I need to buy a new router for my iMac and iPhone and I have been looking at a few (Apple Airport Extreme, NetGear NightHawk, or Linksys). Which router has the best reputation for quality, etc.? I also want one that is very easy to hookup and good customer service/warranty. I was looking at the middle range NightHawk one that sells for about $199 as I live in a 800 sq ft condo so it's not a big house that I need it for. I'm also not a gamer. The Best Buy salesperson was really pushing me to buy a NightHawk over the Apple Extreme. The only hesitation I have about the Apple router is that I hear Apple is phasing the Airport Extreme out and stopping production so there may not be anymore updates, etc. I don't need the Apple Time Capsule model as I already have a new external hard drive.
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BEST NEW ROUTER FOR 27 INCH IMAC
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I've had good success with Netgears over the year with a mix of Win laptops, 2010 iMac, iPads and Mbps.
The AE is a nice router and works well enough for short to moderate range homes. It doesn't come with any real "extra' features, is shy one Ethernet port as compared to its competition and is lackluster in "ease" when trying to get any added security. The Asus and Netgear ac1900 offerings are excellent buys for what they are. As well the "ac1900" or 1900ac designation should really be the new bottom of the line for most modern set ups in homes. The Netgear r7000 is a good buy when it is on sale and comes with some very nice features that make it hands down a superior buy over the Airport Extreme. As I have stated elsewhere, I picked up one for about 120 plus tax (USD) that will be a holiday gift for a friend of mine who has dead zones in his home with his AE as the main router. I am (in his case and home layout) confident that the r7000 will prove to be an excellent fit to undo those dead zones which are simply a matter of the AE's not having the range.
Apple is abandoning the router market and so I think you'll be better off avoiding them. You want a router that will get updates and ensure that any security vulnerabilities that are found, will be plugged up
[doublepost=1480682716][/doublepost]check out this link for more info
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/rankers/router/view
[doublepost=1480682716][/doublepost]check out this link for more info
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/rankers/router/view
For your 800 Sq Ft condo, an AC1750 router will give you all of the speed of an AC1900 at potentially $100 less. Read wirecutter and smallnetbuilder and you'll see that it's really difficult to get the extra two - 2.4Ghz channels worth of 150Mbs of throughput that the AC1900 routers supply but only in rare cases, and only on the 2.4Ghz band. You should be using the 5Ghz band anyway (which has identical throughput on AC1750 & AC1900 routers) because in 800 sq ft you'll be plenty close to your router and will have less interference with your neighbors.
T-Mobile was selling a rebranded Asus AC68U router for $59 within the past week. It's one of the top-rated routers on SmallNetBuilder and a steal at that price. Should you need/choose to, you can flash it to standard ASUS firmware.
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Very nice set of info you provided. If I may - households that divide their WiFi so that perhaps idevices are at 2.4 and 5 is reserved for computers etc. may take a benefit with the ac1900 (depending on model). This is related more to shared bandwidth. As well, the ac1900 often have better feature sets (though at least Asus had a 1750 back when that was similar in feature to the better ac1900 models and this might include not only USB3 but faster USB3 ability). I would imagine if one just wanted a good Wifi with limited features then a 1750 might due. As for me, I pretty much believe that AC1900 should be the lowest standard for new purchases (unless a smaller home and a great price for a solid performing ac1750 is found).
It is ironic that JD Powers just rated the Apple routers the highest in customer satisfaction yet Apple is no longer developing them. I'll just say that I bought an Airport Extreme over 6 years ago that has been running all this time with never a crash. I'd buy another one.
Seems like the new "mesh" style systems are the way of the future, but you probably don't need that to cover 800 sq.ft.
Hmmm.... how about the Netgear Orbi "base station" (can be bought separately, I believe)?
Then, if you ever have to cover more space, get an Orbi satellite to go with it...
Hmmm.... how about the Netgear Orbi "base station" (can be bought separately, I believe)?
Then, if you ever have to cover more space, get an Orbi satellite to go with it...