Apple has just quietly rolled out a its revised Airport Extreme Base Station as rumored in tech sites earlier today.

The new wireless base station taking advantage of next generation 802.11n wireless technology promises up to 5x the speed and 2x the range compared to model which is replaces

As quickly uncovered when the new Core 2 Duo Intel Macs shipped, 802.11n capable Airport Extreme Cards were indeed built in but not activated. Apple now ships a CD with an 802.11n Enabler for all Core 2 Duo and Xeon-based Macintosh computers except 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac.

Other standard features including wireless printing and streaming of audio have been retained, but this time it also works flawlessly with the newly release Apple TV for streaming of media content from your computer. You can now also connect an external USB hard drive and share it wirelessly with other computers on the network.

The device has given up its cone-like design for a squarish design the mimics the Mac mini and the new Apple TV box. It measures 1.5 inches by 1.3 inches. On its back are 3 ethernet ports, a WAN port, one USB, a Security Slot, and a slot for the power adapter.

The new Airport Extreme Base station is compatible with both PCs and Macs, and sells for $179 at the Apple Store. Estimated shipping date is next month.