Author: Dong Ngo

Ubiquiti has been on a roll! After a trio of enterprise-class access points and then another trio of cloud gateways, the networking vendor today unveiled two additional APs—the UniFi 7-Lite (U7-Lite) and UniFi 7 In-Wall (U7-IW)—to complete its Wi-Fi 7 portfolio. With retail prices of $99 and $149, respectively, these two new Wi-Fi 7 broadcasters are not intended to wow anyone other than their low costs. But that doesn’t mean they are not impressive. UniFi U7-Lite vs. U7 In-Wall: Ubiquiti’s two new compact dual-band Wi-Fi 7 access points. Related stories on Ubiquiti and Wi-Fi UniFi 7-Lite vs. UniFi 7 In-Wall:…

You must have heard of hard drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs). Some of you might have even used the term “memory” to call them both, and you’re sort of correct. But things are more complicated than that. This post will explain digital storage and how it works in a computer system. Among other things, you’ll find the differences between HDDs vs. SSDs and SSD variants, such as SATA SSD vs. NVMe SSD. When you’re through—that’s if you didn’t get bored and give up halfway—you’ll, among other things, know how digital storage works, buy your next SSD (or hard drive)…

Of Ubiquiti’s newly released gateway trio, the UniFi Express 7 (UX7) is the most modest. It’s the closest thing to a mere standard Wi-Fi router within Ubiquiti’s UniFi world of multiple hardware applications. However, that does not necessarily mean it’s “bad”. The UX7 is still much more advanced than most third-party routers and has all that typical users need in real-world usage. So, at the friendly retail price of $199, it’s a better deal than the UDR7, which shares the same Wi-Fi specs. Hint: You can also get both (or multiple UX7 units) to form a robust Wi-Fi 7 mesh…

This post lists the current top five best full-band(*) Wi-Fi 7 routers. They are all excellent options to consider when you need a new router or are about to upgrade yours. Generally, a Wi-Fi 7 broadcaster will work with most existing clients right out of the box—as long as they are not too old—or can be tweaked to work with all legacy ones. So, other than the cost, it doesn’t hurt to get a Wi-Fi 6 router today if all you need is a single broadcaster. Need extended Wi-Fi coverage? Get multiple units of Asus routers below to form an AiMesh system—preferably via…

Today, TP-Link announced the official availability of its second Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi travel router, the TL-WR3002X. As the name suggests, it’s an upgrade to the TL-WR1502X, which was released in mid-2024. This quick preview will help you choose between the two. After all, they are very similar routers, looking identical to begin with. While they are different in hardware specs, chances are that they will be very similar in real-world usage. It’s worth noting that the company will likely also ship its Wi-Fi 7 version, the TL-WR36002BE, later this year. The new TP-Link TL-WR3002X is a compact travel router. Related…

Wi-Fi has become so popular that nowadays, getting a router without it, a non-Wi-Fi router, can be a challenge. Yet such a router is the best way to start when building a robust Wi-Fi network. This post will include the best five options among standard routers without built-in Wi-Fi I’ve tested in recent years. They are the true representatives of the original meaning of the word “router.” If you’re wondering why you’d want one or what a standard router has to do with a Wi-Fi network, you’re reading the right post. Let’s dig in! Dong’s note: I first published this…

If you’re unsure of the differences between USB-C and Thunderbolt or between USB 3.0 and USB 3.2 (or is that USB 3.1?), you’re not alone. Mind you, we’ve been in a pretty good place in the past half a decade. Before that, we had to deal with a myriad of other peripheral connection types, like Parallel, Serial, FireWire, eSATA, etc. This post will help you understand the current state of modern connection standards—namely USB and Thunderbolt—so that you can confidently plug one device into another. Tip The year 2023 was the most significant for peripheral connectivities. After years of pressure…

Western Digital today unveiled five new external storage devices, all based on its latest 26TB “enterprise-class Ultrastar 7200 RPM HDDs for high performance, reliability and fast read/write speeds.” These new devices are massive in storage space, yet more significant is that they are the first following the company’s decision to jettison its NAND flash memory business to SanDisk, its former sub-brand. In more ways than one, these new external hard drives are Western Digital’s first salvo in its re-commitment to platter-based storage. With 8 drive bays, multiple RAID supports, and 208TB of storage space, Western Digital’s G-RAID Shuttle 8 is…