Details
Price: $187.5
Antennas: Internal
LAN: 4 x Gigabit Ethernet
Wireless: 802.11ac
Modem: None
Buffalo
AirStation 1750
Even the best wireless N routers struggle
to reach the top speeds of Wired networking, especially now that gigabit
Ethernet is so common. The solution to this is the next wave of wireless
devices, which have support for 802.1 lac, a new standard that will support
gigabit wireless connections. Of course, the standard isn’t actually formalised
yet, so has Buffalo jumped the gun with the AirStation 1750, the first
commercially available router to support 802.1 lac?
Don’t worry if you don’t have the hardware
for the new standard; the router operates on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies,
meaning there’s support for wireless G and wireless N, as well as even older
standards. But, let’s face it, if you’re buying this router, it’s for its 802.1
lac capabilities, and sadly they don’t quite measure up. Benchmarks show that
while it’s fast, it never gets near a gigabit connection.
The router has rubber bumpers that allow it
to comfortably lie flat or stand on one side, although the logo orientation
clearly indicates which way it was designed to lie. In terms of appearance, it
looks high quality but perhaps demands a little too much attention. It’s not
exactly subtle.
Connectors include four gigabit Ethernet, a
WAN port and USB 2.0 port. As you’d expect for this price, it can share storage
over the network, but it’d be nice to see USB 3.0 speeds out of a router that
costs over US$150. Configuration is simple, but the need to reboot the router
after any major settings change can become a little wearing if you’re likely to
make them regularly.
Still, it does the job, and it’s ready for
the future. If you’re hoping to stay on the bleeding edge of wireless ready for
its official introduction, you don’t have many more choices. It’s a premium
device that you pay a premium for, but in practice, you won’t see the benefits
for months or even years. Unless you have a good reason to want 802.1 lac
support, you can hold off for now.
Western Digital My Net N900 Central
Details
Price: $207
Antennas: 2
LAN: 4 x Gigabit Ethernet
Wireless: Wireless N 2.4GHz & 5GHz
Modem: None
Western
Digital My Net N900 Central
You’d normally expect to see the Western
Digital brand attached to hard drives rather than routers, so it probably won’t
surprise you to hear that this is a hybrid device: a router with its own
networkable storage.
Aesthetically, it’s quite plain. It won’t
stick out like a sore thumb, but there is a fan inside, which could cause
trouble with noise if (and when) it hits higher speeds. It’s not especially
loud, but it’s not a router that you’d want in a bedroom or next to a at least,
is elegantly simple, with a browser-based setup wizard taking you through the
process of securing and properly connecting to the router.
As you’d expect, you get four gigabit
Ethernet ports, a WAN port, and a USB 2.0 port. Wireless N is supported in both
2.4GHz and 5GHz ranges with multiple internal antennas, giving fast and even
performance. Again, at this price level it would have been nice to find a USB 3
port, but the primary reason for wanting one - is sort of side-stepped by the
truly killer feature: a built-in hard disk in either 1TB or 2TB flavours. The
idea is that by combining a fast, high-quality wireless N storage with masses
of storage space, you can use this router to stream HD video to any networked
device. Western Digital’s web-based WD2Go service also allows external access,
while the built-in AEP server even allows Macs to use it as an iTunes server or
for Time Machine backups. Helpfully, Western Digital’s ‘FasTrack Plus’ can
prioritise streaming media, so when activated there’s less chance of finding
yourself staring at the dreaded buffering screen.
However, internal storage doesn’t seem like
such a good the router or the drive fails, the inconvenience would be far
greater than if either failed alone. And for $450, you could buy a very nice
router and an even better hard drive. It’s undoubtedly convenient, but
ultimately, the features don’t seem to justify a hybrid device of this sort -
certainly not at this price.
Fractal Design Define R4
Fractal Design’s new case may not be
revolutionary, but it still ticks all the relevant boxes.
From the photographs you would be hard
pressed to tell the Fractal Design Define R4 from its predecessor, the R3. Both
are plain black monoliths of minimalistic Scandinavian design and have a noise-
absorbing door hiding their front bays and fans. Look a little closer, however,
and there are traces of evolution to see. First of all, the R4 is slightly
wider than its predecessor. The 120mm fans of the R3 have been replaced with
larger 140mm variants, and the optional dial-based rheostat has been replaced
with a three- way dipswitch. The fan filter is now a single piece for easier
removal and a second USB 3.0 port has been added.
The bay allocation of the case remains from
before, with two 5.25” bays for optical drives and eight 3.5” bays for hard
drives. The hard drive caddies insulate your hard drives from the chassis via
rubber grommets to cut down on vibrations, and each bay can also accommodate
2.5” SSDs. A key difference is that the bulk of the hard disk bays can now be
removed to make way for massive video cards. This was a major problem with the
original case, as the largest video cards (like the Direct CU Il from Asus)
wouldn’t fit. Now, so long as you can live with just three drive bays, you can
enjoy better ventilation for your components and accommodate video cards of any
currently available size.
Two fans are bundled with the R4, but
remove the noise- absorbing pads from around the case and you can fit many more.
An additional two 140mm fans can be mounted to the roof, an extra 140mm to the
front and an additional 140mm in the side panel. You can even mount another fan
in the base, allowing for a maximum fan count of six. That’s enough
expandability for even the hottest-running triple-SLI setup, making this a
one-case-fits-all solution for those not looking to change their chassis any
time soon.
Where the Fractal still excels is in its
acoustic prowess. With the dip-switch set to its lowest setting, the fans are simply
not audible unless you’re centimetres from the system and it would be entirely
possible to make a PC that was silent for all intents and purposes. Despite
this, the cooling credentials of this case belie its low noise nature. Even
when filled with an overclocked Core i7 chip and a GeForce GTX 680 video card,
both CPU and GPU temperatures were a match for a much louder-running Cooler
Master CM 690 II - that’s a showing that almost defies the laws of physics.
At US$134.9, the Fractal R4 is moderately
pricier than its predecessor, but as this is a larger case with more expensive
fans and additional materials, this is a fair enough trade-off. Some critics
may have been looking for more innovation from the R4, but Fractal has taken a
timeless design and tweaked it for the better. If it ain’t broke, as the old
adage goes, don’t fix it.
