Need router buying advice

got a macbook the other day and badly need a wireless router im looking at this one:

http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=2CS8
or
http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3K24

also got a mac mini and want to be able to plug it in via ehternet.
Checking out Airport Extreme on ebay.

so are these good routers? what your experience with them?

airport extreme or wait for time capsule sometime this or next week, it
is actually a good deal.

I'd stay away from Belkin routers, haven't heard much good about them. I'd stick with either a Linksys, or Netgear router.

Well, over the years I've used Belkin and Linksys. And until last week I was a major Linksys fan. But then I upgraded to a Linksys WRT-300N, which is a draft N router which allegedly has good speeds and range.

When my MacBook Pro was located within 10 ft of it, I could not maintain a connection with it. Yet from two floors away, it had an incredibly powerful signal. As I spend most of my online time at home in my office, next to the router, that would not work for me.

So try the NetGear WNDR3300. It's amazing. 8 internal antennas, supporting both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signalling, and the normal amount of security options. I get a full strength signal in every room of my house on either G or N. And while I haven't yet tested the N bandwidth, I don't think I'll have any issues with it. Tonight I'll move some big files from the mac to the server and time them to make sure. I should top out at about 100 Mbps, as the wired interface is only 10/100, and not 10/100/1000. But that should be a major improvement over the 36 - 44 Mbps I'd see on the G-spec router I replaced.

Belkin's are the worst & have the worst support

I have a dual-band A+G that they never updated the firmware and it's stuck at WPA and no WPA2 support.

On another note. Does anyone know how to break the 130mbps barrier on the Airport card included in the MacBook Pro? I have the latest 2.2GHZ/15.4/8600GT 128MB with Wireless Support for a/b/g/n. But @ 802.11n, my max is 130mbps. The router I am connecting to is an el cheapo airlink with a RALINK chipset. I think I read the Macs use a broadcom? There are a couple routers that have struck my interest because of the Quad network modes which is the Netgear WNDR3300 and Dlink's 4500 xTreme. Of course there is the $179 without a discount Apple Base station. But I was simply curious if anyone has got their Mac to connect faster then 130mbps via 802.11n. My airlink only supports 2.4ghz like most of the low end routers. The two I mentioned above are supporting 5ghz which originally was "A" only. With 23 channels vs the 2.4ghz band which has 3 there is a lot less interference though in "A" mode, there is very limited distance. I would love to see how the Mimo technology works with A & N in the 5ghz band but frankly I would be a bit disappointed to connect at a max of 130mbps with the Mac since when you get into the real specs that doesn't even equate to 50mbps sustained. Geez @ 270mbps - 300mbps it's rated no higher than 75mbps with a solid connection so I certainly would like to connect higher than 130mbps.

Anyone with experience on any of the above, I welcome your replies and especially if the airport base station has good coverage and supports the full 270 or 300. But how is the apple base station with a windows machine? I have a gateway with a broadcom chipset internal wireless and a Dell USB that does both 2.4 & 5ghz.

Thanks in advance.
SMZ

130Mbps barrier

On my airport extreme I have to be in 5Ghz N-Mode in order to get 300Mbps if I put it in 2.4Ghz i drop to 130Mbps. This is primarily the difference in the prices between N-routers cheaper ones only operate at 2.4(not that they will tell you that without a little research)