NETGEAR’S RANGE
of Wi-Fi routers and mesh systems are always well-designed and offer high-end performance for business and home users who need a fast, reliable Wi-Fi connection. They do tend to be pretty expensive, though, as we saw with the recently-launched Nighthawk RS700 (reviewed in our March issue), which weighed in at a hefty $700.
That’s a lot of money for a single, standalone router—especially for home users who probably don’t need the blazing 19Gbps Wi-Fi speed offered by the RS700. The new Nighthawk RS300 is therefore designed to provide a high-speed Wi-Fi 7 upgrade with a more affordable price tag. As you might expect, the RS300 is slower, offering a top speed of 9.3Gbps, but that’s still more than fast enough to handle gaming, streaming 4K video, and other demanding online tasks, and it costs just under half the price of the RS700.
The design of the RS300 is similar to that of the high-end RS700, with both models adopting a tall, obelisk shape and finished in matte black. However, the lower price of the RS300 means that its plastic casing doesn’t feel quite as sturdy as its high-end counterpart.