Functionality at a price
APPLE’S TIME CAPSULE is one of the most expensive external hard drives you can buy. But then again it isn’t an ordinary external hard drive. The unit I got to test was the 500GB version, which retails at R3 299. Considering I bought an Iomega 500GB external drive on special at Incredible Connection a few months back for R999 (normal retail price about R1 500) it does look madly overpriced.
That’s until you start looking at what it really is. First, it’s a network-attached storage device. So instead of plugging it directly into your computer using USB, you connect to it over the network. You have a choice of either wired or wireless connection, putting it in another league entirely. You can even use it to extend the range of your wireless network or as a wireless access point for a wired network.
And then it has a USB port, which lets you connect additional storage to it or even connect a printer you can share over the network. Just the cost saving on not having to buy a network-enabled printer would probably justify the additional cost this of device over competing network-attached storage devices.
That said, because there’s no option to connect via USB, dumping large amounts of data across the network takes a while: backing up 180GB from my hard drive to the Time Capsule took a few hours. And if you try to do it wirelessly, be prepared for an overnight operation.
However, the 500GB seems to have value if you’re going to use all of its features. But its big brother – the 1TB Time Capsule (which retails for R5 499) – is just too expensive, considering the price difference between the two drives. If you need to share storage and a printer, the Time Capsule’s a good deal. Otherwise, look elsewhere.
Finweek
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