has released the Time Capsule devices, they've also released a version of firmware (7.3.1) that supports Time Machine in similar fashion. Unfortunately some people complain that this feature does not work reliably for them. I've experienced a more annoying problem: the Nortel Contivity VPN software I use to connect to my office network no longer works reliably. I found out on Apple's forums that this is a fairly common complaint and a known problem, so I assume it will be fixed in the next release; reverting firmware to version 7.2.1 fixed the problem (and disabled Time Machine support).
In conclusion, this router is a fantastic performer. Although it's one of the most expensive 802.11n routers out there, its feature set, build quality, performance and top-notch customer support more than make up for the price difference. Despite a couple of quirks, I recommend it highly -- although if you need Time Machine support you're better off buying Time Capsule at least until Apple addresses the problems in firmware 7.3.1.
EDIT - Firmware 7.3.2 was released on 6/30/2008, and I have had no problems using the Nortel Contivity VPN since installing it.
Excellent router...once it is set up January 2, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I use this router to connect to the internet wirelessly with both my new MacBook and my 4-year old IBM Thinkpad T40(for which I need backward compatibility for 11g), and through an ethernet cable with my desktop pc. All three computers share the same printer.
I gave this unit 5 stars even though setup was a nightmare because I don't think it was the fault of the unit. My internet provider is Comcast, and for whatever reasons the base station was not recognized until I plugged the ethernet cable from my cable modem directly into my MacBook. I then had to unplug and restart the cable modem several times before the Airport Extreme finally picked up the correct IP address, DNS Server info etc. Finally, I had to go into manual setup and change to a specific channel number rather than obtaining a channel automatically because I was getting interference. I wound up with level 2 Apple tech support to walk me through all of this.
In retrospect, I think that I should have intially unplugged my existing wireless router (even though it was no longer connected to my cable modem) and also unplugged both the power cord and phone cord to my cordless 2.4 phone, as I ultimately did, since these may have contributed to my setup problem, though I am not sure.
Once the unit was setup, it worked great. Even though I cannot take advantage of the highest speed because I need bacwards compatibility for my PC laptop, there is still a noticeable improvement in wireless range.
As for the printer setup, I also needed some help from Apple tech support. I discovered that if you are using Bonjour on a PC, you need to download the sofware from Apple's site because that download for some reason contains components that are not available in the software on the CD that comes with the unit. Once I downloaded from the Apple site, everything worked fine.
Apple tech support is very helpful, so don't hesitate to call them.
The unit has a nice appearance, and unlike my previous router, has no antenna sticking up. In addition, it was a breeze to set up a secure wireless connection on my MacBook, and with only minor configuration I was able to do the same on both my laptop and Palm T/X.
Once I got past the setup problems, which I don't necessarily blame on the unit, it was a pleasure to use it and I am happy with my purchase.
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