Whatever it is, it's worse.
The new one requires a power cable. The point of the express was that it's entirely self contained. You could throw it in your bag and take it with you on trips. Now you can't.
So it's just a crippled airport extreme.
The new one requires a power cable. The point of the express was that it's entirely self contained. You could throw it in your bag and take it with you on trips. Now you can't.
So it's just a crippled airport extreme.
To be precise, they both required external power. The old model was integrated with the plug, and bore a design similar to Apple's laptop chargers.
The new model now requires a separate cable, but the power supply is still internal.
FWIW, the new unit is actually nice when you have to deal with those pesky power sockets at ground level (on skirting boards) that don't provide enough ground clearance to mount the old Airport Express/other chargers without an extension cable.
Like Apple's laptop chargers, the old Airport Express supported swappable outlet adapters which would let you plug it in with a longer wire, as well.
This one fits much nicer in a cupboard next to your AppleTV, and won't take up 2 or 3 sockets in an extension cord. It also makes the wiring easier, since you don't have to make sure your optical audio cable and ethernet cable can actually reach the power sockets.
Although I wish they could retain the old design, the extra LAN port and no more artificial 5 clients limit is more than welcome.