Reprinted from TidBITS#919/17-Mar-08 with permission.
Copyright (C) 2008, TidBITS. All rights reserved.
http://www.tidbits.com/

Apple Releases 802.11n AirPort Express
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  by Glenn Fleishman <glenn@tidbits.com>
  article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9506>

  The venerable AirPort Express now sports 802.11n, the fastest flavor
  of Wi-Fi, while weighing in at a light-on-the-pockets $99 in the
  United States. Apple released its revised compact base station
  today. The AirPort Express can also stream music from iTunes over a
  network through a built-in combo analog and digital optical audio
  port using AirTunes, a protocol that Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil extends
  to allow any streaming audio output from a Mac or Windows system
  (see "Airfoil Plays Home Audio Wirelessly," 2008-03-10).

<http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-03/airportexpress2.jpg>
<http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9492>

  The AirPort Express was introduced in 2004 as a cheaper alternative
  - at $129 - to the then-pricey AirPort Extreme Base Station
  (introduced the previous year at $299), while adding the audio
  streaming option. When the 802.11n AirPort Extreme was released in
  February 2007 at the current $179, the AirPort Express remained in
  the catalog with no changes, except a drop in price to $99.

  The 802.11n draft standard, currently certified by industry trade
  group The Wi-Fi Alliance, has reached enough equilibrium that you
  should be able to mix and match so-called "Draft N" devices with the
  certified label from different manufacturers. Increased range is a
  key advantage of 802.11n: multiple internal antennas can extend the
  distance by which you can get a useful signal by a factor of two to
  four (Apple is claiming just "up to...twice the range").

  The AirPort Express is among the cheapest devices to handle both the
  2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands. The 5 GHz band is notably useful
  because of the relatively low usage by consumers; the 2.4 GHz band
  is in heavy use by Wi-Fi networks, shares its space with other
  purposes, and has less spectrum allotted to it than the 5 GHz band.

  The new version of the AirPort Express still has the same
  limitations as the old: the built-in USB port handles just a single
  printer that you can share over a network. This 802.11n model can't
  share hard drives or multiple printers; for that, you still need the
  $179 AirPort Extreme or a $299 (500 GB) or $499 (1 TB) Time Capsule.
  Apple promises that up to 10 users can access the base station at
  the same time; 50 can ostensibly simultaneously use an AirPort
  Extreme or Time Capsule.

  The AirPort Express also includes just 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, which
  will shave off the top possible speeds available with 802.11n. In my
  testing of the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule with gigabit
  Ethernet, I found that using 100 Mbps Ethernet could shave as much
  as 50 percent off the the top rate and impose other internal speed
  limitations among Ethernet and Wi-Fi devices.



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