A lot of hot air (D-Link DES 1008D)

Member Name: udippel

Product:	D-Link DES 1008D
Date:	28/10/06 (825 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It works !

Disadvantages: flimsy - bad visibility of LEDs - too light for the size - loose stands

This switch looks great. It has those cooling (?) slits at the side, the brand in big letters embossed on top; a professionally-looking blue sticker on top as well.
Until I bought it and had it in my hands. A featherweight; no metal, but beautified plastic. The four rubber pieces to make it stand on a surface came separate and need to be sticked into the bottom, from where they regularly fall off when I lift the box. The thingy is so lightweight, that it regularly falls over when one of the network cables move. A cheap, non-switching power-supply produces more heat than the whole box. And when you plug it in, you can barely see the LEDs that are supposed to show power status and link status. Actually, only from a very small frontal angle are these visible at all. For curiosity, I opened the box (probably invalidating the warranty) and noticed why: a real cheap interior waits for you, with the LEDs badly aligned at soldering on the printed circuit board and no chance to move them.
Yes, the box works as it is supposed to work. But once you've seen the intestines, you wonder about the plenty of empty space in it; it could have been half as big and with less height. The ventilation slots are not needed at all; they are just as eye candy as the size. It is a shame that D-Link thinks they had to blow up the whole matter to look professional as sales agrument (so I think), instead of a much smaller and more robust mechanical arrangement, with easily visible LEDs. As comparison, I bought another, similar, device from a competitor and actually it is much smaller, has bright LEDs on the top and works just as well. Plus, it feels much more solid and keeps its 'feet' when being lifted.

Summary: Though it works, there is better available in the market