by Stuart Davidson | 7th May 2013
Today Synology are launching the latest of their Home/Small Office DiskStations, the DS213j. A 2 drive NAS it offers a balance of features and performance which should appeal to those looking for their first external storage device, or those looking to upgrade from an older model with more basic functionality.
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by Craig Humphreys | 21st March 2013
We have looked at a number of NETGEAR devices recently, from state of the art routers featuring Wireless-AC technology to Music Extenders and WiFi range enhancers. Today we are looking at a wireless access point that utilises Powerline technology to access the router and share the connection via WiFi - the Powerline 500 WiFi Access Point.
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by Stuart Davidson | 15th March 2013
One new device from NETGEAR which looks to offer both traditional networking and some additional features is the NETGEAR Centria WNDR4700. Part wireless-n (dual band) router, part storage device it allows us to add our own hard drive and enable media/backup functionality on our home network without the need for separate devices. Today we have one to review...
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by Stuart Davidson | 13th March 2013
As with a number of manufacturers who produce networking products Edimax offer a wide range of devices, not just the standard router and adapter configuration most people need. For those who have a more unique requirement Edimax offer devices such as their N300 Universal Wi-Fi Extender and Wi-Fi personal hotspot (or travel router as it could be known). Today we have one of each to review.
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by Stuart Kerley | 12th March 2013
Today on our test bench we will be taking a look at TP-LINK's current top of the range home networking solutions, the N900 wireless dual band gigabit router, the N600 wireless dual band USB adapter and the AV500+ gigabit powerline adapter with AC pass through.
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by Stuart Davidson | 8th March 2013
Not everyone has the budget, or need, for a 4-bay NAS and so Synology offer models such as the DS213 with two bays. Today we will be reviewing that model while also taking a look at their latest software, DiskStation Manager v4.2 (March 2013 release).
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by Craig Humphreys | 2nd March 2013
Today we are looking at the WN3500RP or Universal Dual Band Wi-Fi Range Extender for short... or not. Designed to pretty much do what it says, this device extends the range of an existing wireless network by repeating the signal with the use of a new network SSID. So essentially, it is a basic router that forwards on traffic it receives to the primary router.
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by Craig Humphreys | 12th February 2013
This Powerline device features a USB expansion port that can be used to stream music to any device with a USB, RCA / Mini Jack connection. Alternatively, the USB port brings network functionality to printers, scanners or hard drives allowing such devices to be shared across your home network from any power outlet.
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by Stuart Davidson | 19th December 2012
USB 3G dongles have been around for a while, allowing those of us on the move to connect to mobile networks with our laptops, or acting as a backup to a wired connection at home. This is all very well when there is one PC but what if we have more devices that need access to the connection? For those sort of scenarios Vodafone have the R205 adapter which takes its 3G connection and acts as a mini-router, sharing it with multiple devices via Wi-Fi.
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by Craig Humphreys | 6th December 2012
The D6300 is essentially identical to the R6300 only this time NETGEAR have covered all bases with the inclusion of an ADSL2+ modem as well as the functionality to use any cable/fiber modem. The A6200 is NETGEAR's first USB Adapter to use the 802.11ac specification and enable users to connect to their ac equipment at above Wireless-N speeds.
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by Craig Humphreys | 31st October 2012
Today we take a look at the N750 Premium Edition, one of the few models to suit just about everyone with its built in ADSL2+ modem for use with DSL connections and a RJ45 port to be used with cable or fibre connections.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16th October 2012
With a completely new styling and specifications in excess of Wireless-N the new NETGEAR R6300 is one of the most advanced routers available. Today we review a pair of them giving us Wireless-ac (802.11ac) connectivity at either end of the transmission.
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by Stuart Kerley | 18th September 2012
The AirStation 1750 is a wireless gigabit dual band router offering compatibility with the 802.11ac standard, the next level up from the current high end wireless standard 802.11n. Although 802.11ac is still under development it promises to offer super-fast networking in the 5GHz band. To support the AirStation 1750 we will also be looking at the AirStation 1300 a gigabit media bridge also supporting the fledgling 802.11ac standard.
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by Stuart Kerley | 10th September 2012
Today we will be taking a look at another product from the Netgear range, the DGND3700v2. The DGND3700v2 is a wireless dual band gigabit ADSL 2+ modem router offering an all in one solution for ADSL broadband users.
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by Stuart Kerley | 4th September 2012
On our test bench today we will be taking a look at Synology's newest four bay network storage device, the DS413j. We will also be having a quick look at some of the new features on the latest version of Synology's operating system DiskStation Manager (DSM) 4.1.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17th May 2012
Today we have the high end WNDR4500 Router and WNDA4100 USB adapter on our test bench. With dual band and 900MBPS specification along with dual USB connectors and the expected GB LAN ports these two devices could be the hardware to solve all our home networking needs.
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by Craig Humphreys | 1st May 2012
The subject of this review is powerline connectivity at a consumer level using two products from NETGEAR's range the Powerline 200 Mini and Powerline Nano500 Set.
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by Stuart Kerley | 13th March 2012
Today we will be taking a look at the single bay DS112j, which is the latest model in Synology's NAS range for home use, offering file storage, sharing and data protection. We will also take a look at Synology's latest operating system, the very recently released DiskStation Manager 4.0.
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by Niall Coleman | 4th January 2012
With the growing trend towards home networks and the ever expanding multimedia market the LinkStation Pro is a Network Attached Storage (NAS) box that is designed for the home user market. It offers instant storage expansion and file access on a home network and over the Internet. This compact bit of kit is available with 1.0TB, 2.0TB or 3.0TB built-in 3.5in hard drives and features a 1.6GHz processor that promises transfer speeds of up to 76MB/s.
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by Stuart Davidson | 10th November 2011
The DS212j is the latest model in Synology's 2-bay NAS range for home use, offering file storage, sharing and data protection while minimising power use and noise. Today we take a look at the DiskStation DS212j to see how it performs, as well as covering setup and the latest DiskStation Manager operating system build.
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by Stuart Kerley | 12th September 2011
Synology offers a range of options that allow it to cross the divide between home and small business use and today we'll be taking a look at the DiskStation DS411, a four bay NAS offering. In addition to this we'll also be looking at their brand new operating system that has just been released, DiskStation Manager 3.2.
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by Stuart Davidson | 21st July 2011
Given the advances in mobile devices whether it be tablets, phones or laptops the ability to access, update and maintain our content remotely is becoming more important. One company aiming to make this easy for us is SilverStone through their DC01 network storage device. Today we will be taking a look at the DC01 and finding out how it could improve our media experience when at home or out and about.
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by Stuart Kerley | 22nd February 2011
Last week we took a look at the first new next generation media player from AC Ryan, the Playon! HD Mini 2, and we were mightily impressed. Today we'll be looking at the second of their updated media players, the Playon!HD 2. The HD 2 contains a hard drive and has additional connectivity options over the basic network only Mini player, lets find out if AC Ryan has been able to create another product as good as the entry level model.
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by Stuart Davidson | 18th February 2011
Recently AC Ryan announced their next generation players and today we take a look at the Playon!HD Mini 2 which as well as featuring improved specifications also gets the new GUI and some extra features such as social media integration.
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by Stuart Davidson | 16th July 2010
Today we'll be taking a closer look at two of A.C. Ryan's products, the PlayON! HD and PlayON! HD Mini to find out if they live up to the hype. The PlayON! HD is a set top box with inbuilt hard drive that will play a wide array of media directly from the hard drive in the box or via your network.
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by Stuart Davidson | 17th March 2010
Today we are taking a look at the latest NAS offering from Synology, the Disk Station DS410j is a 4 disk RAID capable NAS solution that runs off a Linux based O/S. As media stored in the home becomes more common place we have started seeing more and more solutions such as these coming onto the market.
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by Zardon | 19th August 2009
It is quite incredible how many models QNAP release and how often they are updated but this is due to the relatively cheap prices of large mechanical hard drives and end user demand for ever growing storage space. QNAP were established in Taiwan in 2004 and are well known for their build quality and sophisicated software packages. The QNAP TS-639 Pro is based on the same platform as the TS 509 Pro which we reviewed a while ago and as such now supports iSCSI integration as standard.
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by Zardon | 13th March 2009
At first glance the Cisco media hub appears to be just another NAS device like so many on the market, however as the name suggests this is aimed mainly at the media market with the focus on delivering music or video based files to other devices.
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by Zardon | 12th September 2008
QNAP are a company well known for making class leading NAS system for home and office use. Today we are testing the newest device in their range the TS-509 Pro which features support for 5TB as well as 2 x Gigabit RJ-45 ethernet ports.
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