subject: Brand New Asus Rt-n56u Router Review [print this page] Weve said this before, but it really seems that, although the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has ended quite a while ago, its echoes are still here, one of the most interesting weve come across lately being the all-new Ivy Bridge N-Series laptops from ASUS.
Throughout the range an aluminium case is the first thing to notice, then comes the specs, Asus have gone with the Ivy Bridge processor range from Intel, GeForce 500 graphics cards from Nvidia and there are some series speakers from developed by Bang & Olufsen too. All of which make the N Series an interesting choice for consumers.
These machines will be powered by the latest processors from the Intel Ivy Bridge range such as the Core i5 or the Core i7 processor.
As for the graphics, the buyer will be getting the latest version of the Nvidia GeForce video cards for superb video playback using either the optical drive Blu-ray combo or the DVD player or burner.
A widest range of products from PCs and servers to external storage and headphones are being currently produced under the ASUS brand.
Nearly everything you need for a home network such as Wi-Fi adapters and routers are also included. Besides their traditionally high quality and up-to-date hardware components, many networking products from ASUS have the important advantage of allowing you to use alternative firmware. This is especially interesting for users who like to get the most from their hardware and they can do that with the ASUS RT-N56U router. This product features a fast processor, Gigabit Ethernet ports, dual-band operation (2.4 and 5 GHz) in 802.11n networks, and two USB ports for printers and external storage. Complementing these hardware properties is an original exterior design, so the RT-N56U is quite an exciting product all around. Lets now have a closer look at it.
Package and Accessories
The router comes in a very large box that could have accommodated a couple of nettops together with a netbook, although the product itself is rather compact. Somewhat oddly for a router, the RT-N56U is positioned as a luxury product as is indicated by the lacquered details of its packaging. There are a lot of descriptions and technical specs on the sides of the box.
Besides the router, the box contains a stand, a 19V power adapter, a flat black Gigabit Ethernet cable, a warranty coupon, a quick start guide, and a CD with the user manual in PDF format and a set of utilities.
On display within the companys booth from CES 2012, the brand-new multimedia and entertainment-focused portable systems appear to
have undergone a very serious overhaul, the new N76, N56 and N46 notebooks having a very slim and eye-catchy design, not to mention an impressive build quality.
The new Ivy Bridge ASUS N-Series laptops come in 17.3 inches, 15.6 inches and 14 inches versions, all providing a base resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, but 1600 x 900 pixels or 1920 x 1080 pixels resolutions also being available for the large models.
Furthermore, they offer a chichlet, backlit keyboard (a major plus, as far as were concerned), as well as a set of impressive hardware components, including, beside the aforementioned Ivy Bridge CPUs (in Core i5 and i7 variants, latest-gen NVIDIA graphics cards, up to 16GB of DDR3 1600 Mhz RAM modules, and HDDs up to 750GB, 7200 RPM.
Exterior Design
The exterior design is an advantage that can be seen without any tests. For the upright case of the router to be steady, the stand is heavy. Combined with the lack of external antennas, the slim case looks very elegant. It measures 17 x 14.5 centimeters with a thickness of only 1 to 2.5 centimeters. And it seems that those 2.5 centimeters are only necessary to fit the connectors in.
The angular front panel has a few indicators: Power, Wi-Fi, Internet, LAN, and USB. Their blue light is not intensive and cannot distract you. There is a small WPS button at the bottom for quick and easy connection of wireless clients.
The RT-N56U is going to be an excellent choice if you want to show your friends how cool you are. It will look perfect next to a Vertu phone or Bose speakers. The aesthetic properties do not go along well with ergonomics, however. The only official way to install the router is upright on the included stand. You cannot wall-mount it or put it down flat on your desk. But if you use all of the routers ports by connecting five Ethernet and two USB cables, its compact case wont be steady.
Thus, the style and quality are top class, but the usability is lacking.
Hardware Configuration
The RT-N56U is based on a 500MHz Ralink RT3662F processor. It has an integrated dual-band radio module with support for 2T3R mode but it can only work at one frequency at any given moment. Therefore it is accompanied with a Ralink RT3092L chip in 2T2R mode. As a result, the main processor is used for the 5GHz frequency band whereas the auxiliary one, for 2.4 GHz. The router has 64 megabytes of RAM and 8 megabytes of flash memory. The USB controller is integrated into the main chip. The Gigabit Ethernet interface is based on a Realtek RTL8367F. As we found out, it supports Jumbo Frames up to 9 kilobytes (a larger size wasnt supported by our network adapters).
The electronic chips are covered by a large screen that does double duty as a heatsink for the processor and Gigabit Ethernet controller. A place for a console port can be found on the PCB. The antennas are implemented on the PCB, too. Its hard to make out their configuration but we can spot three micro-connectors for external antennas.
Setup Options and Functionality
When you connect the RT-N56U to your network for the first time, you can use a simple setup wizard to specify such parameters as Internet connection or Wi-Fi security settings. There is also an included utility for that purpose. The routers web-interface features an original design that has already been used in ASUSs previous products. It has an integrated Help system but not all of the settings are covered there.The RT-N56U supports every modern type of Internet connection including static/dynamic IP address,
PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP. You can change the WAN interfaces MAC address and connect up to two IPTV set-top boxes. If youve got a dynamic
external IP address, you can use the integrated DDNS client to provide easier access to the router and LAN from the Internet. Besides
conventional DynDNS and TZO, you can use ASUSs own DDNS service.
The router having two radio modules ASUS N56V battery, most of the Wi-Fi connection settings come in pairs: one for the 2.4 GHz band and another for 5 GHz. The settings are exhaustive: network name, operation mode (you can limit yourself to Wi-Fi 802.11a, b or g or their combinations, but Auto is the best option), channel width (obligatory for 802.11n to work at maximum speed), channel number (for the main and auxiliary channel), encryption mode (open network, WEP, WPA/WPA2 with a key or RADIUS server, 802.1x). It is possible to restrict access by means of a MAC address filter. A special page can be used to overview the current settings and monitor client devices.
If the router is in a hard-to-access place but you want to use WPS, you can do that via the web-interface.
The radio module allows to specify over a dozen special options on the Professional page. The most important of them are a Wi-Fi operation schedule and the option of prohibiting the wireless clients to communicate with each other. Like most modern routers, the RT-N56U can work on a WDS network to expand the coverage. However, with the current limitations and potential incompatibilities, it is often simpler to establish several access points (unless it is impossible or difficult to connect them with cable).
Conclusion
ASUS must be given credit for developing a product that combines splendid looks, high-performance platform, and multifunctional firmware. A special feature is the availability of two radio modules that can ensure very high speed for your wireless network. In our tests we got as fast as 100 Mbps and more, for example. The routing section is fast as well and can help you get information from the Internet at a speed of almost 1 Gbps. The PPPoE connection was about 500 Mbps fast whereas PPTP and L2TP were as fast as 100-150 Mbps, which means that this router won't be a bottleneck on a modern 100Mbps connection.
The USB functionality like sharing and downloading files and running a media server is interesting, yet these are all but extra features and you cant expect them to be up to the routers main functionality in the quality of implementation.
The ASUS N56 battery might be interesting for people who like to tweak their hardware by means of alternative firmware and add-on modules. It allows to establish console access and install additional software for more functional file download and media server features, for example. You should be careful with that, though. Despite its advanced hardware configuration, the router may get unstable.
Original post by:http://www.laptopbatteryretail.com/blog/brand-new-asus-rt-n56u-router-review.htmlby: burberrychou
