The main benefit with the AE you can plug any old external hard drive (as long as it is formatted to Apple standards) and use it as network storage, rather than having to get a NAS drive/box. It was the only wireless router to do this for ages although some newer models from other companies can now do this.
The main issue with the AE is that it doesn't have a modem built in so you will need a separate box, not a major hassle as you'll certainly have one from your broadband supplier but you will have to have two boxes on at the same time...
