Impartial. No-nonsense. Real stuff.
All reviews and overviews on this website are based on thorough hands-on testing and real-world first-hand experience.
Note: This category also includes previews, first-takes, and opinions—all derived from initial impressions, past experience, or preliminary assessments.
I was a bit surprised getting my hands on Global Telecom’s NetStick USB Modem. For one, it doesn’t support 5G, but just 4G LTE. Secondly, it’s too bulky to carry around easily. The cellular modem is plug-n-play—it’s a no-brainer to use. Unfortunately, though, in my testing, it was slow compared …
The new WD Blue SN550 is a significant upgrade to the previous budget-minded SN500 solid-state drive (SSD). The new internal storage device has double the connection bandwidth and capacity, capping at 1TB. Most importantly, it’s also more affordable, costing as low as just 10 cents per gigabyte. At its core, …
Even at a reduced street price of some $700, NETGEAR’s Orbi RBK850 Series—currently available as a 2-pack (model RBK852)—AX6000 Wi-Fi 6 Mesh System is still crazy expensive. For the most part, it’s an excellent Wi-Fi system but, for my money, not hundreds of dollars better than the recently released budget-minded …
The Zyxel PLA6456BBKIT powerline adapter kit is a quick way to extend your wired network from one end of your home to another without running an actual network cable. It turns a couple of power sockets into two ends of a standard network connection. The kit’s included two adapters are …
The EnGenius ESR580 EnMesh tri-band Whole-Home Smart Wi-Fi System is a decent mesh with the potential to be an excellent one. It has a practical hardware design, an easy setup process, and a useful app. The performance is also better than that of many similar canned systems, including its presumed …
The Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine, or UDM, is my new favorite Wi-Fi 5 router. It’s an advanced enterprise-class system packed in a beautiful, compact, home-friendly hardware box. You can use it as a simple single router via a sleek mobile app, like it’s no big deal. Or you can dive …
At $230, the all-new NETGEAR Orbi RBK13 is the most affordable version among the famous Orbi mesh brand. The new Wi-Fi system has an entirely new design, consisting of three hardware units instead of the traditional two. But it shares the same mobile app, web interface and hence has the …
