Introduction

There’s a rapidly-expanding section of the home electronics market which revolves around “devices”. The reason for the parentheses is that it’s difficult to know how to label these gadgets, because they don’t fit easily into any pre-defined categories.

Networked hard drives with USB printer sharing are what exactly? NAS? Print server? Or just a “device”?

These “devices” offer far more than any single specialist product. They excel in cramming loads of features into a compact system, and are versatile, flexible and quite powerful.

So, I shall stop referring to the irritatingly as “devices” and label them MFDD’s – Multi-Function Digital Devices. Feel free to use this label but remember to send me the patent money.

Putting all other MFDD’s to shame is the ASUS WL-700gE. Officially it’s a wireless router (because it’s got to be called something, but that’s like calling Arnold Schwarzenegger “that guy with all the muscles”. The truth is a lot more involved and complex.

The ASUS WL-700gE is more like a combination of a wireless router/gateway and a thin client system, and the feature-set is rich, rich, rich. Read on and make awe-inspired gasping noises at all the appropriate places.