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ozaz

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2011
1,571
511
Just ordered a couple of new networking devices, including a NAS device for the first time. It got me enthusiastic to start adding some new toys and so I'm curious as to what others use within their home network.

Please describe/list your devices. I'm particularly interested in router and NAS choices and new fangled devices like network connected TVs, speakers, photo frames, kitchen appliances, home surveillance, etc. I'm not so interested in the specifics of all your computers/tablets/phones, but mentioning at least the operating systems used for these devices will be helpful for contextualising your other choices. If you want to go further, please feel free to explain your choices and what you hope to add in the future.

My list,
Computers: Windows PCs and Macs
Tablets: iPads
Phones: iPhones and Androids
Router: Airport Extreme (on order)
NAS: Synology DS213 (on order; intended use is as a backup location and media server)
Digital Media Receiver / gaming: xBox 360
Printer: Brother DCP-750CW

Next thing I want to add is a wireless speaker system (ideally one that is both DLNA and Airplay compatible)
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
Let's have a think about this... (thank god for a 60mbps connection!)

Computers:
27" iMac
21" iMac
(old) 17" iMac
homebuilt desktop PC
12" Powerbook
Toshiba laptop

Devices:
iPhone 4S
iPhone 3GS
2x iPod touch 4G
iPod touch 3G
iPod touch 1G
iPad 2
iPad 3
Nokia Lumia 800 (I think it is)

Consoles:
2x PS3
2x Xbox 360
2x Wii
Wii U
PS Vita
3DS XL and 3DS
PSP-2000, 3000 and Go
DS fat, Lite and DSi

Others:
Bravia TV
DAB+Internet radio
(looking into getting a NAS to keep files floating around the house)
 

jasonvp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2007
604
0
Northern VA
Network Devices
  • Home-built Linux router (stripped-down CentOS 6.3) w/3 GigE interfaces
  • 2 Cisco SG200 GigE switches (living room and office)
  • 1 Cisco SG500 GigE switch (basement)
  • Apple Airport Extreme (access vs router mode)
Servers
  • Home-built VMWare ESXi 5.x server with several VMs (CentOS, FreeBSD, Slowaris, Win2008, etc)
  • QNAP NAS
Workstations
  • Mac Pro 5,1
  • Home-built Windows 7 gaming rig
Other "Appliances"
  • Home-built Windows 7 HTPC
  • TiVo
  • Sony Blu-Ray player (decomming soon)
  • Pioneer Plasma TV (yep, it's on the network)
Mobile Devices
  • Retina Macbook Pro
  • iPhone 5
 
Last edited:

Southern Dad

macrumors 68000
May 23, 2010
1,545
625
Shady Dale, Georgia
Way too many!

Family Room
  • PowerPC G-5 with XBMC
  • PS3
  • Wii
  • XBox 360
  • Bluray Player
  • Windows 8 Computer on Treadmill

Spoiled 10-year-old Daughter's Room
  • PowerPC G-5 with XBMC
  • Wii
  • Net Streaming Device

Kitchen
  • Windows XP Computer

WiFi Devices
  • MacBooks
  • Windows 8 Computers
  • HP Touchpad
  • iPad
  • iPhones
  • Google Tablet

Home Office... Well, too dang many.
7858745834_a5f173e55d_b.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,595
3,936
New Zealand
Gotta think about this one...

Devices I interact with:
Hac Pro
15" MacBook Pro
iPhone 4S
HP TouchPad (don't use it much anymore)
Xbox 360
Raspberry Pi

Infrastructure:
2x AirPort Extreme
Dynalink PPPoA Bridge
Tenda GigE Switch
HP Data Vault (6 TB and nearly full!)
 

samiwas

macrumors 68000
Aug 26, 2006
1,598
3,579
Atlanta, GA
Computers:
27" iMac (hardwired)
Mac Mini (hardwired)
My 17" MacBook Pro (wifi)
My wife's 17" MacBook Pro (my old one) (wifi)

Devices
My iPhone
My wife's iPhone
My iPad
My wife's iPad
Two TiVos
Slingbox (which actually doesn't work currently)
Wii
Blu-Ray Player
Two wifi cameras

Networking
Time Capsule router
8-port Netgear switch at the main input
5-port Netgear switch on my desk
One AirPort Express currently just an Airplay device to play music in the living room
A second Airport Express which will go on the top floor to extend range once I stop being lazy.
 

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
2 MacBook Pros
1 PC desktop (ethernet)
1 Wii
2 iPhones
1 iPod touch
1 iPad
1 Brother Network Printer (ethernet)
1 $45 netgear Wireless G router

I get 20Mb/s on Wireless G at the end of my house, and I think my connection is rated for only 25Mb/s... so holding out on upgrading the router.
 

rjbruce

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2011
171
24
St. Louis, MO
Just ordered a couple of new networking devices, including a NAS device for the first time. It got me enthusiastic to start adding some new toys and so I'm curious as to what others use within their home network.

Please describe/list your devices. I'm particularly interested in router and NAS choices and new fangled devices like network connected TVs, speakers, photo frames, kitchen appliances, home surveillance, etc. I'm not so interested in the specifics of all your computers/tablets/phones, but mentioning at least the operating systems used for these devices will be helpful for contextualising your other choices. If you want to go further, please feel free to explain your choices and what you hope to add in the future.

My list,
Computers: Windows PCs and Macs
Tablets: iPads
Phones: iPhones and Androids
Router: Airport Extreme (on order)
NAS: Synology DS213 (on order; intended use is as a backup location and media server)
Digital Media Receiver / gaming: xBox 360
Printer: Brother DCP-750CW

Next thing I want to add is a wireless speaker system (ideally one that is both DLNA and Airplay compatible)

I'm interested in hearing your experience with the DS213. I'm considering this vs the DS212J and wondering how it handles a number of devices for media and backups. My plans are to use it for multiple backups, hosting media, and periodic backups to an attached HDD. I will likely setup DDNS as well and use it for some light remote access. I plan to set it up in RAID1 with 2x2TB Red drives.

If anyone has the DS212J and using it for multiple tasks, I'd be interested to hear your experience. I've heard great things for both, but I would consider myself somewhat of a power user, at least demanding user, and want to make sure it's capable of keeping up.

Computers: MBP, Win7 Laptop, deceased Win7 desktop (replacing with mac mini), Ubuntu PC
Tablets: iPad, iPods (Touch)
Phones: iPhones
Router: Linksys X2000 (likely to be replaced with NAS purchase)
NAS: Synology DS213 (mulling)
Digital Media Receiver / gaming: xBox 360, PS3, Wii, ATV2
Printer: Cheap Canon
 
Last edited:

hallux

macrumors 68040
Apr 25, 2012
3,437
1,005
15" MBP
Home-built Windows PC for gaming
HP OfficeJet 6500 MFP
HTC Thunderbolt (Android)
Acer Iconia A500 (Android 10" tablet)
ATV2
LG Blu-Ray player
iPad2 (work-issued)
Occasionally pop my work-issued 13" MBP or Dell E6410 on my network

All fed off a Netgear WNDR3700v2

That's nothing though, the MAC filter on my parent's router is nearly full. 8 people that could be there at any given time that might want a device on wireless, each with 2-3 devices.
 

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
Network/Router
  • Virtual pfSense (FreeBSD based router/firewall/IPSec-VPN)
  • Apple AirPortExtreme for Wifi
  • Netgear Switch
  • Mobile Wifi/LTE Router
Servers
  • Home-built VMWare ESXi 5.1 (Xeon) server with several VMs (pfSense, CentOS, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, soon: ZFS based file server )
  • Home-built VMWare ESXi 5.1 (i7) server to experiment/play around
  • QNAP NAS for iTunes and Photos
Desktop/Laptop/Devices
  • iMac 27" (OS 10.8)
  • MBP 17" for wife (OS 10.7)
  • MBA 11" for me (OS 10.8)
  • Mac Mini (powered down, OS 10.8 Server)
  • iPad, iPods, iPhones
Entertainment
  • Bravia 46"
  • Bravia 40" (Ethernet cable)
  • Apple TV (Ethernet cable)
  • AirAport Express with speaker
  • Canon HD Video Camera with Wifi
Printer/Scanner
  • Canon with AirPrint via Wifi
 

ozaz

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2011
1,571
511
I'm interested in hearing your experience with the DS213. I'm considering this vs the DS212J and wondering how it handles a number of devices for media and backups. My plans are to use it for multiple backups, hosting media, and periodic backups to an attached HDD. I will likely setup DDNS as well and use it for some light remote access. I plan to set it up in RAID1 with 2x2TB Red drives.

If anyone has the DS212J and using it for multiple tasks, I'd be interested to hear your experience. I've heard great things for both, but I would consider myself somewhat of a power user, at least demanding user, and want to make sure it's capable of keeping up.

As mentioned in my original post, this is the first time I've owned a NAS device so I don't really have a point of reference. I'm pretty happy with the setup and interface (although I guess that will be the same for all Synology NAS devices). I think the reason I bought DS213 over DS212J was simply because it has USB 3 rather than any anticipated performance gains. USB 3 was important for me because I intend to periodically clone the NAS to a portable drive for an offsite copy. Unfortunately, I have not set it up as my backup location for my Windows and Mac computers or played around with its media server functions yet (I intend to do all these things, but it will probably be weeks before I find time to do so). At the moment I am just using it as a generic file server, and am finding it fine for that purpose.
 
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