News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 20, 2007

geekery

Comparing the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Extremer

Posted Aug. 20, ’07, 8:43 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Geekery

AirPort ExtremesOne might consider this just another example of how Apple’s penchant for secrecy affects its loyal fans. With the stealthy non-announcement a couple weeks ago of the new Gigabit-enabled AirPort Extreme base stations, the prestidigitators over at ComputerWiz got to wondering just how much of a difference there was between those old 10/100 models and the hotness of the new Gigabit version. The results may surprise you…

…or not. As it turns out, the difference between the two units is the Broadcom chipset. The 10/100 model uses the BCM5325, which supports 10/100 speeds; the Gigabit model uses the BCM5395, which supports 10/100/1000 speeds. Or, in layman’s terms, “duh.” So, owners of the original base station have no hope of speeding up their networks with a simple firmware patch.

Just goes to show you: sometimes you’ve just trust what’s on the box. Looks like these guys dissected a pair of perfectly good base stations for nothing. Bummer.

[via Engadget]


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