Linksys E4200

Looks like Linksys is upping the ante. Just saw this over at Gizmodo: Linksys E4200 Dual-Band Router Is Their Newest Top of the Line

And more detailed info here: http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Ro...productId122703236VVcatId551966VVviewprod.htm

 

Thanks for the update- I wrote about it in another post although I didn't know as much as you've provided.
I still need to know what's the CPU (hopefully something brand new from Broadcom) and how much RAM does it have.
Interesting feature- 2.4GHz wifi up to 300mbps and 5GHz up to 450mbps- it shows someone at Linksys did some thinking.
Although I'm usually against making decisions for the end-user this time I approve- 450mbos is in essence three channels bonded together. Imagine how would that add to 2.4GHz band being overcrowded.

IPv6 is not yet available- gonna be added as a firmware update later on.
The price though- $180 is ridiculous. Either it's gonna beat the hell out of WNDR3700 or it's going to be worthless.

 

Posted about this this morning (on another forum ) Sorta feels like when the WRT600N came out. I spent i think $140 for that one and that was in the days of $30 routers from Netgear! I love that thing though and still using it. It seems to be dying so i'm interested in picking this one up. Wanna hear some more specs though and then the (hopeful) inevitable DD-WRT support!

 

Yeah I was looking for internal specs as well, but no joy yet. LOL, that's about what I paid for my 610n a couple of years ago.

Will be interested to see SNB do a comparison against the 3700 (and others).

 

Me too however I don't see it being on top of my router buyers guide (coming soon to networking sub-forum near you ).
With WNDR3700 available for $130 and exceeding the needs of vast majority of users (including power users) there's hardly a way to justify spending another $50.
Still I sure hope they are going to surprise me- and I don’t mean by not adding WDS or IPs assigned by MAC addresses again

 

all the press releases in the world don't mean a thing until people get the devices into their hands and start running them for real.

 

Cnet did a "review" on it:

Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Dual-Band Wireless-N Router Review - Routers - CNET Reviews

 

Smallnetbuilder already has an E4200 waiting to be tested- probably the next router to be tested.
So far they have tested WNDR3700 v2 which is worse than the original one due to other (read cheaper) antennas used for the 5GHz band.

 

^^^ I was thinking on getting the Netgear v2 but just decided to stick with Linksys and got the E3000 (flashed with DD-WRT; thank goodness for them 'cause this router may have been an expensive waste..not much features out-the-box at all)

...And looking at this new Router i'm not really seeing much to gain over the 3000 except for the slight increase in LAN speed. The CPU/Mem should be better also but I don't think it's really worth the 'upgrade' to get this, at least for me....so for now, meh!

And the prices on these Routers nowadays...my gosh..close to $200 for a 'Home' Router..the price we pay for 'N'.

 

I wanted to know what kind of performance would justify the price-tag of $180.
Now I do know. SNB's review is not yet up but E4200 is already in the charts.
Let's briefly compare it to WNRD3700 v2.

Routing:
(averaged values of LAN->WAN, WAN->LAN & total simultaneous)

Linksys E4200: 700mbps
WNDR3700v2 : 440mbps

Wireless:

2.4GHz 40MHz, downlink/uplink average throughput

Linksys E4200: 60mbps/43mbps
WNDR3700v2 : 46mbps/37mbps

5GHz 40MHz, downlink/uplink average throughput

Linksys E4200: 36mbps/35mbps
WNDR3700v2 : 29mbps/28mbps

BTW max number of simultaneous connections for E4200 is 35000

Source: Smallnetbuilder.com- router charts and wireless charts.

Wireless could be more impressive, price could be less impressive still...

Hail to the (new) king baby!

 

Holy hell! That's definitely the new king! I was gonna get one anyways but holy crap! I am dying to have one NOW now

Still can't get past the price though but i definitely spent almost the same amount for my WRT600N when those first came out. Must resist for now till price goes down a touch more!

EDIT - Oh wait, my birthday is coming up. DSLR vs Router/HDDs and Home Server?

 

Here is info on the Broadcom chipset and the onboard resources

 

Can't find anything to confirm that spec in FCC papers.
I've seen there was no CPU info on Wikipedia just yesterday- no source to support that.
I have a problem believing that it's BCM4718.
There were several good routers with that CPU @480MHz and here are the results for total simultaneous throughput according to smallnetbuilder:
Netgear WNR3500L 302mbps
Linksys E3000 257mbps
vs
Linksys E4200 726mbps

Something is seriously wrong with it- the same BCM4718 CPU couldn't max out at 257mbps @480MHz in E3000 and at 726mbps @500MHz in E4200.
While I can understand that better firmware may lead to some increase in throughput like the additional 17% that WNR3500L has over E3000- no firmware improvement can make a router three times faster while adding 20MHz to the CPU.
The review should be ready today or tomorrow- that should clear things up.

 

You are probably right...that seemed to be the only location where specs were clearly provided...it may be copy, paste and modify based on conjecture for all we know...i guess we'll see

 

Well, HAIL..er, hell, I should say. Bought my 3700 just before xmas to replace the 610n ...no particular reason, just wanted to eek out some more performance if I could. Range is certainly better, but speed not so noticeable. Anyway, not much way to justify getting this baby so soon after now.

 

Cisco Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Wireless-N Router Reviewed - SmallNetBuilder

SNB has their review up!!!!

 

From the summary it looks like the same 'ol....again. Just an updated/modern 2012 Space Ship look. These routers would be worthless w/out third-party firmware. They lack too many trivial features out-the-box to justify the price...with basically similar hardware as the 3000 I don't find this worth it at all just for the little bump in speed; but others might.

 

I'm stumped. It is after all BCM4718. How the hell did they do it?
I mean it can be clocked higher than 480MHz (I think it was designed to run @530MHz) and I know that guys at Linksys were always very good with writing firmware for Broadcom hardware but that is insane.
If-or rather when- this router gets $20-30 cheaper it's going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread (that's unless Netgear unleashes something special in WNDR4000)

BTW how much longer till Linksys figures out USB print servers and WDS support? Or is it going to cost another $50?

 

I guess I did find the right specs Now I just have to wait for the price to drop somewhat

 

Reading the review it looks like Sysco removed all of the excess baggage (some features).

 

I don't see any features missing apart from those that were never available on Linksys' routers.

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Bad news come to those who wait:
Cisco Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Wireless-N Router Review Followup