Download torrents when your PC is off Hardware Roundup Asus spearheads PC-less devices
By Maurice Le Wibble: Tuesday 22 August 2006, 14:03
DOWNLOAD torrents with PC turned off. That's one of the, or rather the main selling point of the Asus WL-700gE Router. BT by itself is not illegal.. But... Anyway, this one is a multi function device that allows you to have a FTP server, a NAS, a multi Media device, a printer sharer and more. All wirelessly of course. You have to wonder what a computer is meant for after playing with one of those. It even comes with a 160GB HD. It is expensive and requires a PC for interaction. But I guess some guy at Asus is going to glue a 14-inch monitor at the back and bundle in a Wireless keyboard. Who needs a PC?

MFDD’s – Multi-Function Digital Devices
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.

Network protection is multi-layered. Two firewalls work to protect both the wired and wireless networks. Both firewalls are NAT and SPI-capable (Network Address Translation and Stateful Packet Inspection). This makes the WL-700gE at least as secure as any other wireless router/gateway on the home market.
Wireless communication can be secured with 64/128 WEP, TKIP, AES, WPA or WPA-PSK encryption, and authentication is handled by MAC address and MAC filtering, or 802.1x.
The unit comes with a 160GB IDE drive pre-installed. It only supports IDE, not SATA. There are also three USB 2.0 ports for hard drive expansion, printer connection or data copy from a USB flash drive. With a USB drive connected, it supports RAID levels 0 and 1 (striping and mirroring) – all from a router!