Difference in switches

[Illsmatic]

Hi everyone!

I need help deciding which switch to get,

I'll be Using it for: LANs ( eg. gaming, filesharing)

I have 2 choices: http://www.zyxel.com/us/en/products_services/gs_108s.shtml?t=p or

http://www.dlink.com.au/products/?pid=229

My question is which will be better in terms of what I'll be using it for, I'm leaning towards the Zyxel one as it is an 8 port one and the D-Link one is only 5 port, they are both equally priced.

Another bit of info/Question : The Zyxel switch is called a Gigabit Ethernet MEDIA Switch (Zyxel has another one thats just a Gigabit Ethernet Switch) and the D-Link is also just a Gigabit Ethernet Switch, what is the difference between a MEDIA Ethernet Switch and a NORMAL Ethernet Switch?

Thanks in advance.

[bogiebasha]

The MEDIA one has the different sections of ports on the switch for prioritizing packets to the connected devices. From the description they seem to be marketing it as better for Media streaming, so i guess that's why it has MEDIA in the name. i guess it will have some impact on the performance of communications compared to the standard switch, but i cant imagine it will be a large margin. i suppose its better for situations where you are sending an unholy amount of data through the switch.

As for which one is better for you, it could be down to personal preference. they are both un-managed switches so once you have them plugged up and it works, then you are done.

I would go for the one you trust more, they have their own little bits of technology on them for neat little extras.

out of those 2 i would be tempted to go for the 108S from ZyXEL as it is 8 ports like you al ready pointed out. I also prefer the looks of the ZyXEL but its not important in some cases.

Unless someone has some evidence or data to say one of them seriously outperforms another, or one of them is more cost effective, then I don't see much of a difference between them

[KingLinkTiger]

In the case of the ZyXEL switch there isn't a difference. The ZyXEL switch is just called a media switch because it prioritize your network, as in if you want game consoles to be the fastest you plug them in one port and they will get a higher priority than your computers. What it really would come down to is preference, do you just want a standard 5 port switch, or do you want an 8 port, that has built in QoS (Quality of Service ie Prioritization). Personally, out of only these two, I would go with the D-Link because it does not have the built in QoS. I consider the QoS on the ZyXEL to be a turn off for me because they are hard wired to the different prioritization levels, so say if I wanted to have 3 computers at the highest level, I would need to buy another switch, or I wouldn't be able to do it.

[Illsmatic]

Ok guys, thanks for the info, I have decided to go for the ZyXel as I'll be using it for home network more then anything, LANs only ever happen once in a blue moon for me nowadays.The ZyXel one seems to fit my needs better. Again THANKS all for the quick replys.