<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Oct 18, 2005, at 2:20 PM, Gurukarm Khalsa wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I have a user who needs to replace an older Airport base station at home, and I'm a bit confused about which of two stations as shown on the Apple MIT B2E store website is her correct solution.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Of course I need to save money for our department (this is for a departmental laptop she uses when working from home), so the Airport Express Base Station with AirTunes for $119.00 is more attractive than the AirPort Extreme Base Station (with modem and antenna port) for $179.00.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">But, do the two items do essentially the same tasks? Would she be able to connect her laptop wirelessly with the Airtunes version?</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Thanks!</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Gurukarm</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV><DIV>The short answer is yes.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The slight disadvantage with the AirPort Express is that it has one ethernet port for connecting to a DSL or cable connection. This is only an issue if a user has an ethernet network at home they wish to add wireless to, where they would need a second ethernet port to connect the AirPort Express to the local area network.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>An inexpensive hub solves this problem. Of course, if there's no existing ethernet network to worry about, than this isn't an issue.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Using AirTunes music streaming is totally optional.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV> -- Al</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lucida Grande; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lucida Grande; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Lucida Grande" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">______________________________</FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Lucida Grande" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Albert Willis</FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Lucida Grande" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Macintosh Platform Coordinator - Software Release Team</FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Lucida Grande" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Information Services and Technology</FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Lucida Grande" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</FONT></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Lucida Grande" size="3" style="font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><A href="mailto:awillis@mit.edu">awillis@mit.edu</A></FONT></P><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>