Hide the children
Asus is showing off a new 802.11ac router that make comparisons to Google's OnHub inevitable, though not because they're similar. In fact, they're different in every way imaginable.
Whereas the OnHub was designed from the ground up to take residence in the living room or other area where it will be seen by family and friends, Asus' new RT-AC5300U might scare the kids if you leave it out in the open. Hell, it might also scare adults.
That's because it looks like a giant mechanical spider. It has eight antennas, and unlike the OnHub, they're not hidden -- they protrude from all four sides of the router.
Like all modern routers, Asus plays the marketing game with its AC labeling. The AC5300 claim is actually a combination of two 5GHz 802.11ac bands, both rated at up to 2,165Mbps. There's also a single 2.4GHz 802.11n band rated at up to 1,000Mbps. You can't combine them for a single, super-speed connection, though they're all blazing fast on their own.
You get two USB ports with the RT-AC5300U, one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0, and four GbE LAN ports. It also boasts 128MB of flash storage and 256MB of DDR3 RAM, and we presume it's only a matter of time before third-party firmware developers hop on board. For comparison, the OnHub has a single USB 3.0 port and it doesn't work at the moment.
Asus says the RT-5300U will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. No word yet on price.
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From maximumpc
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