What should I look for when choosing a h/w firewall?

What factors should I consider or look for when I'm choosing a H/W firewall?
I know that some routers and access points have built in firewalls. Would it be better to buy one of those rather than a stand alone firewall?
I'm going to use it for my home network(2-3 computers) by the way.
Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.

 

What are your needs? Is this just a home network? Broadband routers will protect your home network with a basic hardware firewall because of NAT. This takes the public IP address that your ISP gives you..and puts your home network behind it on a private IP range..something like 192.168.xxx.xxx.

By default, your computers are completely protected/hidden from unknown/unwarranted traffic from the internet..and this is what counts.

Most DSL ISPs are now shipping combo modem/routers which do this for you, so you may have this feature already, in which case it's of zero benefit to add a 2nd router to the mix and end up double NAT'ing.

 

My needs are basic web browsing, downloading some stuff, and maybe playing some games too. Having said that, can you recommend me some solid and affordable h/w firewall/router?
Thanks in advance.

 

There are many different models, but if you need wireless networking for your laptop you can look at the many different Linksys or D-Link routers and choose the one that fits your needs. The D-Link DIR-655 is a good wireless router with firewall features as are many of the Linksys routers. You can go to the company websites to look at the features and web sites such as Newegg.com has good prices and is a good online retailer. Hope this helps out a little.