Apple is not just a manufacturer of Macintoshes, but of various iOS devices, they try to provide everything you as a user might need with their products. The company currently offers Apple Inc. two solutions for operating a Wi-Fi network. The first is Airport Extreme, which offers many possibilities of use, but also requires a proper payment, this router is sold for a price of around 5000 CZK. The second, cheaper, smaller and lighter solution is Apple Airport Express, which for 2160 CZK offers everything you need to operate a regular Wi-Fi network in your home.
Package contents
This time, the product is hidden in a white cardboard box that opens like a CD and consists of two parts. This is mainly due to the fact that Apple must add a large number of documents to the Wi-Fi device that confirm international compliance, in addition to adding a one-year international warranty. Last but not least, this half of the package contains a CD, which you will use especially for Windows, because it offers the Bonjour application, thanks to which you can print from Windows on a printer connected via AirExpress port. The second half of the package contains the AirExpress port and the included adapter for European sockets. Look for nothing else in the package, even this time Apple Inc. he didn't even include stickers with bitten apples.
Design
As with every product from AppleNor AirA port cannot be ordinary in design, it must be exceptional. AirThe Express port is designed to be plugged directly into a socket, which doesn't look as great on a European standard socket as it does in the US. If you use a European adapter, it doesn't fit. Airport to the wall, but it is about 3 centimeters from the wall, if you have a built-in socket, then it is about a centimeter. Unfortunately here Apple really counting on the American market, where it looks AirThe Express port is truly luxurious, which we can't achieve even with the best socket. The design resembles a Magsafe power adapter MacBooks, but a little bigger. On the bottom there are three ports, Ethernet, USB and Analog/Optical 3,5 mm audio jack. However, you will encounter a small problem again. Most people run their internet cables as low as possible and the sockets are located, for example in a panel house, where most of the population lives in our country, 5 centimeters above the floor. So if you plug in Airport as it is logical, i.e. with the body down into the bottom socket, you don't have toancand get cables into it. Of course, if you are building a new house, you can count on these gadgets in advance and adapt everything as much as possible, so that the problem does not arise. The only indicator light that you will find on the router is an LED diode, which lights up green if everything is fine, or flashes orange when something is wrong.
Performance
Thanks to the IEEE 802.11n specification, it is AirThe Express port is equipped with two antennas, which use the so-called MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Out) technology, thanks to which the network can transmit multiple data streams simultaneously. This results in up to 5x faster data transfer speeds than conventional routers and allows you to achieve up to 2x greater signal coverage distance. Apple AirThe Express port supports 2,4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi frequencies, which significantly reduces the possibility of interference from external sources, which mostly operate at 2,4GHz. On one AirUp to 10 people can be connected to the Express port at the same time, they can exchange files, play games, surf the Internet, or share music wirelessly, or print. It is always very fleeting to say how far a router has reach, given that you never have the same number of obstacles as the person who tested it, on the other hand, in ideal tests you will never achieve that there is nothing between you and the router. I can say with a clear conscience that Apple AirPort Express will cover two three-room apartments above each other in a panel house.
AirUtility port
This Mac OS X application will remain hidden from regular routers, they will only use it AirExpress port and Airport Extreme, you can then fully configure them through this utility. You can configure everything, turn it on, off and set it up. The great thing is that most routers are controlled via a web interface, which is not entirely ideal, instead, you Apple again, by using another of its products, it will add further improvements to how to use it. The setup is quite simple and it guides you through everything at the beginning during the first configuration, so you can do everything in a few seconds.
Safety
Apple AirThe Expressport offers a built-in Firewall, which protects your PC or Mac from attacks from the Internet. Of course, you can argue that as Mac owners you don't need this, but it's always better to have something between you and the Internet than to be directly connected. The Firewall is automatically enabled and you don't have to configure anything or set it up, just plug it into the power outlet. Airport and you are protected by the firewall that is at Apple really good quality. Of course, there is filtering of network accesses using a password. The router also offers WPA/WPA2 and WEP 128-bit security. If you want to be really sure that no one can get into your network, just turn on Mac address filtering, which of course AirPort Express also offers.
Function
It wouldn't be Apple, if it didn't offer something with its router that you usually can't find elsewhere. First we'll look at USB, unfortunately it has only one function and can't be hacked so that it can be used, for example, to connect a USB disk or Flash drive. USB only works for wireless printing and you can only connect any printer with a USB output to it. You don't have to set up anything at all, just connect the printer to Airpor Express and choose to print on your PC or Mac. The printer behaves exactly the same as if it were connected directly to your Mac/PC. If you wanted to print from a computer that was not connected to a printer, you had to send files in a complicated way or transfer them on a USB Flash drive. Now, all you have to do is select the print button for a document on your netbook that is connected to Wi-Fi, and the desired document will automatically come out of the printer in the other room, without waiting. If it happens that multiple users are printing at the same time, AirThe Express port automatically queues documents one by one and prints them. Of course, wireless printing must be enabled in the settings. With the advent of iOS 4.2 na iPhone/iPod touch and iPad, it's no problem to print from these with a single touch on your screen iOS equipment everything you require.
AirPlay is a feature that allows you to stream online to Apple AirExpress port music from various sources. AirExpress port can be connected via 3,5mm jackfor any speakers or headphones, in addition to the ones we reviewed 
Audioengine A2 speakers, they can power themselves directly AirportExpress! Using iTunes on your PC/Mac or iPhone/iPod touch and iPad with iOS 4.2 so you can choose the output for the sound, either playing music or movie sound directly from the device on which it is iOS or iTunes, or choose as audio exit AirExpress port with a speaker or headphones plugged in. Unfortunately, I feel like most people have their router in the same room as their computer, in which case the audio streaming feature is pointless, given that you have Airport meter from the computer from which you want to stream audio. Overall, the service is much more like a marketing slogan than a really usable feature. The only advantage I really see is the ability to connect to AirExpress port really good quality speakers that you have, for example, in the living room where you don't want to play sound from an iPad or iPhone, otherwise you can always use the built-in speakers on your devices. Plus, honestly, if you're not satisfied with playback via iPhone or MacBook, you want to play on really high-quality speakers and you are a little audiofil, it is pointless to degrade the sound from such speakers by playing music over Wi-Fi. In that case, you usually have very high-quality cables that will not replace any sound transmission.
Summary
This is a quality router that can cover your apartment or house with a quality Wi-Fi signal in two frequencies, namely 2,4GHz and 5GHz, despite the great promotion of its features. Airprint a Airplay saw the biggest advantage, thanks to which you do not have problems with interference, nor with the ability to connect different devices. Features Airprint will certainly be welcome if your printer does not have a Wi-Fi module, which the vast majority of printers do not yet have. On the contrary AirI wouldn't consider play to be such a great gadget, thanks to the already mentioned small usage. It's a great option to have an overview of AirExpress port directly through Mac OS X via Airport Utility application that you can't use with any other router! Firewall is a great thing whether you have a Mac or a PC, it's always good to have a router between your machine and the internet that can act as a Firewall, which Apple Airport Express can. It's a shame that despite all the hard work to hack AirUSB port to allow you to connect a disk, nothing like that has been done, nor have our foreign colleagues managed to do it. Of course, it is not Apple AirThe Express port is nothing you would necessarily need, it is more of a style item and if you already have devices from Apple for tens or hundreds of thousands, why not have from Apple také AirExpress port.
And transfer speeds?
AirPlay doesn't seem like marketing to me, I have it in two rooms at home. AirPortExpress is just for streaming music from the office.
B&W DM 602 for home cinema, but also for a small sound system from Yamaha in the bedroom, it's fine.)
Good tip, but of course I prefer home theater optics.) PS a softer tone would suit you better...
1) supr detailed review of the device
2) I also see the usability AirPlay, I have speakers on the other side of the room and a 7m cable is not much, plus there is a problem if I want to sit in bed and listen, for examplechat music further (now I'm not talking about sound quality, but about practicality, I'm no audiofil)
Great article :)) I can also see the use in AirPlay. Personally, I'll have it sorted out at home so that I have it in every room AirPortExpress. And in the living room AppleTV with home theater via optics. On AirPlay is good so I can listenchat music to the earschatek on my iPhone and I come home and with one click music starts playing at home. Or I watch a movie and with one click I finish watching it on the big TV. I also like quality music and if I want to play something in excellent quality I just connect to my landline :)))
Air I use the play for playback in my home theater, I have it at the other end of the living room. The iTunesDJ feature is a nice feature and on iPhone Remote and voting. When you're hosting a party, you can surprise with this.
Question: can this device work simultaneously on 2,4Ghz and 5Ghz? Or is it always just one of them? Thank you for the quick reply.
Surely he works part time? so far I have not been able to set it up so that either 5 or 2,4 GHz can be selected
It definitely doesn't work smoothly. airport express has only one radio and can work on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz.
Dual radio is AirExtreme/Timecapsule port. I.e. it can be represented as 2 grids, one for 2.4 and the other for 5.
A bit offtopic, but it's relevant Airport extreme... I bought this router and when connected via wifi, the router "buzzes", but only when the wifi is active, i.e. when data is being transferred... Does anyone notice this problem as well? It's more audible when you're far from the router, but when I have it on my desk, I can hear the buzzing, e.g. when my sister downloads some files via wifi
Thanks Roman, and do you happen to know if the advertised piece also makes "noises"? because I was looking for that problem on macrumors fore and discussions.apple.com and people who observe it wrote there that the advertised piece does the same for them, that this is a "property" of the new dualbands AirPortov... otherwise it works fine, it just annoys people when my old d-link is completely silent and 5 times as expensive AirThe port makes sounds like an old dial-up modem...
Maybe a stupid question, it will work for me Windows?
What is meant by "degrade music over wifi, every decent person"? audio"fil has a cable". After all, I can send zeros and ones from the MBP via wifi to AirPort and from it I go optically to the receiver, which I will use as a preamp, from it to the amplifiers and I will also feed the BW snails.
I guess it's about the devaluation
from iTunes stream (or AirPlay) great, but how about the last player? i can AirPlay even VLC? QuickTime or FlashPlayer from Safari? I am the new owner AirPort Express and so, I didn't expect it to be so "cursed"... search on various forums beta plugins etc. :( Does anyone use something verified? Thanks.
Ad signal degradation – the streamed signal is certainly lossy compressed. I.e. it's like you're playing in your office AudioCD and MP3 with a bitrate of 128kbit was playing from the receiver in the living room.
But I don't know what kind of compression there is - I doubt it's uncompressed.
It also goes to windows 7?
Is it possible to print from a connected USB printer without the computer being turned on? I just connect it to Airport printer and can I print from the iPad right away?
Please advise. I am using the above AirExpress port, everything works as it should. But to share the internet on another device I have to turn on my Mac, re-enable "Internet Sharing", then only the wifi network will let me access the internet from another device. Is it a setting? Did I miss something? It's quite impractical. Thanks in advance. Marek
I set up a new wifi network via my mac, according to the instructions. I connect to it, but the data doesn't flow. The only way I got it to work is via Internet Sharing. But the provider doesn't allow me to connect other computers to the network, can't it be that? I don't know how else Airset the port.
2 Mark: already AirI don't use portExpress and I don't know exactly how it's set up, but the problem you describe could be in DHCP. Your provider must allow you to have the IP address of your AirExpress port, not your computer's. Then you must have it selected in the settings Airport Express mode DHCP and NAT. From what you describe it behaves as if you had selected Bridge mode. This means that every device connected to your AirThe Express port is bridged and it logs into the network under its own IP. Your provider would then have to allow an IP for each device you want to connect to the internet – which is crap. All you have to do is give a visitor the password to your WiFi, but they won't be allowed to use the internet because of the unauthorized IP. I don't know if I'm explaining it clearly enough, I'm not an IT expert and I don't know the exact technical slang. ;-)
Thanks for the advice, I'll keep trying. Sometimes a more general description (not IT) is better, at least I know what to try for.
I want to send all the sounds from the iPad (4th gen) to my 7.1 speakers. wirelessly. Can this router send the sound of everything, i.e. YouTube videos, stream, movie from Oplayer, etc.? Everywhere it says only itunes, but I don't need an mp3 tablet, I'm mainly interested in videos in the browser (I use icab). Thanks