Wireless Router: G, G+ or N??

[speed12]

Hey guys,

Hopefully the right place for this question!

At the moment I have an iMac and am looking to get an MBA in the near future. The idea is to keep the iMac for some grunt (music recording, games etc), file storage and a TV (EyeTV or similar) and then use the MBA as my main computer in terms of internet, word processing etc etc. Due to the small HDD on the MBA the plan is to also use the iMac as a music server (i.e. sharing my iTunes to the MBA) and also to access the EyeTV files recorded on the iMac on the MBA.

I'm moving into a house with no wireless internet and so will need to get a wireless router...and here is where the confusion arises!!

At the moment the house I am in has a 802.11g router and for internet etc the speed and range are brilliant. But for the new router, because I want to do a lot of file streaming (music, video and data) between the MBA and iMac, I'm thinking 802.11n might be better as I think its faster. But would the two computers stream files just between themselves using their internal cards (i.e. no N router needed) or do they communicate through the router (so an N router is required)? And is 802.11n required at all??

Cheers in advance!

 

[Thyamine]

You can have systems talk to each other in an 'ad-hoc' mode where they don't communicate with a router, but if you have multiple systems in your new place and want them on the internet you should just get a router. Plus it's easier to configure rather than working with ad-hoc settings.

If you purchase a 802.11n router, it will support (should support, double-check) g so you could do whatever you needed once it was configured. Also, there are options (Time Capsule, Airport Extreme I think) that will let you connect a drive straight to the router itself. In TC of course it's built in to start with.