NETGEAR’s WNDR4700 Targets Apple’s Time Capsule; Packs in 2TB

There are sure to be many interesting products unveiled at CES this week, although things do seem to be starting off slow. The first product to catch my eye isn’t ground-breaking in any real way, but it brings enough to the table to warrant a look. It’s the WNDR4700 from NETGEAR, the follow-up to the WNDR4500 media storage router.

NETGEAR makes some of the best networking gear on the planet, but taking things a bit further, the WNDR4700 has 2TB of hard drive storage packed in – and it’s user-upgradable. Further, there are not one, but two USB 3.0 ports bundled in here to help the process of moving files to the router, or taking them off, a fast process. To make sure things remain fast, NETGEAR has equipped with the WNDR4700 with a “fast processor” – faster than most other routers, at least.

The WNDR4700’s main target is Apple’s Time Capsule, and it in all regards has the specs and features to become the king of the hill. NETGEAR includes software that allows you to regularly backup your computer to the router, much like Time Machine, and it works both on the PC and Mac. Other features include ReadyShare Cloud, which allows you to access the hard drive’s content remotely via a VPN-like service, and it of course has the ability to act as a media server.

Wireless-wise, the router supports three-stream N (450Mbps) on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. There’s no word on pricing, but as the WNDR4500 retails for ~$200, you could expect the WNDR4700 to retail for at least $300 (but probably more like $329+) thanks to the included hard drive. Both aesthetically and features-wise, it looks like the WNDR4700 could be the media storage router to beat.