As always, mileage will vary when you set up your wireless network, depending on your hardware, the location of your router and the presence of other equipment that might cause interference. But the Airport Extreme base station I've been using for a couple of weeks has worked flawlessly so far.

Although Apple made a splash earlier this month with the release of its new US$179 base station -- it's priced higher than rival systems -- other router makers were out the door first. They began offering "pre-n" hardware last fall that can be updated to the final standard when its adopted by sometime late in 2008. What Apple is touting, as it often does, is ease of use. And as someone who's had a Linksys pre-802.11n wireless router since November -- I got it when I first saw rumors that Apple was putting 802.11n-capable wireless cards in its laptops -- I can say that Apple's solution is indeed simple to set up and use.

Apple officials confirmed that the company has been using wireless cards that are 802.11n-enabled since last year in most of the company's hardware. Only the Mac mini and the entry-level iMac are without them now. A $1.99 software update will enable the function in computers with the newer cards. It's included with the Airport Extreme base station.)

That's not to say that the Linksys hardware hasn't worked well. For me, so far, it has. But it can be a daunting task to figure out NAT settings and decipher which security settings to use on a wireless network. If you're in an enterprise environment or like to tinker with arcane settings, you might find those settings necessary or just fun to monkey around with. Me? I want a wireless network that's easy to set up and performs as promised, one that I can generally forget about once it's up and running.

Enter Apple.