Hello there.
Comparing the new Airport base station specifications (
http://www.apple.com/airport/specs.html ) with those found using the
Internet Archive's snapshot from November 13, the last day Apple's old
Airport was advertised on their site (
http://web.archive.org/web/20011113020617/http://www.apple.com/airport/specs.html
), we can determine what differences exist.
Both models support up to 11Mbit data rate, with a range of 150 feet
on the 2.4Ghz band.
The old Airport says it supports IEEE 802.11HR DSSS 11 and 5.5Mbit
draft standard, as well as the IEEE 802.11 DSSS 1 and 2 Mbit standard,
while the new airport, released after the standard was completed,
merely claims support for "Industry-standard IEEE 802.11b"
The new airport includes 2 RJ-45 jacks, one for a LAN (100Mbit) and
one for a WAN (10Mbit), whereas the old airport includes only 1 10Mbit
ethernet connector.
The old Airport is 195g (.4lb) heavier than the new Airport.
The old airport is "recommended for up to 10 users" whereas the new
Airport "supports up to 50 users per base station"
The old Airport wants Mac OS 8.6 or later, whereas the new Airport
requires 9.0.4 or later, or OSX 10.1 or later.
The new Airport supports 128-bit WEP (wired encryption protocol), in
addition to the older 40-bit version.
You would have to answer the question of whether it is worth it for
you. It would depend on whether being almost 1/3 lighter is worth
anything, whether you need the new features, whether the improved
security is important, and whether you have a new enough MacOS to take
advantage of the new base station at all. If I were buying one, I
would buy the cheaper, old model (or buy two for twice the coverage at
the same cost), and implement security on the services I offer, rather
than on the connection. |
