Best Wireless Router 2013 For Mac

Boot from usb drive mac. Netgear has implemented a quality of service prioritization feature, allowing for administrators of the router to allow clients to minimize gaming lag, or to prevent streaming interruptions.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. If you grew up in the early- to mid- 2000's, chances are when you think of a wireless router, you think of the WRT54g. You probably don't know it by name, but if I said 'the blue Linksys with two antennas' you'd say 'oh yeah, that one.' For a long time, that may as well have been the only wireless router on the market, but that's not the case anymore. The market is flooded with different makes and models of router, but there's one I've used that stands above the rest: Apple's Airport Extreme. Apple was the first company to ship a WiFi router, called the Airport Base Station in 1999, and they've steadily incremented on that product's design and capabilities since then.

I've been using the latest model of Airport Extreme for a couple of years now, and it's by far the best router I've tried, and for good reason. When it was originally released in 2013, the Airport Extreme was one of the earlier routers to support the Wireless AC standard, and while there weren't a lot of devices that could take advantage of those speeds at the time, there are now. I love tech products that include significant amounts of future proofing, while still being backwards compatible with any other devices I own. The Airport Express also transmits it's wireless signal over both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies, reducing the amount of interference from other devices. Interference reduction is important since this router can support up to 50 wirelessly connected devices simultaneously, and three wired connections, thanks to its three Ethernet ports. Specifications are important to know, but they're not the reason why I've bought this router for myself and family members, or why I'm recommending it now. This router gets my seal of approval because of its performance.

In a small NYC apartment, my wireless speeds are comparable to a wired connection, often maxing out my current cable subscription's bandwidth. In my mom's house, the connection is still solid both inside and outside of the house, and provides good speeds and a solid signal, even when I was two floors away from it. Connection strength and speed are the two most important factors when assessing a WiFi router, and the current Airport Extreme continues to pass both of those tests with flying colors. But wait, there's more. The Airport Extreme's software is easy to operate and works on both PC and Mac, so if you'd like to make a guest network and keep your home network secure, it only takes a few clicks.

Speaking of security, the Airport Extreme supports WPA and WPA2 security protocols, so take advantage of that and use a good password! Beyond ease of setup and security, my another feature I love is being able to hook up a hard drive to the unit's USB port for wireless access to data, and the ability to back up through Time Machine. If I were to ding this router on anything it'd be its overall design, which is strange to say for an Apple product. It's beautiful, and glossy, but having a portrait-oriented router is kind of weird, it looks nice on a desk if you've got the space, but if you're used to sticking a router in a tight spot, you might run into some trouble. Apple Airport Extreme, $178, available at Amazon. This article was originally published on 6/14/2016. The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like.

Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. If you grew up in the early- to mid- 2000's, chances are when you think of a wireless router, you think of the WRT54g. You probably don't know it by name, but if I said 'the blue Linksys with two antennas' you'd say 'oh yeah, that one.'

For a long time, that may as well have been the only wireless router on the market, but that's not the case anymore. The market is flooded with different makes and models of router, but there's one I've used that stands above the rest: Apple's Airport Extreme.

Apple was the first company to ship a WiFi router, called the Airport Base Station in 1999, and they've steadily incremented on that product's design and capabilities since then. I've been using the latest model of Airport Extreme for a couple of years now, and it's by far the best router I've tried, and for good reason. When it was originally released in 2013, the Airport Extreme was one of the earlier routers to support the Wireless AC standard, and while there weren't a lot of devices that could take advantage of those speeds at the time, there are now. I love tech products that include significant amounts of future proofing, while still being backwards compatible with any other devices I own. The Airport Express also transmits it's wireless signal over both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies, reducing the amount of interference from other devices. Interference reduction is important since this router can support up to 50 wirelessly connected devices simultaneously, and three wired connections, thanks to its three Ethernet ports. Specifications are important to know, but they're not the reason why I've bought this router for myself and family members, or why I'm recommending it now.