The sixth iteration of Apple’s dual band router is out and we’re going to take a closer look at all this amazing product can do. The Airport Extreme base station transmits at 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies at the same time. This means that regardless of what band your device uses it will connect to the fastest band automatically.
The Airport Extreme 6 is physically taller but takes up less surface area than their predecessors. But the redesign wasn’t made purely for aesthetic purposes. This upgraded design has the antennas located at the top to improve signal quality.
Here are several key specifications of Apple’s Airport Extreme (6th Gen):
Faster Wifi
Version 6 of the Airport Extreme brings what is called “beamforming” to give you a stronger wi-fi signal. Technically, what it does is target its signal to your computer or other device. Other routers simply emit the same signal 360 degrees from the base station.
Not Mac-centric
The AirPort Extreme 6th Generation is not Mac-centric. It is able to handle local area networks that have Macs as well as PCs. This is way different from the way a lot of Apple products are. There’s no need to use iTunes or own an iPhone to get this product to work.
Shared Access
It’s easy to share everything from printers to hard drives with this base station. Set up a printer on the network and print from any computer in the house wirelessly. You can also configure an external hard drive and share media across the entire network. This means you can store all your movies, pictures and music files on one hard drive and play the content from any machine on your network. It’s like you have “the cloud” right in your own home.
Built In Security
You can connect up to 50 devices to use your wifi simultaneously, which is much more than the regular user would need. Each device is protected from malicious attacks with the built in firewall. There’s no need to set it up, it’s turned on automatically.
Wired Access
If wireless just isn’t your thing you can get a more reliable connected by directly connecting your device to the base station. There are 3 gigabit ethernet LAN ports to connect your computer to or a shared hard drive.
Guest Networks
Sometimes you have guests over who want to use your wifi connection. Yet you don’t want to give them your password since they will then get to access any connected hard drives you may be sharing in your house. Well with the Airport Extreme you can easily create a guest network, with or without a password. This gives guests access to the internet and nothing more, keeping your own network safe.
Conserves Bandwidth
The AirPort Extreme 6th Generation takes measures in order to conserve your bandwidth allotment on your iPad and iPhone 3G plans. With this router your devices are going to automatically connect to the network as soon as they were to detect the wifi network.
Size And Weight
Apple’s Airport Extreme v6 is 3.85″ x 3.85″ wide and stands 6.6″ tall. It weighs in at 2.08 pounds.
Cost
You can pick up an Airport Extreme for $199. This is a reasonable price considering that most Apple products cost twice as much as that. If you want one with a hard drive you’ll have to pony up $299 for the AirPort Time Capsule which has a 2 TB hard drive.