Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple Time Capsule MB276LL/A (AirPort Extreme Plus 500 GB Storage)

Great Product from Apple with features like Wireless Access , Data Backup , Compatible with both Apple and windows and Providing Security at the same time .

Some highlighted features:

1. Automatic Wireless backup for MAC
2. Compatible with PC and MAC
3. Size is 500 GB serial ATA Server Grade Hard drive
4. Full Featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n technology
5. Provides Wifi Security
6. Wireless protocols: Draft 802.11n, 802.11a/b/g

7. Compatibility: Interoperable with Wi-Fi Certified 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g and 802.11n , windows PC etc

8. Frequency bands: 2.4GHz or 5GHz (Not simultaneous)

Originally, I was hesitant to buy because of some reviews I had read. I'm glad I bought the Time Capsule. It set up and worked flawlessly. I run my G5 quad off ethernet and the laptops in the house run off wifi. Backup is seamless. Initial backup takes some time, but patience is a virtue, not everything in life is like a drive thru window.

I ordered a 500GB TimeCapsule from Amazon last week and received it in only 2 days using free Super-Saver shipping! Bravo Amazon!

I bought the TimeCapsule along with the Mac Box Set (the 3-in-1 Apple software collection that includes OS 10.5.6, iLife 09, and iWork 09). Installing all the software updates and the TimeCapsule to my 2005 model iMac G5 was quick and easy. I can't believe I had put off adding a backup hard drive and a wifi network for so long. I've used Macs for over 20 years and have never had a hard drive failure, but with all the photos and music that I've compiled over the years I knew it was in my best interest to have a backup in place just in case. And, after getting an iPod Touch over the holidays, I was really interested in finally setting up wifi.

The TimeCapsule is typical Apple: A simple and elegant design that is both functional and appealing. It's also space saving since it combines both a wifi router and an external hard drive into one clean unit. Apple's Airport and Time Machine software are both easy to use.

The TimeCapsule is not the cheapest way to go, but its price is very competitive, especially considering the ease-of-use and elegant all-in-one design. Highly recommended.

It's basically a wireless router with an integrated NAS (network accessible storage device). It also shares USB devices like printers (but not speakers, as with the AirPort Extreme).

Setup is very easy - almost zero configuration. Up and running in 3 minutes. The interface is as straight-forward as possible. (I'm a networking geek and have seen many junk interfaces.)

Seems to do everything I need. DHCP reservations, port-mapping, etc. Time Machine backups are flawless. Poof, now I have an secure network drive which I can even access from off-site. Well designed, well thought-out.

You could probably assemble an equivalent configuration for a few dollars less - but you'd likely spend a lot of time in integration and configuration.

Recommended.

I have a tendency to read a lot of reviews before I buy a product, but don't generally write them. In this case however, some of the negative reviews on the TC are just killing me so I felt obligated to give you my experience. I had a basic Belkin router for about 3 years and if finally failed, and I have a 300g Maxtor Drive that works excellent but I always have to plug into the USB to back up files. I saw the Time Capsule and thought what a great solution to network the 3 laptops in the house and share my 15,000+ pictures/videos and other files. I also bought the latest new Macbook Pro a few months ago.

When I opened the Time Capsule box I was impressed by the small size and no antennas on it, nice clean seek look like most Apple products. I read the instructions before plugging in the TC, unlike most people, which is why many of them are probably having difficulties.

I have Cable with Comcast so I first hooked up the Ethernet cable to the Ethernet WAN Port on the TC.
I then plugged the TC in and opened up the Airport Utility on my MBP. It simply recognized the TC and I followed the easy setup instructions. Within 10 minutes I was up and running and dragging an dropping files from my MBP to the TC wireless and flawless, just as I hoped to do. I moved about 10G to start and it was smooth. Later that night I decided to move over I a very large chunk of files about 200G. To speed up the process I connected a cable directly to one of Ethernet ports on the TC to my MBP Ethernet port and turned off the wireless Airport. It transferred the data flawlessly again. I was very impressed.

Now here comes the challenge I thought, hooking up my PC laptops to the network. Will they see the TC? (Common complaint in many reviews.)
The directions say to install the CD that came with the TC.
I simply installed it to my HP DV1000 laptop and my wife's HP DV5000 laptop. The CD automatically installed the Airport Utility. I simply went to My Computer after the installation and there it was a new drive.... Drive (Z): Time Capsule under the Network Drives. I clicked on the TC icon it asked for my network password and there you go I could access all the files, read & write, drag and drop... It was that simple.

Only one problem, the problem was when I went to hook up my 300G Maxtor drive to the USB in the back of the TC. The airport utility recognized the drive but I could not access it. The Apple tech support said it needs to be a FAT32 and my Maxtor is formatted in NTFS. I have not reformatted the Maxtor drive yet but I probably will to utilize the drive on the network.

Feel comfortable purchasing the TC if you want a wireless router and network drive combination that you can share files between Macbook Pro and PC's to Time Capsule.
It works excellent.