Cisco Updates E4200; V2 Brings USB, Range Improvements
by Jason Inofuentes on December 14, 2011 1:12 PM EST
When we took a look at Bigfoot's Killer Wireless NIC we had an opportunity to play with Cisco's E4200, a top of the line wireless router with 3x3 spatial streams and 450 Mbps performance in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Not content with having one of the best routers available they decided to push the envelope a little further. The Cisco E4200 v2 Maximum Performance Dual-Band N900 includes an upgraded 1.2 GHz processor, designed to improve USB throughput when a disk is attached. Though we didn't test it with our sample, this is apparently a deficit in the original E4200, whose BCM4718 was clocked at 480 MHz. There's also been some optimizations to the antenna and amplifier configuration that should improve range and reduce dead spots. The router is available now at your favorite e-tailer for an MSRP of $199.
Source: Cisco
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amdwilliam1985 - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
MSRP of $199, um... why... I would definitely get airport extreme over this.paul878 - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
What is an airport extreme?A5 - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
Apple's wireless router. It's OK, but I would have gotten the old 4200 over one if I were looking for a $150+ router.tipoo - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
Its a whopping 20 dollar difference...If you're a mac user, sure, the AE might be better. But for PC's it doesn't hold much advantage over something much cheaper, and this is obviously targeted elsewhere at high performance with that processor.vincentlaw - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
The airport extreme does not have anywhere near the performance or feature set of these routers. Airport is okay if all you want is a basic set it and forget it router, but that's not what these high end routers are for. Frankly, the airport is a ripoff for the price (as per typical for Apple).kyuu - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
Disclaimer: I have no special love for Apple, and am not an Apple fanboy.However, in the pieces I have seen comparing performance of various consumer-class routers, I recall the Airport Extreme matching or exceeding the performance of pretty much any other, even the ones in the same price bracket and beyond.
chiddy - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
Disclaimer: I too have no love for Apple.However see Anandtech review of the current Airport Extreme (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme... for more details. Selected quote from the conclusion of said review:
'There’s a stigma that Apple gear is more expensive, and for the 3TB Time Capsule that may be the case, but the Airport Extreme is actually right near where it should be. Take for comparison the Linksys E4200, which is a 2x3:2 device on 2.4GHz, and 3x3:3 on 5GHz, and also Broadcom based. That device runs for $179.99 and features similar functionality including a USB 2.0 port for sharing devices. At $179.00, the Airport Extreme offers full 3x3:3 on both 2.4 and 5GHz, albeit the E4200 does have considerably more Tx power, which we'll investigate in a forthcoming article.'
The performance numbers as well put it right up there with the best devices available at the moment.
Shadowized - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
this router... the E4200 v2 uses a marvel chipset instead of the traditional Broadcom chip's that Linksys use - the problem with this is that there is no custom firmware support so users expecting to buy this "highend" router cannot even load DD-WRT / OpenWRT / Tomato on it, really a letdown.EnerJi - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 - link
My first generation 500 GB Time Capsule may need replacing next year. Question is, which router will be better, this one or the latest Time Capsule (which has the latest generation airport extreme guts, referenced above)?Hope to see an official Anandtech review very soon with some comparisons...
fashionbook - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 - link
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