Hi, guys.
Dong Ngo here and this is the all-new Nighthawk R7000 802.11ac WiFi router for Netgear.
But before we get to it, you know, one thing about Netgear you don't know.
That it's a company who cannot make up its mind in terms of its AC WiFi router's signs.
That's right.
Now take a look.
This one right here is the R6300, the first AC router from Netgear.
It's a very good router and it's huge and then, it makes this R6100 here, very decent one but it's a runt in terms of size.
And then, now we have the R7000 and you guest right.
It's huge.
Okay.
In fact, maybe it's the biggest router I've seen and there's more to it.
It comes with 3 detachable antenna right here and when you put them on, it's actually definitely
the biggest router I've ever seen and take a look at these adapter right here.
It's large, okay.
I did have a hard time finding the one socket to plug it in because it's so big.
Now, on the bright side, if you hold it like this, it looks just like a stealth fighter, hence the name Nighthawk.
I think it's so cool like I couldn't help it to get a second unit so I can fight with myself, dog fight style, you know.
Also the router is well mountable which the other two are
not and finally, it's big for some good reasons.
Now, the first-- this is the first router that actually come with a very powerful processor, a dual-core that run at 1GHz.
It also comes with 2 [unk] megabyte of RAM and some flash memory for storage too.
And finally, it's the second router on the market that support the new Broadcom WiFi chip that also the TurboQAM technology.
Second because the first one is the Asus RT-AC68U
that I reviewed a few days ago.
So, go, check it out.
Now, the new chip is miracle because it makes this router here a true dual-band router.
This made a few things.
Number one, it supports all existing WiFi client on the market regardless of the standards, and secondly, when you use it with AC client, you'd offer up to 1.3 gigabit of WiFi speed and here is a kicker.
When use it with the Legacy 802.11n client, it offers up to 600 megabit per second.
It's like a new speed for the old standard.
On the front, the router has a bunch of LED lights to show the status of the power, the internet, the port on the back, etcetera.
And on the back, it comes with 1 WAN port and 4 LAN ports, all of them are gigabit.
There's one USB 2.0 port here and there's one USB 3.0 port on the front.
Now, I like this port because it's fast but it's kinda awkward because you have something sticking on the front overtime where you use it.
Now,
in my testing, this router is actually very fast offering the top speed of some 60-megabite per second.
That is sustained real-world speed and is close to gigabit Ethernet.
Really impressive indeed.
It also offers exceptional range and come with many features such as a built-in open VPN, the first in Netgear's router.
It also has a new quality control service that can manage both of downstream and upstream.
And listen to this, it
also officially supports 3rd party firmware such as DD-WRT.
So, if you're looking for an advanced router 2 geek out on from day one, this is it.
Another good thing about the router here is that it's not too expensive costing just $200.
That is quite a bit of money but it's actually $20 less than the ASUS counterpart.
Now, the ASUS, it's actually a little bit faster and more compact however.
Now, for more on this, go and check out my full video at cnet.com and don't forget to follow me on Twitter,
Facebook or Google+.
You'd find out that I'm actually very set on size, to say the least.
That's because I'm Dong Ngo and this has been the first look at the Nighthawk R7000 WiFi Router for Netgear.
