AirPort Express vs. Extreme

If both the iMac and AppleTV are to connect wirelessly, it won't matter which one you use.

The AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) supports a USB hard drive but the AirPort Express (AX) does not.

The AX has an sudio out but the AEBS does not.

The AEBS supports up to 50 wireless clients while the AX supports only 10.

You need to consider the future if and when you acquire another device which needs connected to an ethernet port. There goes anoth $100.00 or so.

Apple TV, sometimes you may need to connect with ethernet. You want fast speed AEBS has Gigabit ethernet 10/100/100 the Express does not.

While I am as yet unaware of formal public testing of the new Airport Express, I would expect the following:

1. Higher throughput from the Airport Extreme ... useful if you are using it for backups.
2. Better range for the Airport Extreme ... I expect from the physical packaging that the Express will have a poorer antenna.

The specifications for throughput and range are the same for both the AirPort Express (AX) and AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS).

Last week I purchased an Airport Extreme rather than an Express... Here are some of the reasons:

1) it just happens to sit near my Apple TV so I can plug it straight in via the Ethernet cable - so, no Wireless... so should be faster.

2) I wanted to use it for backups. I have 2 old (non N) Airport Express in the house and I just use them for remote printing now. I preferred an Extreme + my own hard disk as it would allow me to upgrade the disk when I needed to.

Actually ... whatever the specs are .... I would expect greater range ... the AEBS uses a 3x3 MIMO with better antennas than the AX. Almost certain to yield better range particularly in a multipath environment such as indoors.