What switch should I get?

[Ben Mahomed]

Ok so I am after a switch for my home setup. I would like something with around 5 ports but I do not know what model or brand I should get. 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Darel321]

anything should be fine.. its just a pice of plastic and wires... so... just pick the one you like

[Mark77]

Basically you have to decide whether you need any managed features or not (like VLANs, rate limiting, statistics, LACP, etc.).  And buy accordingly. 

 

Cheap unmanaged ones with 5 ports are like $20 these days.  Not too much of a risk.  Cost goes up if more features or ports are needed.

[Ben Mahomed]

What's the basic difference between managed and unmanaged? All I want is an easy solution for more Ethernet ports in my room. 

[BrightCandle]

1 hour ago, Ben Mahomed said:

What's the basic difference between managed and unmanaged? All I want is an easy solution for more Ethernet ports in my room. 

You do not need managed then.

[spellmanuk]

1 hour ago, Ben Mahomed said:

What's the basic difference between managed and unmanaged? All I want is an easy solution for more Ethernet ports in my room. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-SF1005D-Unmanaged-Desktop-Switch/dp/B000FNFSPY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460898693&sr=8-1&keywords=5+port+ethernet+switch

[InVis]

6 hours ago, Ben Mahomed said:

What's the basic difference between managed and unmanaged? All I want is an easy solution for more Ethernet ports in my room. 

A managed switch can be managed by you (or a network engineer). They are used if you need monitor the switch, apply port security, assign VLANs and other stuff most used in SME and Large Enterprise networking.

 

If you just need more port and you are not actively managing your network, you should just get a cheap unmanaged switch