Ideal for: Folks setting up their first home network, sharing your broadband, tech heads and gamers
Price: $349.95
More info: www.belkin.com.au
To many, the whole concept of the router is confusing and arcane. All you know is it’s a box that somehow shares your internet connection among multiple computers, but figuring out even if the darn thing is working properly is an exercise in deciphering green, amber and red LEDs.
Belkin has injected a bit of plain English into the router experience by giving the N1 Vision an LCD. This provides you with all sorts of information, from basic connection status for each PC or device, to the maximum download rate you can expect.
Routers are an essential part of any home entertainment setup, as they allow you to wirelessly stream media from a PC (or Mac) to your TV. The N1 Vision has 802.11n WiFi, for maximum bandwidth, but if that’s still not fast enough you can run Ethernet cables for data exchange at up to a gigabit!
And unique among routers, the N1 Vision actually looks like something you’d have sitting on a hall table instead of shoved away in a drawer in a tangle of cables. For the first time, the router is more than mere equipment.
