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Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 9:43 am
by mikehalloran
https://www.thestreet.com/story/1390154 ... iness.html

External Apple Displays have been gone for awhile and they are not coming back. Since just about anything current can be made to work and is less expensive, not considered a great loss.

The AirPort engineering department was dissolved in 2013. My son-in-law was part of it so I've known this for a long time. There have been rumors for about 4 months that Apple was going to stop making the product and now, it appears that production has ceased.

The bummer is that the Airport Time Capsule works so well and is so easy to set up compared to everything else out there.

I have been upgrading the drives to higher capacity in the towers as AppleCare expires. The connectors are too small for me to do it one-handed so I have someone who does it for me. The pancake version is very easy for me to do myself.

The big differences between the two versions are that the towers have vertical antennae and support the 802.11ac wireless that is faster than gigabyte ethernet. The pancake only supports up to 802.11n.

My first thought is to pick up another 3T from the Refurb Store but that's really too small for my network anymore. I'll likely buy another used when the time comes and upgrade from there.

Here's what's left in the Refurb store:
http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/s ... ccessories

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 12:53 pm
by stubbsonic
I have a wireless modem that won't work with my iPad unless I use an Airport. We connect our Airport to an FM transmitter to send audio out to any radio in the house.

The Airport Express seems to have a limited life-span, as well, I've had to replace a few just from them stopping working. My current one is going strong, but I don't know for how long.

Is there another manufacturer and product that will do what the Airport does? Otherwise, no more wi-fi for my iPad.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 1:27 pm
by mikehalloran
The Airport Express has a unique feature and that is Air Play. Nothing else does that. Otherwise, it's the older, slower 802.11n wi-fi.
http://www.apple.com/airport-express/

The tower versions of the Air Port and Time Capsule support 802.11ac which is blazingly fast by comparison. If your iPad supports 802.11ac (Air II, Mini II & later, Pro), then you can take advantage of that.

Earlier iPads, like the flat Airport, Express and Time Capsule only support up to 802.11n.

There are a number of wireless routers that support 802.11ac, nowadays. I don't know that any are available from the cable company. Here's a list. Apple is competitive on price, more so through the Refurb Store. All others require logging in through a browser.
https://www.cnet.com/topics/networking/ ... /802-11ac/

Some have USB 2 and or 3 ports. I would think that you could use it for Time Machine. Although I like the idea, setting that up should be loads of fun. If anyone has a tutorial on setting any of these up for Mac users, I have not found it.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 2:02 pm
by Michael Canavan
Hopefully it's because newer versions of Apple TV will cover WiFi as well.
That would make a lot of sense to me.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 2:45 pm
by HCMarkus
stubbsonic wrote:I have a wireless modem that won't work with my iPad unless I use an Airport. We connect our Airport to an FM transmitter to send audio out to any radio in the house.

The Airport Express seems to have a limited life-span, as well, I've had to replace a few just from them stopping working. My current one is going strong, but I don't know for how long.

Is there another manufacturer and product that will do what the Airport does? Otherwise, no more wi-fi for my iPad.
An Apple TV will do the job; it will connect to a Wi Fi Router, too. I use the recently discontinued version (with the optical out) to feed audio to my outdoor stereo. Last sold for $69 believe... and I found this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-tv-ge ... :212,loc:2

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 3:04 pm
by mikehalloran
Michael Canavan wrote:Hopefully it's because newer versions of Apple TV will cover WiFi as well.
That would make a lot of sense to me.
As a gateway for home wi-fi, not yet.

For streaming over wi-fi, yes, and the latest version supports 802.11ac.
http://www.apple.com/apple-tv/specs/

I didn't buy one last year because it was limited to 802.11n. Perhaps it's time to reconsider.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 7:04 pm
by bayswater
It does make some sense. Not so long ago, ISPs and router makers regarded Macs as an annoying detail in their plans and product lines.

Presumably, they can't get away with that any more, and there is no good reason for Apple to stay involved to fill the gap.

It's like what Apple did with monitors, printers, hard disk drives, ... they once made them, but there came a point where they no longer had to when reasonable quality was available elsewhere.

On the topic of Apple dumping stuff, where did the on line store go? There's no store link on the main Apple page, and no integrated store anywhere, just links to pages where specific things are for sale. I guess you have to wade through the promo material before they'll let you try to buy something.

There's a new store app, but only for iOS. So now you need an iPhone to buy a Mac? Once we needed a Mac to get our iPods to work. Maybe a few years from now, we'll need a watch to turn our Macs on.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 7:29 pm
by cuttime
This is a bit of an annoying development. After having gone through several high-end router phases (Asus, D-Link, Buffalo, Netgear), I found the Airport Extreme was the one and only solution to my problems. I don't have an Apple-only network, either. I have several Rokus and a couple of PCs on my net. The Airport Extreme was the only router that didn't require that my Rokus log in every time they were used. Also, I'm in a crowded WiFi environment, and the Airport gave me the best range, and the most consistent performance that I've ever had. :cry:

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 8:11 pm
by mikehalloran
bayswater wrote:...On the topic of Apple dumping stuff, where did the on line store go? There's no store link on the main Apple page...
Scroll all the way down on most pages. It's a long way down till you find it. I like that the Refurb and Education stores are in the list.

Otherwise, click on the Buy button at the top of any product page. For these, you click on Accessories then Made by Apple, then scroll through pages... yikes!

The only issue I ever had buying a "Refurb" Time Capsule was that the previous owner's info wasn't wiped. Depressing the Reset button for a minute fixed that. I was also able to see why it had been returned—the guy hadn't a clue and there's no way it could have worked. I've no problem saving $120 for that.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:11 am
by Gravity Jim
What I read was some engineers were moved from one department to another, and the writer extrapolated that to mean that Apple might be possibly eyeing WiFi for discontinuation.

In other words, it was pure speculation. Apple hasn't said anything like this, AFAIK.

Re: Apple dropping AirPort, Time Capsule, no more Displays

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:31 am
by mikehalloran
Gravity Jim wrote:What I read was some engineers were moved from one department to another, and the writer extrapolated that to mean that Apple might be possibly eyeing WiFi for discontinuation.

In other words, it was pure speculation. Apple hasn't said anything like this, AFAIK.
Rumors have been out there for months. All the news outlets reported this 6 days ago--do a Google search. Where is Apple's denial? No, this is real.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... s-division

I can confirm that the wireless division my son-in-law worked for no longer exists and that everyone in it has been reassigned, not "some engineers". I also know from a different source that no more Time Capsules are being made. No one asked me to keep any of this a secret. I don't post such things till they become public, however. Could I be wrong? Yes but it's not likely.

There was no official press release regarding dropping of Apple branded displays, afaik. It just happened last February and the new LG displays confirm what everybody already knows.