[Tenex]

Just looked at the new AE and noticed that the rear ports are described as 10/100. As my iMac supports gigabit connections why doesn't the AE, or am I missing something?

[Peter]

gigabit isn't really needed in consumer markets.

[Peter]

oh and its really expensive too.

[Tenex]

But the non-24" iMacs are considered consumer machines aren't they?

[ghporter]

The iMac is a consumer/business product. The MacBook Pro has a gigabit ethernet card too, but it's also considered a business product.

And please note that the Peripherals forum is not the place for networking-related questions; we have a whole forum for networking issues, called (gasp!) Networking! I'll move this there.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Peter 

gigabit isn't really needed in consumer markets.

Nonsense. With all the media people are slinging around their houses these days, they don't want the 10MBps bottleneck.

Originally Posted by Peter 

oh and its really expensive too.

With everyone and their mother making the chipsets these days, it's dirt cheap. Sure, it was expensive in 1998, but in 2007 it's about the same price as 10/100.

[ghporter]

Gigabit routers are still quite a bit more expensive than 10/100BaseT routers. And they tend to still aim at more business level customers so it's hard to find a five port gigabit router, though 16 and more port gigabit routers are much easier to find. So yes, the hardware itself is getting cheaper to make, but the consumer-level products aren't out there in sufficient numbers and variety to properly compete with the entrenched 10/100 products, at least in my experience.

[Tenex]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

And please note that the Peripherals forum is not the place for networking-related questions; we have a whole forum for networking issues, called (gasp!) Networking! I'll move this there.

I posted here as it was a question about Apple hardware rather than the standard itself. Sarcasm from a Moderator always helps to set the tone.

[kamina]

Even though gigabit network cards are common these day's, gigabit switches still cost alot. I would have to guess that this has to do with either the switching material used (the backpane), or the higher processing requirements to manage several high stream flows. You have to remember that from a manufacturers point of view you have to take into consideration that all the ports would have a gigabit connection at the same time, not just one of them (the backpane should be faster then a gigabyte).

I'm really annoyed by this too though, but it seems that decent gigabyte switches cost atleast 8 times as much as decent 100mbit switches, I guess there has to be some reason?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Tenex 

I posted here as it was a question about Apple hardware rather than the standard itself. Sarcasm from a Moderator always helps to set the tone.

Note that the description for the Peripherals forum specifically states that networking issues go in the Networking forum. And it wasn't intended as sarcasm, but rather as humor. Sorry I touched a nerve.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by kamina 

I'm really annoyed by this too though, but it seems that decent gigabyte switches cost atleast 8 times as much as decent 100mbit switches, I guess there has to be some reason?

The reason is perceived sales volume. The manufacturers have yet to figure that we, their customers, want the fastest stuff around, and are quite willing to pay a little more for it. So they put out a few products (both in variety and in actually shipped quantities) and see if we bite. A few of us do at these prices and that's going to keep these products on the shelves. But if they want to sell a lot of their products, the manufacturers need to start seeing that old Economics 101 rule about volume versus price and drop their prices to get us really hooked.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Peter 

oh and its really expensive too.

I don't think $72 is that much especially since the AE only has 3 ports and costs over $150.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&CatId=596

[pilotdude]

With the price point of the Airport "Extreme" it should have gigabit. Most of the major networking brands have already announced or are shipping Draft N/Gigabit routers at this same price point and while I would have paid a premium to have the Apple interface with Gigabit, it just does not make sense to spend this kind of money for what you get in this edition IMHO.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Gigabit routers are still quite a bit more expensive than 10/100BaseT routers. And they tend to still aim at more business level customers so it's hard to find a five port gigabit router, though 16 and more port gigabit routers are much easier to find. So yes, the hardware itself is getting cheaper to make, but the consumer-level products aren't out there in sufficient numbers and variety to properly compete with the entrenched 10/100 products, at least in my experience.

O RLY? NO WAI!
Newegg has two gigglebit routers with 4 ports, both in the same price range as APExtreme (and by that I mean "nearly $100 cheaper" because they don't have wireless). They also have no fewer than 26 5-8 port gigglebit switches, starting at $23.

The hardware isn't that hard to find, nor expensive.

[ghporter]

I see that my grasp of "current" models is lacking... School does that to you-if you take it seriously anyway. I bow to your greater currency, Mark.

When I last looked FOR gigabit stuff (at a CompUSA, so what I saw was admittedly not "typical" selection or prices) there were all of two models at the consumer level on the shelf; a 5-port Linksys switch (definitely aimed at "small offices", not home users) and a 4-port Netgear switch (which had a significantly higher price, in the neighborhood of $150 IIRC). While CompUSA has its favorite brands, it usually has a good selection of the KIND of stuff that's available, so I was basing my opinion on a fairly broad assumption-my bad. This was also about 6 months ago now that I think of it, an eternity in consumer electronics time.

[mduell]

It would have been funnier with the actual owls. *sigh*

I'm not surprised Newegg has a better selection than your local big box. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people would assume that if CrapUSA/Worst Buy/etc don't have it, it doesn't exist for a reasonable price.

Also, they are oriented toward biz users, with features like VPN support.