14 DAY TRIAL // With all the new products both software and hardware being unveiled at Apple's media event, it was very easy to miss a silent update. Apple has a habit of sometimes improving a product without actually being a new model and offering it for the same price as previously. Since nothing is announced, it can take some time for these products to be spotted, especially when there are many other new products to look at.
Such is the case of the Airport Extreme Base Station, which has received a silent update. It is not exactly clear when Apple updated the critically-acclaimed wireless network hub, but it is likely that it happened while the online store was down before the event. The new Airport Extreme Base Station now features Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for connecting a DSL or cable modem and three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for connecting computers or network devices. The solution is otherwise identical to the previously-available version of the 802.11n base station, offering a USB port for printer and hard drive sharing and ships with the AirPort Utility for easy set-up of the system. The Airport Extreme Base Station that was silently replaced started shipping in February 2007 and featured one 10/100Base-T WAN port and three 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN ports.
While the hardware may have received a bump, the price of the device has remained unchanged, at $179. Though the update was by no means spectacular, those who were planning to buy an Airport Extreme Base Station in the near future were pleasantly surprised by the upgrade. Similarly, those who bought the previous version are obviously upset as there was no announcement and they are stuck with the older hardware. Although for the vast majority of users, the improvements brought by this silent updates would have gone unused.