Digital Trends

Apple AirPort Extreme

February 4th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Design and Features

The AirPort Extreme looks very similar to the upcoming AppleTV. It's the same width and length as the Mac Mini desktop computer (6.5"x6.5"), though the AirPort Extreme it is only 1.25" thick. Surprisingly, the AirPort Extreme weighs a whopping 1.6 pounds without the power brick! Comparatively, the average Belkin router weighs about .6 pounds.

The physical design is more sleek and minimalist than the previous, UFO-inspired AirPort Extreme. The shape is more professional looking; slightly utilitarian and unassuming, but very chic. It is bright white, sports an extremely low-contrast Apple logo on the top and looks nothing like a typical wireless router.

The single status light on the front tells all the possible tales - green for "all ok", flashing amber for "oh oh" and then the flashing green & amber for serious problems.

The back side of the AirPort Extreme is laid out very clearly. The WAN port is clearly marked with a different icon than the three LAN ports. Having only three LAN ports is a bit limiting, but one can always employ a hub or switch to expand outbound connections. The AirPort Extreme has a security slot for Targus-like locks. I'd absolutely expect a $179 router to have a security lock, if not an electrified proximity alarm. (To be fair, other 802.11n routers retail between $99 and $199, so $179 isn't unwarranted.)

The Back of the AirPort Extreme Stacked on a LaCie Hard Drive

The newest, hottest feature on the back side of the AirPort Extreme is the USB 2.0 port. According to Apple, this USB 2.0 port can be used to hook up printers and USB 2.0 drives to your wireless network. It has already been discovered that using a USB 2.0 hub will allow you to use more than one device - several hard drives, several printers, or a combination of both. Performance stats will follow later on in this review.

Apple AirPort Extreme Stacked on a LaCie FireWire Hard Drive

Finally, the last remaining port on the back of the AirPort Extreme is the power port. The AirPort Extreme is powered via a power brick that's approximately 25% the size of the base station itself. It's somewhat surprising that Apple didn't figure out a way to avoid having to use a power brick for a low-consumption device like this. But as far as power bricks are concerned, this one is quite nice looking and relatively unobtrusive. I also noticed that the power brick doesn't heat up as much as I expected it would.