We're getting off topic now aren't we? :p

Prototype dual-screen netbook.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/kohjinsha-...book-prototype

Yeah but you're the OP so it's allowed haha.

That's a pretty neat proto, though kinda useless imo as the whole point of the netbook is to be tiny and have obscenely long battery life. As much as I love widescreen for gaming and movies I kind of hate it for computers as documents are vertical, between the taskbar, window frame, toolbars etc there's not a lot of vertical space left and way too much horizontal left over. I think a laptop/netbook with a rotatable screen would be cool but the durability might leave a lot to be desired.

doesn't ingram or techdata carry apple products?

from what i've seen, the wholesale price is not where near DLINK

^^ Wha?

He's saying that you would save a LOT of money by getting a wholesale account elsewhere and buying a D-Link router instead.

So... as per my original post.... I think I'm going to stay with my router for now. It's just that I dropped it off the table, and one of the antennas broke off. It seems to be working fine.

You can buy replacement antennas as well.

Yes, but opening a new wholesale account is out of the question. Besides, it's only about a $20-$30 savings on a $100 router...that's not a 'LOT' of money.

A good reliable WiFi-G router should only cost about $30 tops. Look for something from Netgear or Trendnet.

Keep in mind that most routers use the same chipsets (Broadcom or Atheros - the Airport Express uses Broadcom) and are all the same hardware-wise. What matters is software, not brand. And the companies I mentioned make good firmwares although they are not as well marketed as D-Link and Linksys.

$99 for an "Airport" is absurd, $179 for an "Airport Extreme" is quite overpriced, but the real doozeys are the "Time Capsules". $300 for a single-drive NAS is vomit-inducing.

Im a very PRO MAC guy since i made the switch, nowadays when the hardware is identical, it doesnt make sense to pay a premium on some products such as routers unless theres one or two features that make it worth while.

Sadly, Apple seems to have issues with heat on alot of their products.

Why not give a router with USB hub capabilities and give it a go. can serve well to pop in a printer in there as well!

I use a mac, a dell monitor at home, a logitech mouse and many external drives.
the only mac accessory i own for my setup is the keyboard, simply becuz I loved how it looks.

i'm pretty sure a DLINK 655 would out perform any airport device

time capsule is another product, cuz its the only device that fully support time machine as a NAS....

I've set up my DLINK NAS to backup with time machine, but there was no way to retrieve it after a fresh install, since I couldn't manually change the NAS setting in OSX when it ask for recovery back up from time machine.

and for time machine backup, it doesn't really matter if the time capsule would fail or not... you would only be outta luck if both your mac and time capsule fail at the same time.

i'm actually trying to say, if you have an wholesale account that carry apple, i'm sure the wholesaler would have DLINK or Linksys product as well

there are so few supplier that carry apple....

I used to have the Airport Extreme ...

It performed really well (range, speed, signal consistency), but if you have any Windows-based computers, I wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't support uPNP and manually opening ports is a fucking pain in the ass, especially when Apple insists you have to reboot the fucking router every fucking time. There were other issues related to Windows-based PCs, too (Apple's bullshit software and services having to be on any PC that wants to make changes to the router, firmware upgrades every 2 weeks that would fix some things and break others on the PC, etc.)

Ingram Micro carries Apple products, yes ...

So buying a $119 D-Link DIR 655 is also absurd? What separates a $30 Netgear and a $100+ router of another make? There must be a difference... As with the photographic industry, in the computer industry you must generally get what you pay for?

Not quite so, in photography a lot of things are analog ie lenses, with computers it's more digital, more black and white. If the specs are the same but one costs more generally all you are paying for is the brand. Apple is the primest example of this, their hardware in any of their products is no better or more powerful but you pay more because of the name (ex there's an LG phone that runs the iphone firmware better than the actual iphone but costs less). My old D Link G router I got for $10 from Futureshop through a mail in rebate worked flawlessly for years, I only replaced it to get more range from an N.

All that aside for the most part a router is a router, if it works out of the box it should work for a long time, save maybe a cap going bad but I would guess every brand buys cheap ones. I tihnk there's a custom firmware, Tomato or something that would essentially make every router the same once installed.

faster internal processor and ability to process more connection at the same time. its very noticeable when u use bt.

No, I don't agree with that. A cheap lens will almost never outperform a more expensive one of the same specs. A Canon 35mm f1.4 casts $1500, a Leica 35mm f1.4 costs more than twice as much, and will outperform the Canon in sharpness, contrast and flare control. Is it worth the premium? Only yourself can answer that. To me it was.

Now, you say Apple products cost more, but in my case, the HP product would have cost $500 more for the same specs.

that's my point, lenses are not computers, price does matter a lot more with things like that, especially when you're talking about professional grade equipment where they're less likely to be able to BS people into buying the same quality product but with a jacked up price because the people buying it actually know what they're talking about (or I would hope so when shopping for a $6000 lens).

At the consumer end (0-$2000) Apple products do cost more, I have never looked at the $3000+ end of the spectrum though as I have never had any need.

I think it would be a little absurd to spend $100 on any router, unless it has special features you need. Like that D-Link for example, if you are a pirate who runs torrent 24/7, then you will benefit from not having your router bogged down all the time. But if you do that, you would be smarter to not use wireless at all to torrent.

Some routers (like my $60 Asus) have torrent functionality built right in (though I never use it) along with a printer server and a USB port you can plug hard drives into for instant NAS.

... well... heavy torrenting on wire + wireless for everyone else in the house right

i don't know.. i have a mb unibody refurb and what sold me was the chasis, screen, and osx. i don't think it was much of a premium for 1149. when i hold a laptop and i hear it flex it really feels like something from TRS.

in terms of routers, for sure the $10 trendnet ones are crappy. with that said i've recommended about 5 each (lower end d-links, dir-655) to friends and they're never had a problem with them. that's 10 individual experiences for those wondering.

the USB functionalities didn't work so well for me on the dir-655 tho