Your household is busy streaming media, working online, and playing games every day. This Linksys Wi-Fi Router will expand your network coverage, send signals directly to your devices, and deliver a lag-free connection, even when you~re all online at the same time.
This user is a My Best Buy® Elite Plus Member, who has spent $3,500 on eligible purchases and is now getting 1.25 points per dollar. They may have received My Best Buy® bonus points for submitting reviews. They may have also participated in an invitation-only program that provides My Best Buy® Elite Plus Members with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
Our home network handles upwards of twenty devices. A mixture of 5GHz, 2.4GHz, and wired gigabit devices ranging from phones, tablets, PC’s, streaming, game consoles, printers, NAS and so on. To say the least, it is an extremely active environment, with heavy loading of movies streaming from the Internet and streaming services in the evening.
Have continued to look for technical solutions to provide more smooth bandwidth to our home and garage devices in the Wi-Fi jungle, that continues to grow. When I speak of the Wi-Fi Jungle I am not so much speaking of our home but all the neighboring usage, it is truly a jungle out there and it throttles back the bandwidth. There is only so much pie to go around.
Over the last two years have used two WRT 1900ac(s) routers that perform extremely well, but was not a complete solution for our needs.
When I first read about the EA9500 advancements I knew I had found what I was looking for, dual 5GHz bands along with a strong 2.4GHz band. Tri-Band Quad Stream Wi-Fi with speeds up to 5.3 Gbps, Beamforming technology providing focused directed Wi-Fi to your mobile devices. This Beast Packs a Tremendous amount of Punch.
The EA9500 provides for further Wi-Fi performance with the MU-MIMO technology, I cannot take advantage of this yet (my devices do not have the tech) as this will be rolling out in newer device products coming to market. I will of course have my eye on adding the MU-MIMO tech to my network mix, always room for improvement, plus my kid loves seeing the Wi-Fi Scanner showing the strength of our Wi-Fi in the neighborhood/Jungle.
Setup: If you are familiar with Linksys’s Smart Wi-Fi interface you will feel very much at home and the setup should be a breeze. Personally I manually setup my routers but they do have the Smart Setup Wizard which will walk you quickly through the setup.
My plan for switching from my network WRT 1900ACS router to the EA9500 was simply Snipping screen shots of all the setup screens and creating a short document to use in setup. Simple and fast.
My thoughts on the EA9500 can be summed up in one word, Wow! Never has our network worked so smoothly (especially at night when we have dueling movie streaming).
The signals are very strong and covers my entire home, and the router placement is in a corner room office. The banding of the two 5GHz streams is fantastic, though you can separate them and manage two separate streams if you need.
Important point for me was the expanding of the Ethernet Ports to Eight, I now (at the moment) no longer need an additional switch for wired connections at the router, though there are two Linksys switches at the entertainment center and at the kid’s desk. There is a separate Internet connection port making the Ethernet port total nine all running at gigabit.
Looks great and professional on the office desk, on the corner of course as this is no small router, it has a significant footprint.
Additionally, we have a detached garage that sits 88’ (actually measured with tape) from the router in the house to the workbench in the garage. The signal must travel through two house walls, deck structure, garage walls and obstacles in the garage, benches, stacked storage boxes, etc.
There is a decent signal in the garage from the EA9500 which I have picked up with a Linksys Range Extender (I am presently testing a RE6700 and RE700 extenders in the garage and both are slamming out five bars)! Great for streaming music to my Bluetooth speaker, keeping the phone connected to Wi-Fi or laptop connection.
Have not gone into all the technical info, it is there to read and it is exciting stuff. Can tell you I spent decades in IT managing systems supporting up to six thousand users, given all the equipment I have worked with this box has me excited. It is good stuff and fills my home with Five Bars of Wi-Fi.
User Manual: is rather simple, where I would enjoy more detailed documentation. The Help System within the router does provide more detail than you will find in the User’s Manual.
Have been running the router several days and it is rock solid managing our network. Plus, it looks cool.
Highly recommended if you have the need to run a large network environment, or just enjoy being the fastest kid on the block.
Expand your network and add network devices with this Linksys five-port gigabit switch, letting you transfer 10 times faster than Fast Ethernet. Five ports offer 5X Ethernet so you can plug and play without missing a beat. Power is reduced to unused ports on this Linksys five-port gigabit switch, saving you money by reducing energy costs.
This user is a My Best Buy® Elite Plus Member, who has spent $3,500 on eligible purchases and is now getting 1.25 points per dollar. They may have received My Best Buy® bonus points for submitting reviews. They may have also participated in an invitation-only program that provides My Best Buy® Elite Plus Members with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
An excellent 5 port switch with strong feature set. First off I like the retro Blue on Black look that matches up with our main WRT 1900acs router and Linksys SE4008 WRT 8-Port. Like that the switch uses IEEE 802.3az technology that allows for less power consumption during periods of low data activity.
The switch has a good hefty feel to it due to metal construction, this I am sure will help manage heat. And what I find Great about the Solid Feel is it does not move around on the desktop like lighter switches.
Easy to setup? Yes it is a switch, plug in your Network connection and wired deices and you are good to go.
Nice touches are the included mounting hardware if you want to mount to a wall or mount behind a desk. Also comes with peel and stick rubber feet pads for use on the desk. The foot pads could use some attention as two of ours lost their adhesive when we peeled them off. Easy fix with a touch of superglue.
We replaced an older E4200 router on my son's desk with the switch, much easier to use, no setup, far more efficient networking (fast), uses far less space and looks cooler. Have an older small footprint 5 port Linksys switch which we use with the home entertainment system, have been using it for years with no issues, but I far prefer the new edition.
Highly Recommended.
Note: I received a free sample of the SE3005 Switch from Linksys in exchange for my honest feedback.
Quickly burn your favorite movies and music to disc with this LG SP60NB50 double-layer DVD~RW/CD-RW drive, which features an overall maximum DVD write speed of 8x for rapid data replication. The slim design makes the drive easy to transport.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
Bought to use with hybrid computer. Worked fine, though seemed a bit flimsy from the thin design. Returned after deciding to just map a drive to my desktop DVD.
Upgrade your laptop's storage with this Samsung 850 PRO MZ-7KE512BW internal SATA III solid state drive, which offers a generous 512GB capacity for digital data. SED (Self-Encrypting Drive) technology controls access to private information.
Overall1 out of 5
Crashed and Burned after 44 Days - Good Luck
Byvrs99
Fast SSD - and Extra Fast to Crash in just 44 days. Of course it was on a Friday evening and cannot speak to Samsung until Monday. Cannot Chat with them as they do not offer Chat for SSD's.
Luckily it crashed two weeks after the 30 day return period to Best Buy. Guess it is a good thing they offer 10 year warranty? But have heard they will return a refurbished unit, which will not be good on 44 day old product. Must be living on the bleeding edge, should have stuck with the Toshiba, which I can't see a real life difference in speed.
After pulling every rabbit out of my hat I finally got the SSD going again. Have to completely reload OS, etc. starting at Windows 8. Not fun.
But I am "somewhat" happy that I was able to get the drive working. Not sure what happen to the drive, but have some suspicion of a setting in Magician (software system for the 850 Pro) which boosts speed?
Only at Best BuyUpdate your portable technology kit with this HP Omen 17-inch laptop. Ideal for gaming, this machine combines a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor with 12GB of DDR4 RAM for ultra-fast performance on the go. An island-style backlit keyboard equipped with dedicated macro keys makes this HP Omen 17-inch laptop easy to use in the dark.
Overall5 out of 5
Hp omen gaming laptop
ByMartinezjorge7
I recently bought the 16 omen laptop and I was able to return mine and be able to upgrade the the newest one it has a better graphic card and an new design with a better cooling vent with a 1 tb hard drive
HP OMEN by HP Laptop: Power through the virtual landscape with this versatile HP Omen 15-inch laptop. Ideal for gaming, this machine packs a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX video card for superior graphics performance. The 1TB hard drive inside this HP Omen 15-inch laptop provides plenty for space for gaming profiles and other multimedia files.
Overall4 out of 5
Excellent laptop, but not the best value
ByXephyrothfromColorado Springs, CO
This HP Omen is the 3rd gaming laptop I've ever owned, and it's undoubtedly the best one I've had the pleasure of using. However, this product isn't perfect out of the box.
FIRST IMPRESSION / UNBOXING: Out of the box, the first thing that I noticed is that this laptop has impressive build quality. The sand-blasted brushing brings a pleasant aesthetic while also bringing solid weight and durability. It's not incredibly flashy, so it doesn't scream "gamer" like a lot of other laptops, but it definitely brings a touch of the "gamer" aesthetic without being overzealous. The notebook is also much thinner than I expected, as I've been used to much thicker gaming laptops, but I suppose the lack of an optical drive attributes to that. The power brick is fairly small and compact for a machine that's capable of entry/mid-level gaming.
DISPLAY: Turning the display on, the 1080p IPS matte display is nice and bright, and viewing angles are decent without too much color shifting. Bezels aren't too large, and it's not something I noticed until just now while writing this review. While I'm used to Quad-HD and 4K resolutions, I was not displeased with this display in any fashion. The webcam is above the display and can record at 720p/30fps. Not the best, but not the worst webcam I've seen.
KEYBOARD: Typing on the keyboard is pleasant with the chiclet-style keys. It didn't take me too long to get used to the keyboard, having come from mechanical keyboards and MacBook Pro keyboards. The addition of the num-pad is certainly nice, as well. The keyboard is backlit red (as you'd expect with the Omen), but settings are very simplistic compared to other gaming laptops. The backlighting has 3 states: fully on, WASD on, or fully off. No, there are no fancy effects, and I wouldn't expect any at this price. I do find it a little bit surprising that you can't dim the backlighting, but I rarely dim the backlight on my keyboards, anyway, so it'd be a useless feature for me.
TRACKPAD: Out of the box, the trackpad sensitivity was incredibly low for my personal taste. After making some adjustments to the Touchpad Settings in Windows 10, I found a sensitivity that worked well for me. The touchpad does not physically click, but there are left/right trackpad buttons. Initially, I did find the buttons to be awkwardly placed, but I actually got used to them fairly quickly. While the touchpad isn't the best I've ever used, it is pretty good, in my opinion. 2 and 3 finger gestures work, as well.
SOUND: The Bang & Olufsen speakers surprised me. They have good volume and a pleasant sound signature. However, they're bottom-firing, so when you put the laptop on your lap, the frequencies dampen and you lose a bit of treble/mid-range impact. Keep in mind, this is with the "B & O Play Experience" toggled on from the "Omen Audio" application. You'll definitely want to leave that on if you're using the speakers, or else the bass will disappear and will sound really anemic. I did notice some clipping at max volume when bass-heavy music was involved. Headphone jack works well as you'd expect, but doesn't promise anything fancy, so don't bother trying to drive headphones with high impedance. The built-in microphone array is good for video/voice chat session, but don't expect it to compete with a USB desktop microphone in terms of sound quality. For all casual purposes, it does just fine.
PERFORMANCE: This laptop comes with a 4-core / 8-thread Intel Core i7 processor. For most basic tasks, this is actually overkill. But for gamers, this is great, as more games are utilizing more threads. The GTX 1050 can play any older game at very high settings, and can still play many modern titles at medium / high settings at 1080p. 8GB of RAM is enough for most people, but individuals who multi-task with a lot of resource-intensive chrome tabs and extensions may find themselves wanting more. While the 1TB hard drive is rated for 7200RPM, I still find it unacceptable to not have the operating system installed on a Solid State Drive (SSD) for a machine at this price point. You will not be unlocking the full potential of this machine while your OS runs on a slow drive like this. Thankfully, the upgrade process is fairly simple. After consulting the service manual found on HP's support website, I unscrewed the 10 screws from the bottom of the laptop and removed the bottom panel by starting with the side closest to the display hinge. From there, you'll have access to the SATA drive bay, the M.2 SSD slot (unoccupied, but does support NVMe drives), and 2 RAM slots (with only 1 occupied). I suspect that each RAM slot supports up to 8GB, but I could not find any confirmation in any of the documents available on HP's support website.
I happened to have an unused SATA-based SSD, so I swapped that with the 1TB HDD and used the software that came with my SSD to transfer the OS from the HDD to the SSD. After this process, my HP Omen was substantially faster with booting the OS and running applications—a night & day difference.
BATTERY: I haven't tested the battery life to an enormous extent, but enabling a battery estimation feature in the BIOS allows Windows 10 to report the estimated time (not just %) on battery. Depending on your brightness, power profile and workload, HP estimates 9 hours of mixed usage, and almost 7 hours of video playback. So far, I think that claim is accurate.
I/O: The HP Omen doesn't support Thunderbolt 3, but all the USB ports support USB 3.1 (1 Type-C, 3 Type-A. There's also a gigabit ethernet jack, HDMI (HDCP 2.2, 4k@60Hz), and Mini DisplayPort. It also supports a full-size SD card which can be fully inserted into the laptop without sticking out. As mentioned before, it also sports a headphone and microphone jack.
CONCLUSION: The HP Omen is a great laptop. It provides great features while also having room for a few upgrade. However, I do feel that an SSD should be included at this price—even a cheaper SATA-based M.2 or 2.5" drive would be fine. For a performance-oriented machine like this, skimping on the SSD is a poor decision on HP's part—especially at this price-point. I have seen competitor's laptops with the i7-7700HQ, GTX 1060, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD go on sale for cheaper. So in that regard, I do feel the HP Omen isn't providing as good a value, but it is objectively a good laptop—perhaps, just not as good a value when compared to other options around the same price.
HP OMEN by HP Laptop: Power through the virtual landscape with this versatile HP Omen 15-inch laptop. Ideal for gaming, this machine packs a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX video card for superior graphics performance. The 1TB hard drive inside this HP Omen 15-inch laptop provides plenty for space for gaming profiles and other multimedia files.
Overall5 out of 5
Zoom Zoom Zoom – Game On
Byvrs99fromTN
This machine looks like it is going fast sitting on the desktop. The exhaust system vents on the back edges of the laptop brings to mind the tailpipes a supercar might be sporting. When it is cranking through benchmarking the cooling system and exhaust ports are doing a job, pushing volumes of hot air away from the machine.
The HP Omen is the most bang for the buck that I have ever seen in a laptop, this box is loaded with edgy technology. Not going through a list of specs, those are easy enough to find, what is impressive is that all techs are up to date, not last year’s stuff. Too many times have seen corners cut to save a dollar. Not here. Not one USB 2.0 in sight, which is surprising seeing that we just built beast of a desktop a month ago with the latest Z270 Kaby Lake i7 7700K, USB 2.0 ports still in use on an advanced motherboard. Kudos to HP.
Take a close look at the specs, you will find 802.11ac with a solid 866.7 Mbps connection. “Dual Force functionality splits traffic across two data streams, sending gaming traffic over the fastest connection available (typically wired), and all other traffic over WiFi.”
Other ports of interest (not a complete listing check the spec sheet):
1 USB 3.1 Type C 3 USB 3.1 Mini DisplayPort
What I love is the fact you can purchase a HDD Omen model and then add your M.2 NVMe drive of choice, that is cool. If you are not yet familiar with M.2 NVMe you should take a look. In a word (or more) they are fast, about seven times that of a standard SSD.
What is interesting is that with the HDD the system boots up in 9 seconds, that is fully populated with my programs/anti-virus and all my files. Impressive. Being spoiled by SSD’s I must tip my hat to HP; this machine runs tremendously smooth with the 7200 RPM Hitachi HDD.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated memory) discrete GPU ran through the Unigine Heaven Benchmark smoothly turning good numbers while the cooling system kept the GPU at a respectable 68 degrees. Notable, that with all the heavy iron under the hood the system manages the temp easily.
Ran my favorite game, Civilization VI through its paces today set on the highest graphic settings and it ran like a champ.
Looks, it has the looks, brushed aluminum case with an excellent finish. Nice touches all-around.
Know it is a way cool machine as my kid, the gamer in the house is explaining all the great and subtle reasons why it would be better for him to hang onto the machine. Yeah right!
What I am getting use to is the keyboard offset, a bit to the left to make room for the full size numeric pad, which is a nice touch. Keyboard is fine and well suited for heavy accurate work, or gaming for that matter.
Want a blistering rig in your hands at an excellent price point, one that can kick it at games and can be easily expanded, check out The Omen.
HP OMEN by HP Laptop: Power through the virtual landscape with this versatile HP Omen 15-inch laptop. Ideal for gaming, this machine packs a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX video card for superior graphics performance. The 1TB hard drive inside this HP Omen 15-inch laptop provides plenty for space for gaming profiles and other multimedia files.
Overall5 out of 5
Zoom Zoom Zoom – Game On
Byvrs99fromTN
This machine looks like it is going fast sitting on the desktop. The exhaust system vents on the back edges of the laptop brings to mind the tailpipes a supercar might be sporting. When it is cranking through benchmarking the cooling system and exhaust ports are doing a job, pushing volumes of hot air away from the machine.
The HP Omen is the most bang for the buck that I have ever seen in a laptop, this box is loaded with edgy technology. Not going through a list of specs, those are easy enough to find, what is impressive is that all techs are up to date, not last year’s stuff. Too many times have seen corners cut to save a dollar. Not here. Not one USB 2.0 in sight, which is surprising seeing that we just built beast of a desktop a month ago with the latest Z270 Kaby Lake i7 7700K, USB 2.0 ports still in use on an advanced motherboard. Kudos to HP.
Take a close look at the specs, you will find 802.11ac with a solid 866.7 Mbps connection. “Dual Force functionality splits traffic across two data streams, sending gaming traffic over the fastest connection available (typically wired), and all other traffic over WiFi.”
Other ports of interest (not a complete listing check the spec sheet):
1 USB 3.1 Type C 3 USB 3.1 Mini DisplayPort
What I love is the fact you can purchase a HDD Omen model and then add your M.2 NVMe drive of choice, that is cool. If you are not yet familiar with M.2 NVMe you should take a look. In a word (or more) they are fast, about seven times that of a standard SSD.
What is interesting is that with the HDD the system boots up in 9 seconds, that is fully populated with my programs/anti-virus and all my files. Impressive. Being spoiled by SSD’s I must tip my hat to HP; this machine runs tremendously smooth with the 7200 RPM Hitachi HDD.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB GDDR5 dedicated memory) discrete GPU ran through the Unigine Heaven Benchmark smoothly turning good numbers while the cooling system kept the GPU at a respectable 68 degrees. Notable, that with all the heavy iron under the hood the system manages the temp easily.
Ran my favorite game, Civilization VI through its paces today set on the highest graphic settings and it ran like a champ.
Looks, it has the looks, brushed aluminum case with an excellent finish. Nice touches all-around.
Know it is a way cool machine as my kid, the gamer in the house is explaining all the great and subtle reasons why it would be better for him to hang onto the machine. Yeah right!
What I am getting use to is the keyboard offset, a bit to the left to make room for the full size numeric pad, which is a nice touch. Keyboard is fine and well suited for heavy accurate work, or gaming for that matter.
Want a blistering rig in your hands at an excellent price point, one that can kick it at games and can be easily expanded, check out The Omen.
Added a M.2 SSD to the Omen and nuked all the partitions on the HDD and added it back to the system. Day and Night performance. That is one aspect I like about this model is that it does not come with an installed M.2 drive, you can pick your own SSD ads capacity.
Screams with the new M.2 and have an additionally terabyte of storage on the HDD, whcih I use to sync my files to frequently before syncing with the NAS.
Enjoy room-filling audio in any living space with this LG Hi-Fi shelf system. Its two 150W speakers produce loud, detailed sound, and it streams music via Bluetooth when you pair it with an Android device. This LG Hi-Fi shelf system has an EQ function that optimizes the audio based on the music you're listening to.
Enjoy room-filling audio in any living space with this LG Hi-Fi shelf system. Its two 150W speakers produce loud, detailed sound, and it streams music via Bluetooth when you pair it with an Android device. This LG Hi-Fi shelf system has an EQ function that optimizes the audio based on the music you're listening to.
Run programs on this 12.3-inch HP Chromebook convertible laptop. Its detachable touch-screen display lets you enjoy brilliant 2K content, and you can write and draw on it with the included Active Pen. This HP Chromebook convertible laptop has 32GB of storage, and its Intel Core m3 processor and 4GB of RAM provide smooth performance.
I read in the specs "Built-in media reader for simple photo transfer. Supports select memory card formats." Does anyone know what formats are supported or not supported?
Run programs on this 12.3-inch HP Chromebook convertible laptop. Its detachable touch-screen display lets you enjoy brilliant 2K content, and you can write and draw on it with the included Active Pen. This HP Chromebook convertible laptop has 32GB of storage, and its Intel Core m3 processor and 4GB of RAM provide smooth performance.
Any info on this show stopper for me? (86) Access to the Google Play Store and related apps will be provided as part of a regular OS update. This feature might not be available at time of purchase;..
Run programs on this 12.3-inch HP Chromebook convertible laptop. Its detachable touch-screen display lets you enjoy brilliant 2K content, and you can write and draw on it with the included Active Pen. This HP Chromebook convertible laptop has 32GB of storage, and its Intel Core m3 processor and 4GB of RAM provide smooth performance.
Does this computer have a camera in which I can use Skype?
Toshiba 4K UHD Fire TV Edition is a new generation of smart TVs featuring the Fire TV experience built-in and including a Voice Remote with Alexa. With true-to-life 4K Ultra HD picture quality and access to all the movies and TV shows you love, Toshiba Fire TV Edition delivers a superior TV experience that gets smarter every day. The Voice Remote with Alexa lets you do everything you'd expect from a remote~plus, easily launch apps, search for TV shows, play music, switch inputs, control smart home devices and more, using just your voice.
Will you be able to download Amazon Apps ?
Like Silk browser,and downloader ?
Toshiba 4K UHD Fire TV Edition is a new generation of smart TVs featuring the Fire TV experience built-in and including a Voice Remote with Alexa. With true-to-life 4K Ultra HD picture quality and access to all the movies and TV shows you love, Toshiba Fire TV Edition delivers a superior TV experience that gets smarter every day. The Voice Remote with Alexa lets you do everything you'd expect from a remote~plus, easily launch apps, search for TV shows, play music, switch inputs, control smart home devices and more, using just your voice.
will there be a need to use a firestick or is it built into the tv already? is it wifi or ethernet?
Only at Best BuyUpdate your portable technology kit with this HP Omen 17-inch laptop. Ideal for gaming, this machine combines a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor with 12GB of DDR4 RAM for ultra-fast performance on the go. An island-style backlit keyboard equipped with dedicated macro keys makes this HP Omen 17-inch laptop easy to use in the dark.
Does this laptop have an M.2 socket that supports an NVMe SSD? Also, is there an empty socket for ram expansion?
Only at Best BuyUpdate your portable technology kit with this HP Omen 17-inch laptop. Ideal for gaming, this machine combines a 7th generation Intel Core i7 processor with 12GB of DDR4 RAM for ultra-fast performance on the go. An island-style backlit keyboard equipped with dedicated macro keys makes this HP Omen 17-inch laptop easy to use in the dark.
recently pre ordered this laptop I was so excited about it that after I put my order for it I didn't realize it didn't have a Solid state drive I'm very concerned that my laptop won't operate at it's best is there a way I can upgrade it by adding a SSD