New AirPort Extreme Base station announced: Shared disk access, 802.11n, enabler for 802.11n hardware in some Macs

Apple has announced a new edition of its AirPort Extreme Base station that takes some styling cues from the Apple TV and includes 802.11n networking. The unit will ship in February for US$179.

Among the salient new features:

• Connectivity for up to 50 Macs or PCs
• AirPort Disk turns almost any external USB hard drive into a shared drive.
• Access control feature -- lets you set which users can access network and during what time periods
• Built-in firewall
• 802.11a/b/g, draft 802.11n2 support
• Three RJ-45 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN ports for connecting computers or network devices

UPDATE: The AirPort Extreme also includes 802.11n Enabler for Core 2 Duo and Xeon-based Macintosh computers (except 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac). This will, of course, enable the built-in 802.11n-capable hardware on these Macs.

For further information, see http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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