Do I Need to Buy an AirPort for My Wi-Fi Network?

A lot of people wonder if they have to get an Apple branded base station to set up a wireless network at their home or office. The answer, fortunately, is no, you don't have to because Apple has been supporting common wi-fi standards for years now.

In fact, Apple has learned their lessons and has been at the forefront of I/O (input/output) and networks standards for a while now. And they often lead with letting go of old standards for new ones, most notably the 3.5 inch diskette and now the optical drive on the Macbook Air.

The result is you can take your new Mac to most any wi-fi network that isn't password protected and join it effortlessly. Which is a nice change of pace for a long time Mac user such as myself.

So why would you purchase either AirPort models?
The main reason is to take advantage of the refinement Apple puts into its products, and secondly, because they offer secondary features that may be important to you. Let's look at the refinement angle first.

Wi-fi base stations are just not at the level of simple usability that is common in consumer electronics, although they really should be by now. They take some configuration using cryptic language, and using tools made by engineers, not usability experts. This software element is where most of the others fall short.

Even Apple's AirPort utility doesn't have that same polish as their more common consumer programs. On one hand, it's a sign of the complexity involved, but I still expect better from an industry that's over 10 years old. I don't think my dad could set up a wi-fi base station, even an Apple one.

The other reasons can be lumped together under "Bells and Whistles". Typical for Apple products, there is no stripped down version. Apple starts their line in the mid range and it goes up from there. Let's take a look at the extras you get in the Apple products. The 3 lines are AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule.

Printer Sharing. All the Airports allow you to plug a printer into them and have your networked Macs use it for printing. That's a cool feature if you have your AirPort where you want your printer. Unfortunately, I don't.

Send iTunes music to remote speakers. AirTunes is available on the Express, and is a nice feature where you can plug speakers into it and send the music playing in iTunes on your Mac to those speakers. I really like using AirTunes to listen to my music in my garage.

Share an External Drive. You can also plug a USB external drive into the USB port on the Extreme and Time Capsule (but not the Express) to share files among your Macs. Unfortunately, you can't use that drive for Time Machine backups, but it might be handy to have your music, photo and movie libraries on a shared drive and free up space on your Mac.

Automatically back up your Mac. The idea with Time Capsule is to use it as your backup drive for Time Machine backups. The nice part is Apple isn't charging a premium for the hard drive. In fact, it probably is the best value of the 3.

So if any of these features seem compelling, then an AirPort or Time Capsule may be for you. Take a look at the links in the Dig Deeper section below for more info.

The decision basically boils down to this: Is the extra $50 - $100 that Apple charges for a comparable product worth avoiding a couple hours of frustration? Setting up an AirPort will entail some frustration, but not nearly as much as another brand.

And if you want one of the features listed above, then the Apple integration and ease of use will really shine. There shouldn't be any frustration at all with the bells and whistles that come with the Apple products.

But if what you want is strictly to get on the internet using wi-fi, you can save a decent chunk of change by investing a bit of time in setting up another brand of base station. In that case, I'd see what Best Buy or Staples has as a special that day and buy it. The big box guys always have a sale going on one brand or another.

Final Note: as with all non-Apple products, make sure to check the box to verify it will work with Macs before buying. When in doubt, double check their website. Especially support forums for unhappy Mac users.


Do you have any experience to share about using Apple wi-fi products or a competitors? Tell us about it in the Comments section below!

DIG DEEPER

AirPort Express

AirPort Extreme

Time Capsule

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