Product Picking 2011

     Hello and welcome to the first product pick of 2011.  It feels like its been forever since I last typed one of these (and I'm sure you feel it, too).  So, to kick it off right, we're reviewing an energy efficient piece of networking equipment.  Because, as a New Years resolution, each of us should be working to lower our power bill.
     The piece I've chosen to day is Trendnet's GreenNet 5 port 1000mbs switch.  So, when I bought this thing about five months ago, I was just looking for a piece of hardware that could get me 1000mbs traffic on my network, since I had two device capable of hitting that speed, and I wanted to get the maximum I could out of my hardware.  I saw it on sale, so I grabbed it.  Turns out to be one of the best impulse buys I've made.
     The unit supports up to four computers and a line out to another router if you want, or five individual computers if you just need that.  Not a whole heck of a lot, but if you need a few more ports, there is an eight port model for about twice the price.
     Once I got the ports filled on the back with all the devices I wanted connected, I flipped the power switches and started the engines.  I was trying to get my Western Digital World Book to connect to the computers I have as fast as possible, since I have seven operational units on my network at any one time, and they all draw information from that central point.  On the old 100mbs network, even with full duplex, it took a little bit for things to load from the World book.  But, with matching 1000mbs hardware (which I will be reviewing later), the wait was gone!  No more lagging load times, no more annoying blank screens with an hourglass.  I would simply click, and there it would be.  I immediately fell in love with 1000mbs connection speeds, and even more with the Trendnet GreenNet switch, because I knew I was going to break the bank in energy costs.
     (I must admit, at the moment, Digital Fruit has no means of determining the actual difference of energy used from the Trendnet GreenNet switch and other 1000mbs switches, but what I can test is the amount of heat being output, which is an excellent mark of how much or how little energy a device is gobbling.  After testing other 1000mbs switches, and beginning to wonder if my desk was going to catch on fire, I found that my Trendnet switch was putting out less heat than most other brands, even within Trendnet's own line of products.)