Aiport Express or Airport Extreme

The Airport Extreme Base Station is the main router hardware. What do you now have for a router in your home network? Is your cable/DSL modem also your router?

An Airport Express can be used as a simple wireless router for a network that does not provide wireless, or it can be used to extend an existing wireless network.

The differences are not very significant.

• Extreme has three LAN ports; Express has one
• Extreme has Gigabit Ethernet, Express 100-BaseT
• Extreme's USB port can be used with an external hard disk, Express can only be used for a USB printer
• Only the Express can stream iTunes music.

An Extreme can provide wireless security, an Express cannot, Extremes provide port forwarding, NAT, and other things not provided by the AEX such as simultaneous dual-band wireless. Actually, John, the differences are quite significant.

… Actually, John, the differences are quite significant.

Actually, Kappy, the Express can provide the exact same security as the Extreme, port forwarding, NAT filtering, and just about everything else the Extreme can do including simultaneous dual-band wireless.

Buy the AEBS to replace your D-Link router. How far from the router is the Apple TV? What type of interior wall construction? Will each device be on a different floor?

John, I stand corrected. 🙂

But for the OP I would not replace the D-Link router with an AEX. They would then only have wireless because the Ethernet port of the AEX would need to connect to their modem. If they need Ethernet now or in the future, then the AEBS is the better choice.

The new Express has two Ethernet ports Kappy:

The single port of its predecessor was a significant limitation.

Still, only one port versus three. And, I give up. 😀

Another factor to consider is the throughput (data transfer rate) performance of the Express vs. the Extreme across the router's WAN to LAN or LAN to WAN interface. The latest 2nd generation 802.11n AirPort Express runs around 92 Mbps as it is restricted to having 100 Mbps Ethernet ports. The latest 5th generation AirPort Extreme can support 400+ Mbps over this same interface.

If HD video streaming, VoIP voice quality, and/or any other Internet data-intensive activities are important to you, you will want to have as much bandwidth as possible. (Granted you will still be restricted by what your ISP provides you.)