Re: Is it any good yet?
 

My imac is set to turn itself on and off during the day. So comes on at 3pm before i get home from work and does some backups and then turns itself off at 11pm as im usually in bed by then.

You dont have an airport extreme in your imac, you have an airport card.

An airport extreme is a wireless router
an airport card is a wireless card

I have my imac, an airport extreme and a superhub but the only reason I have the airport extreme is because the wireless is much stronger and I have a USB hard drive and USB printer attached to it so i can print wirelessly

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

Thanks for info Ben, much appreciated.

i like the idea of turn iMac on and off by itself, how do i do that? Are airport extremes expensive?

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

A brand new one will set you back £139 which to me (based on what it can do and the quality I expect from Apple), seems good value.

Alternatively you could go for a refurbished one (again direct from Apple), where a 2009 model will cost £99 or you can get a June 2011 model for £119, although that is a bit too close to the new price for me, I would just pay the extra £20!

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

Thanks for info,

I currently have a dlink dir 615 and the range is awful, would the AE be much difference?

My router is upstairs in front bedroom and i would like to increase range to back garden if possible. Would i need to buy anouter router and place this is backroom/kitchen to increase back garden coverage?

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

I think the Airport Extreme is a really good unit and I would be surprised if it didn't improve your coverage, but there are so many variables no one can guarantee it.

In all of the reviews I have read people say it has improved their coverage dramatically. If you want to extend it even further, just buy an Airport Express.

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

Thanks, do you mean buy and extreme and a use a express downstairs to improve it further? or just use a extreme on its own?

Also do you know if this is easy to set up with virgin media superhub?

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

you get what you pay for I expect.

That airport extreme I have only ever heard good things about it.

For my lan I use a billion 7402nx router (adsl) as a switch and wireless point, gigabit lan + N wireless which has 5 bars everywhere in my flat costs approx £150-170 or so new. The dir615 is also decent for wireless but not quite as good as my billion and only has 100mbit lan ports. Its router functions beat the billion tho (dd-wrt firmware).

Re: Is it any good yet?
 

Ah unfortunately the "devil's-in-the-detail"! ;)
A very misleading,ambiguous and in some cases totally incorrect generalisation as Apple has been including Airport Extreme in (most) Core2Duo Intel models since 2006.

In context then it depends on the iMac hardware version: eg > AE models
Rough "rule-of-thumb" iMac Intel 2006 onwards (generally) Airport Extreme compatable.
AirPort and AirPort Extreme cards are not physically compatible: AirPort Extreme cards cannot be installed in older Macs, and AirPort cards cannot be installed in newer Macs. The original AirPort card was discontinued in June 2004.

Perhaps someone just forgot to remind Apple not to include an Airport Express card in my original 2005 Macbook, as opposed to my USB printer attached to my Airport Express base station,bridged to my Airport Extreme Time Capsule serving both my MAcbook Pro via it's inbuilt Airport Extreme and wifes iMac with it's ….Airport Extreme card?