Exploring Time Capsule: how it fits into Apple's AirPort family

Published: 09:00 AM EST

Time Capsule, announced at this years' Macworld Expo, serves as a simple rebranding of the AirPort Extreme with an integrated hard drive and power supply. Apple sells the new Time Capsule next to last years AirPort Express and the compact AirPort Express. This segment, the first of six exploring Time Capsule in depth, highlights the differences between the members of Apple's AirPort family.

Time Capsule vs Airport Extreme

Over the last several weeks, Time Capsule held a temporary advantage over last years' AirPort Extreme in its being able to work with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's Time Machine feature to deliver wireless automated backups. However, Apple's recent firmware upgrade has brought the existing AirPort Extreme units up to speed with Time Machine as well. So what's the difference, and is there still any need to upgrade?