Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Apple ’s AirPort Time Capsule is a solid 802.11ac router that cater 2 TB of divvy up storage for media and client computer backup .
Apple is ahead of the curve when it come to acquire the IEEE 802.11ac wireless networking standard . While 802.11ac routers are not new , Apple ’s latestAirPort Time Capsuleis the first to let in an incorporated hard drive . Apple is also one of the first manufacturers to include an 802.11ac client adapter as standard equipment in its reckoner lineup .
Performance
When I used AccessAgility’sWiFiPerfbenchmarking puppet to measure the 802.11ac Time Capsule , with a 2013 MacBook Air as the client , I measure out a very respectable TCP throughput rate of 451.9 mbps at closemouthed image ( with the router and client in the same elbow room , separated by about nine feet ) . That ’s more than double as tight as the elderly 802.11n Time Capsule ’s 218.7 mbps ( operate a electronic internet on the 5GHz oftenness banding ) .
What ’s more , the 802.11ac Time Capsule delivered TCP throughput in excess of 100 mbps in two other room inside my house where the 5GHz 802.11n Time Capsule was n’t able-bodied to maintainanyconnection to the MacBook Air .
Unfortunately , something is kink Apple ’s 802.11ac net carrying out . As I reported inthis early news report , Apple ’s gear is radically slower when tax with transferring real - world file cabinet over the mesh ( WiFiPerf is a semisynthetic bench mark for measuring TCP throughput ) .
When I copied a 10 GB assembling of files and folder ( videos , euphony files , word written document , spreadsheets , and the like ) from the hard drive in an iMac hardwired to the Time Capsule to the SSD in a wirelessly networked MacBook Air ( which was again about nine fundament from the router ) , I measured throughput of just 84.8 mbps , mean the transfer required more than 16 minutes to finish ( each mental testing was perform three time and the result were then averaged ) . Reading those files from the MacBook Air and indite them to the iMac happen at a slightly faster yard : 132.1 mbps ( nearly 10.5 minutes ) .
The Time Capsule ’s connection performance improved only a picayune when copying a exclusive 10 GB file from the iMac to the MacBook Air , to 134 mbps ( averaging 10 minutes , 13 seconds ) . replicate that same file back to the MacBook Air : 163.5 mbps ( about 8.5 minutes ) . Obviously , none of those figures are anywhere tight to WiFiPerf ’s result of more than 450 mbps .
found on my experience testing 802.11ac routers with Windows machines , I expect the 802.11ac Time Capsule to be considerably fast than the 802.11n mannikin . And that ’s certainly what my WiFiPerf outcome indicate . But these real - world file transfer defy that arithmetic mean .
The current hypothesis , first publish atAnandtech , is that OS X is not properly scaling TCP windowpane sizing during file transfers to allow the MacBook Air ’s 802.11ac client adapter to achieve peak performance . While Apple has not confirmed this to be the problem , the company is cognisant of the execution discrepancy and is reportedly play on a solution .
Backward compatibility
In addition to operating a 5GHz internet based on the 802.11ac measure , the Time Capsule can also operate a 2.4GHz meshing to support onetime 802.11b- , -g , and -n client , as well as a 5GHz internet to support 802.11a and 802.11n node . This is important , as the new MacBook Air is one of the few devices to support 802.11ac . Most figurer , smartphones , media streamers , and other networkable equipment rely on the older standards .
Using WiFiPerf once again , I measured TCP throughput with a mid-2011 13 - inch MacBook Pro connected first to the old 802.11n Time Capsule ( at 5GHz ) and then to the fresh 802.11ac Time Capsule . TCP throughput was only a little higher at confining range—301.7 mbps with the 802.11ac Time Capsule versus 285.3 mbps with the 802.11n model — but the young router was dramatically quicker at longer aloofness : 67.7 mbps liken to just 32.3 mbps with the client separated from the router by 65 foot and three insulated interior walls .
Once Apple fixes the single file - transportation job , advance to the 802.11ac Time Capsule should also deliver better meshwork execution with old Macs outfitted with 802.11n adapters .
Feature set
I typically cover a product ’s feature film adjust at the beginning of the critical review , but in this case I think it more important to talk about Apple ’s file cabinet - transfer issues first . As I ’ve already bring up , the 802.11ac Time Capsule is a dual - band framework , capable of operating networks on both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz frequency circle . It ’s fit out with six antennas : three transmit / receive for its 2.4GHz wireless , and three transmit / have for its 5GHz radiocommunication . The antennas are mounted near the top of the 6.6 - inch - tall columnar twist , which likely helps it reach farsighted mountain range . It supports three 433.3 mbps spatial flow for a maximal forcible nexus rate of 1.3 Gbps . ( The 802.11ac adapter in the raw MacBook Air underpin two spacial stream for a maximum physical link rate of 867 mbps when connect to an 802.11ac router . )
The novel Time Capsule also supports an optional feature of the 802.11ac standard known as beam forming . With this engineering , the router and each of its clients exchange information as to their physical locations . They habituate this information to concentrate their radio vim to achieve the high potential throughput .
The Time Capsule is presently available with either a 2 TB backbreaking drive or a 3 TB parkway . Both models are equipped with an accelerometer that will park the drive ’s read / write heads if the router is dropped or tipped over ( quondam Time Capsules do not have this feature ) . Unlike some other heavy - effort - equipped router , the Time Capsule employ a SATA interface to the severe crusade , versus a USB - to - SATA bridge . Apple , however , declined to let out the rotational hurrying of the drive ’s platters and if the ride has a SATA 6 Gbps interface or a slow SATA 3 Gbps interface .
On the back of the Time Capsule , you ’ll find a gigbit WAN porthole ( for connecting to the Internet ) and three Gb LAN larboard ( for hardwired clients ) . There ’s also a individual USB 2.0 port , to support either a shared printer or additional storage . You ’ll need to plug in a USB hub if you want both at the same prison term . The power supply is build into the inclosure , which is much better than make an electric receptacle - hog wall wart , but an inline power brick would have been a better alternative . Between the 802.11ac chipset , the hard campaign , and the power supplying , the Time Capsule needs to shed a sight of warmth . Apple put a fan inside there to keep things cool , and you’re able to in spades learn it spinning in a quiet elbow room .
Bottom line
The solution to the file - transference shortcomings I ’ve covered here will most in all likelihood arrive in a next OS X update ; I really do n’t think there ’s anything haywire with the 802.11ac Time Capsule ’s design . My WiFiPerf benchmark indicate that this router is at least as tight as the best non - Apple 802.11ac routers I ’ve tested .
If you ’ve purchased a novel MacBook Air , you ’ll get significantly good operation with the 802.11ac Time Capsule than you will with Apple ’s 802.11n Time Capsule . In my test surround , the newfangled MacBook Air was ineffective to maintain a wireless connective to the router ’s 5GHz meshing at longer range . This was less of an event on the 2.4GHz band , but that spectrum is so congested in more distinctive surroundings that you in all likelihood wo n’t want to utilize it ( I pass off to live on on a 10 - acre parcel in a rural area comparatively barren from other wireless connection ) .
If you ’re using an older Mac customer with an 802.11n Wi - Fi arranger , my benchmark point the new Time Capsule willalsodeliver much higher functioning — provided Apple mess the data file - sharing issuing , that is . So if you ’ve never buy a Wi - Fi router , and you like the idea of automated local fill-in , the 802.11ac router is definitely a good buy .
