R7000 vs. R7450 – Which one has the best speeds for your home network?
Netgear nighthawk routers are mostly game-driven wireless routers, but that doesn’t mean they’re gamer exclusive devices. These Netgear wireless routers will provide your home or office network with power, speed, and performance. The R7000 vs. R7450 will show you which one is better suited for your home or office.
I’ve been trying to get a reliable wifi solution for my parent’s house. It has thick concrete walls which makes it hard to get a wifi router that can penetrate even to the basement. The house has many Ethernet cables that can connect to multiple devices around the house. A mesh system is out of the question as it connects between nodes using wifi and I want an access point connected by Ethernet for fast speeds and fast roaming. This r7000 vs. r7450 comparison chart made it easier to decide which router is best.
Table of Contents
What are the differences between R7000 and R7450?
Model |
R7000 (Winner) |
R7450 |
USB ports |
USB port 3.0 and 2.0 |
USB port 3.0 |
Wifi range |
Medium homes |
Large homes |
Speeds |
2.4 GHz – 600 Mbps
5 GHz – 1300 Mbps |
2.4 GHz – 800 Mbps
5 GHz – 1733 Mbps |
Weight |
1.65 pounds |
2.75 pounds |
R7000 vs. R7450. How do they differ?
USB ports
USB ports are very important in a router as they help to connect to other external devices like your hard drive, printers, and more wired and wireless devices. The r7000 router has two USB ports, the USB 3.0 port is located at the front part of the router to avoid signal interference from the 2.4 GHz band while the USB 2.0 port is at the back and you can use it with your printers and storage devices. However, the r7450 router only has the USB 3.0 port located at the front and is 10 times faster in accessing your stored files than the USB 2.0.
Safe connectivity
You should always ensure that all the devices that are connected to your network are protected from online threats and viruses. The r7000 has advanced threat protection that uses multi-layer security software to protect your devices and computer from malware, viruses, and data theft. On the other hand, the r7450 router ensures all your wifi connections are secure every time you or your family members go online. Whether it’s preventing spyware or limiting access to your guests and kids, this router will ensure your privacy is safe. VPN support will ensure your home network is secure, your guest network will allow you to give access to the guest but limit their accessibility to your network, and your personal FTP server that you can create.
Wireless speed
The r7000 and the r7450 routers have very impressive throughput speeds. You will enjoy super-fast speeds and lag-free wifi when you’re video streaming, gaming, or surfing using the r7450 router. Its wifi gaming speeds can reach up to 2600 Mbps. It has a powerful dual-core processor that boosts the wired and wireless connections and the WAN to LAN performance. The 2.4 GHz band can deliver speeds of up to 800 Mbps while the 5 GHz band can deliver 1733 Mbps. The r7000 router also operates as a dual-band device with serious wireless speeds of 1900 Mbps for HD streaming and gaming. It has a 1 GHz dual-core processor and two USB ports that will give you fast wired connections to your PC, game box, and other devices. The 2.4 GHz band can deliver good speeds of up to 600 Mbps and 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band.
R7000 vs. R7450. A comparison review
R7000 (Netgear nighthawk ac1900)
- Fast wifi performance: Get up to 1800 square feet wireless coverage with AC1900 speed (Dual band up to...
- Recommended for up to 30 devices: Reliably stream videos, play games, surf the internet, and connect...
The r7000 is a smart wifi router that provides excellent performance on its 5 GHz band with lots of cool features and one that is very affordable for your home network. It’s an all-black router with a trapezoid shape with flared sides and 3 finlike antennas that give it the shape of the famed fighter jet. It only weighs 1.6 pounds and you can either place it horizontally on a shelf or table or mount it on your wall. It has a very sturdy base with rubber feet that keep it from slipping. At the front are lots of LED status lights that indicate when the router is turned on, activity on its two bands, if connected to the web, whether Ethernet ports are active, wifi is turned on, and WPS. It has switches for power, activating WPS, disabling wifi, and a recessed reset button. At the back of the router are 4 gigabit Ethernet ports, reset button, power button, a USB 2.0 port, and the USB 3.0 port at the front to keep it away from the 2.4 GHz frequency to avoid wifi signal interference. The r7000 is a dual-band router with a 2.4 GHz band with speeds of 600 Mbps and 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band with a theoretical bandwidth of 1.9 Gbps of both.
This router is very easy to set up. It comes with an installation guide with instructions that are clear, concise, and easy to follow. Just plug in the router and type in the router’s IP address (192.168.1.1) or routerlogin.net and the Genie software will setup the system. Some of the features you’ll find include an enhanced QoS that helps to optimize video streaming when enabled from the interface. You can turn on the wifi multimedia (WMM) for one of the bandwidths or both to give priority to video or audio streams. You can also set the router to optimize the uploading internet traffic for gaming or downloading traffic for video streaming. The router can work with WEP and WAP2 encryptions, SPA, and NAT firewalls and also protect your network from a denial of service attack. The NAS functionality which is a ReadyShare technology will help you share small files, but for large files or to stream video in your home network, it’s better to use an Ethernet cable. Other features include parental controls, NAT filtering, guest network, and other access and content controls. It has a VPN capability that other routers don’t have that allows you access to your home network when you’re not around.
When it comes to performance, the r7000 isn’t the fastest 802.11ac router, but it has impressive throughput speeds at the 5 GHz band and it’s able to sustain good speeds even at further distances. This is thanks to the beamforming + that directs wireless signals from the router to different connected devices which helps to improve the signal strength and throughput performance. This router uses a 1 GHz processor with 256 MB of RAM and 128 MB storage space and is a dual-band router and can top theoretical speeds of 1.9 Gbps. You can test the bandwidth’s speeds to ensure they’re running optimally. Both bandwidths at 5 feet can give you speeds of 444.8 Mbps. For the 5 GHz band using the 802.11ac mode, this router can give a sustained real speed of 431 Mbps at 15 feet which are around 7 times the speed of a regular Ethernet connection. At 100 feet, it drops to 295 Mbps which is still fast. When on the 802.11n mode, it scores 188 Mbps over short-range and 181 Mbps over a long-range. On the 2.4 GHz band, it scored 117 Mbps over a short-range and 64 Mbps over a long-range.
Pros
- Comes with removable antennas
- Excellent throughput on all the bands
- Excellent wireless range and signal strength
- Easy to set up and install
Cons
- Bulky
- Performance on the 2.4 GHz band is slow
R7450 (nighthawk ac2600)
- AC2600 WiFi—Up to 2.6Gbps (800Mbps 2.4GHz + 1733Mbps 5GHz)
- MU-MIMO for simultaneous streaming of data to multiple devices
The R7450 is a smart wifi router that will provide you with the fastest speeds and with the help of MU-MIMO streaming so that you can enjoy super-fast, lag-free wifi speeds for video streaming, gaming, and surfing. This is an excellent ac2600 router that will provide wifi coverage to your entire house. This router has the same sleek, angular lines and matte finish with 3 detachable external antennas as the r7000 router. The antennas help to improve the strength of the wifi coverage throughout your home. This dual-band wifi router uses beamforming + technology, the built-in amplifiers, and antennas to increase the wifi coverage and reduce the dead spots. With super-fast speeds of up to 2.6 Gbps where the 2.4 GHz band can deliver 800 Mbps and the 5 GHz band can deliver 1733 Mbps. At the back of the router are 4 gigabit Ethernet ports, a power button, a WAN port, and a wifi switch. There is a USB 3.0 port at the front that will give you faster access and share your stored files on your USB drive with the help of ReadyCloud that you can also use to create secure personal cloud storage. You can access Goggle drive and your Dropbox easily and conveniently without paying any fees, limited storage space, or privacy issues.
Setting up this router is quick and easy. The nighthawk app makes things very easy, you just need to connect the router with your Ethernet internet cable and the app will pop up and take you through the setup steps. Using your computer or phone type in http://routerlogin.net on the web browser and enter your router’s user name and password. A home page will appear with the advanced settings that you can configure. Then you can connect all your other devices to the network and you’re ready to go. Some of the features you will find include the smart parental control that uses the Circle app that helps you to control internet access to different sites, limit screen time for certain devices on your network. Filter websites, and set usage time for connected devices. Advanced QoS feature allows for smoother streaming and lag-free gaming and you don’t have to worry about slow or dropped connections. The VPN support, guest network access, secure wifi connections, and a personal FTP server will secure all your wifi connections in your network to keep you and your family safe when you’re online.
As far as performance is concerned, the r7450 router has excellent results. On the 5 GHz band at 15 feet, it will score speeds of 786 Mbps and 538 Mbps at 100 feet. In the 2.4 GHz band at close range, it can deliver speeds of 125 Mbps and 83 Mbps at a long-range. If you have a home with many walls you can expect the range to be a bit shorter, but the range will be further if there are fewer obstructions that will allow it to connect to devices that are about 200 feet. The r7450 router will transfer data consistently between wired and wireless devices in your network without disconnecting.
Pros
- Very easy to install and set up in your PC or phone
- Provides a safe connection when you’re online
- Ensures maximum range coverage for your entire house
- Supports MU-MIMO and beamforming + for super-fast speeds and performance
Cons
- Doesn’t have a USB 2.0 port
- The 2.4 GHz band isn’t very impressive
Conclusion
Both the r7000 and the r7450 routers are excellent at delivering super-fast speeds and useful features. They’re both dual-band routers that use beamforming + to direct wifi signals to a particular device. They’re both very easy to set up and install and have the same bulky design.
So, which one is better. R7000 or R7450?
The winner is R7000 because it has great speeds and performance and a great set of useful features. It has two USB ports, the USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports that allow you to connect to more wired and wireless devices and storage drives. It has some unique features like the built-in OpenVPN server, the Broadcom TurboQAM to give you faster wifi speeds, and a third party firmware like DD-WRT. Although it’s a bulky router, it’s a very affordable one for your home.
FAQ
How many devices can the nighthawk r7000 handle?
The nighthawk ac1900 is a dual-band router with the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and it can connect up to 64 devices. This means 32 devices on each bandwidth.
Is the nighthawk ac1900 worth it?
The Netgear nighthawk ac1900 r7000 is a smart wifi router that will offer excellent performance on its 5 GHz band and a great set of features. It’s also very affordable for your home network.
