The launch of the 450Mbps segment of the 802.11n specification was sort of backwards. We saw some of the first routers last year in the September – October time frame. Then at CES we got our first glimpse of one of the new 450Mbps wireless adapters. This was the TRENDNet TEW-687GA that we just finished testing. But we are not going to stop there as we have another 450Mbps adapter from TRENDNet in the lab. This one is more PC specific and connects over USB 2.0. You lose the universal appeal that the 687GA had but gain more on portability. So let’s introduce the TRENDNet TEW-684UB 450Mbps Dual Band USB wireless adapter.
The Box and Goodies -The box the TEW-684UB comes in is smaller than normal for a TRENDNet product. I was more than a little surprised at this as even their more compact USB adapters come in decent sized boxes. Of course the size of a box has nothing to do with the performance of a product so we won’t dwell on it. Looking at the front of the box it looks like the 684UB is a close twin to the 687GA. But if the image of the 684 near a laptop is to be believed it is much smaller. To the right of this picture is a graph telling you how much better the 684UB will perform (although what it is based on I cannot tell).
The back of the box contains the usual diagram of where the TEW-684UB fits into your network, pretty simple stuff really. Once you get inside the box you will find the 684UB, a USB cable (USB-A to Micro USB-B), a Driver/Utilities CD-ROM and a small user’s guide.
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