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Netgear Nighthawk review: One of the best 802.11ac routers you can buy |
December 27, 2013
Note: This review was updated in its entirety on 12/27/2013 after it was compared to five other new 802.11ac routers. The star rating did not change.
Netgear was first to market with a new 802.11ac router powered by Broadcom’s BCM4709 SoC (system on chip), which is based on a 1GHz, dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor. The Netgear R7000 is packed with tasty features, and it delivers exceptionally good performance. But the Asus RT-AC68U, which arrived on the scene a little later in the year, is equally good if not better.
Historically, Netgear’s consumer wireless routers have used fixed internal antennas, while Asus’s Wi-Fi routers have been equipped with external, removable antennas. When I compared Netgear’s first 802.11ac router (the R6300) to Asus’s (the RT-AC66U) last year, I credited the Asus router’s superior performance to its external antennas. The Asus RT-AC68U also has external antennas.
So I chuckled when I saw humongous external, removable antennas on the R7000, which—like the Asus RT-AC66U—has a rather slablike enclosure that you can lay flat or hang on a wall. I think it’s even more amusing that Netgear is marketing its new router with the nickname “the Nighthawk.” Asus markets its router as “the Dark Knight.” Is this a case of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, or has Netgear realized that people buying high-end routers care more about a router’s performance than about its ability to blend into a home’s decor? I hope it’s the latter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2050761/netgear-nighthawk-review-this-802-11ac-router-sets-lan-speed-records.html#tk.rss_reviews
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