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All reviews on this website are based on thorough hands-on testing and real-world first-hand experience.
This category also includes previews and first-takes, derived from initial impressions, past experience, or preliminary assessments.
The SanDisk Creator Phone SSD, part of the new SanDisk Creator Series unveiled at the beginning of the year, is an excellent add-on storage device for those with a USB-C-based smartphone who want to shoot a lot of 4K videos. For others, it’s a simple backup drive. Here’s the bottom … Continue Reading
Together with the 2025 NAS models, starting with the DiskStation DS925+, Synology has an unpleasant surprise for its fans: The NAS maker now implements a strict hardware compatibility (HCL) policy, which, for the time being, is basically a storage lock-in approach. To put it bluntly, apart from the server, you … Continue Reading
Today, Synology announced the availability of its second NAS server for 2025, the DiskStation DS425+, for the US market. It’s a four-bay server, similar to the DS925+ that was released earlier this month, but with lower hardware specifications and capabilities. Synology DS425+: A straightforward 4-bay NAS server The first thing … Continue Reading
If I put “TP-Link” and “mesh” in a sentence, you’d likely think of the popular Deco family. And you’re not wrong. That’s the networking vendor’s most recognizable brand name in the realm of home Wi-Fi systems. However, unbeknownst to most, the company had another lesser-known do-it-yourself alternative, called “TP-Link OneMesh,” … Continue Reading
The ceiling-mount UniFi Access Point U7 Lite (model U7-Lite), first announced on March 3, 2025, along with the plate-mount variant U7 In-Wall, is a modest access point, as the name suggests. Note: This review is based on the U7 Lite, but you can expect the same Wi-Fi experience from the … Continue Reading
The U7 Pro XGS, first released on March 11, 2025, together with the U7 Pro XG, is the 10Gbps and thermal upgrade to the U7 Pro Max. It features a faster uplink port and a more effective heat-dissipating solution, albeit at a slightly higher cost. Here’s the bottom line: If … Continue Reading
Ubiquiti’s UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max (model UDM Pro Max) is not a new product. It was first announced over a year ago on April 23, 2024, and at the time, I decided not to review it, as it was pretty similar to the UDM-SE. Physically, the additional hard drive … Continue Reading
The Ubiquiti Switch Pro XG 8 PoE (model USW-Pro-XG-8-PoE), first unveiled in late April as part of a new Pro XG lineup, is a highly anticipated standalone switch. It’s the first compact and affordable switch from Ubiquiti with all 10Gbps ports. And the switch proved to be totally worth the … Continue Reading
