Macworld Expo Apple today renewed its AirPort Extreme BaseSation Wi-Fi router, adding in a "server grade" hard drive to convert it into a network-attached storage box dubbed the Time Capsule.

Apple's Time Capsule: 500GB or 1TB NAS box

As the name suggests, it's designed to work with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's Time Machine automatic sequential facility. Like the drive-less AirPort Extreme BaseSation, Time Capsule has a USB port on the back which can take an external hard drive and make it available over the network too.

The 19.7 x 19.7 x 36.3cm unit has dual-band 802.11n on board - the 2.4GHz band and the less crowded, wider 5GHz band - and four Gigabit Ethernet ports, one of them for hooking up an internet modem.

Two models will go on offer: a 500GB unit for $299/£199 and a terabyte product for $499. Both are set to ship in February.

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