Difference in Time Capsule units and upgrading

the newer time capsules have the following features you won't get by replacing the drive in your old unit

1) the newest units have 2.8 x the maximum power output over the previous model (392mw vs 192mw)

2) the newer time capsules have certified/official/final 802.11n code the older ones were draft n 2.0

3) the last two versions of the time capsules have 3 x 3 spatial streams, meaning you can do 450 mbps over 5ghz

4) the newer time capsules might have simultaneous dual band, your old time capsule might be one of the older ones that made you pick what frequency to use

We use a 2 TB. model. Would thatbe able to use the 392 mW as well? Is that only for 5 GHz?

the newest "md031" time capsule has a maximum power output of 392mw versus 192 mw for the older model

that might give you better range or a faster speed at the same distance as the older models. i told the internet this and those ifixit mac insider guys finally realized what a blunder they made reporting "no new features" and promptly ripped me off and didnt credit me for my airport discovery!

the time capsules might of been always dual band but only the last two were simultaneous dual band.

with the oldest ones you had to choose if you wanted 2.4 ghz or 5 ghz but you couldn't choose both of them at the same time, the recent time capsules have 2.4 and 5 ghz at the same time

i'd say if you have an older time capsule find out what model it was and if it was older tehn the md340 then sell it on amazon for $100 to $150 and use the money to buy the newest model

and then thre was that whole mess back in 2008 or 2009 where all the time capsules were only lasting 18 months because of a probblem with its power supply?

if you already have a "md340" time capsule and if you wanted the latest "md031" model then i would reccomend buying the newer model from some place with a good return policy like amazon and testing it in your house and to see if you think the improvements is worth the $299, and if it is you can keep the newer model

and then sell the older model

that might give you better range or a faster speed at the same distance as the older models.

Emphasis on might.

We tried a new Time Capsule at a neighbor's house and it perfomed virtually identically to his 3rd generation version. Apple is extremely quiet about advertising any improvements on the new version....probably with good reason.

Time will tell.

i got one of the newer time capsules as a gift

and i figure the increased power output probably won't help 5ghz going through walls and doors, but i feel it might reduce the need of extenders tho..

if you want to further nitpick about these improvements is theres another page in that fcc printout that has me scratching my head

both the airport extreme (a1408) and time capsule (a1409) have the following power levels

802.11b 257.04mw 802.11g 307.61 802.11n 257.63

802.11a 326.59mw 802.11n 20 mhz 337.29 802.11n 40mhz 392.64

but check out the difference in peak gain of the antennas

frequency range 2.4 - 24.83 antenna one 1.41 dbi | antenna two 2.33 dbi | antenna 3 1.83 dbi

frequency range 5725 to 5850 antenna one 1.72 dbi | antenna two 2.97 dbi | antenna 3 2.67

now compare this to the time capsule

frequency range 2.4 - 24.83 antenna one 0.1 dbi | antenna two 0.27 dbi | antenna 3 4.32 dbi

frequency range 5725 to 5850 antenna one 4.38 db| antenna two 0.81dbi | antenna 3 3.09 dbi

wouldnt they be teh same gains on both the time capsule and the airport? why are they different

i think the bottom line i want to make is if your going to upgrade your time capsules make sure its covered by

a computer's applecare plan, i know its like 150-250 dollars for applecare but the 1 year warranty on the time capsule is really short. and i still can't friggen copy my apple core duo 2006's time machine to it

Having the same power and higher antenna gain would mean the TC has better range than the extreme. We noticed that in older models, too. We thought this was because the case of the TC is bigger, providing more room for the antennas.

Apple should have used external antennas. Perhaps it wouldn't look as good, but the range would certainly have benefitted. Some of the competitors have much better range.

Yes, the range of wireless bases can be much better. Of course generally they do not provide backup facilities. If Apple would use external antennas they could have backup facilities *and* good range.

Firewire drives are known as "external" drives and must be connected directly to a computer.

They are not "network" drives that connect to a router.

If I got a new TIme Capsule (2TB) and had a 750GB internal HDD, and 2 500GB external firewire drives, would I be able to use TIme Capsule to backup all my stuff on my internal using Time Machine including the data on the firewire externals?

Yes, if the FireWire drives are connected directly to the Mac, Time Machine will back up both the Mac and the attached FireWire drives if you elect that option in Time Machine preferences.

It would stay there and not get deleted just because my external drives weren't plugged in right?

Correct as long as there was plenty of free space on the Time Capsule disk.

Would I then be able to make those two 500GB external drives a RAID (mirror) using Disk Utility?

I haven't done this and only answer questions regarding things that I've done myself. So, you'll have to wait for another user, or perhaps start a new post for that question since things are really "buried" in this post and I doubt that it will get many new views.