Wifi setup in apartment complex, router suggestions

[Hammi]

Moving into a studio and will be setting up my first wireless network on my own... I'm not worried about range since it's just a studio, but I want it to be fast and reliable.

Routers I'm looking at:
Asus n56U (great reviews but SO UGLY)
Linksys E4200 (looks amazing, good reviews, but only one usb port and slow transfers from it, and expensive)
Netgear WNDR3700 (some reliability issues early on, supposedly fixed in recent firmware, but still mixed reviews)


Devices that will be running on the network:
2 laptops (one G, one N)
iPhones (G, N)
iPad (N)


Requirements:
reliable
fast file transfers across network
printer sharing to at least the laptops, it would be nice to print from the iPad if possible
I like the idea of having a thumb drive attached to the router for network storage


So far the plan is to get the router, run inSSIDer and find out which channels have the least networks, and setup WPA2 encryption.

Is there anything else I should be doing to make the network as reliable and secure as possible?

Which router would you recommend?
Thanks!

 

[stevech]

on neighbors' WiFi - survey... It's not so much the number of WiFi networks but rather how often some or one is very busy with file or video transfers. You can avoid that neighbor by moving to channel 1, 6 or 11 in 2.4GHz. Unlike that all 3 channels are heavily loaded. I live in a dense area, lots of SSIDs heard, but none get much usage.

Expect the USB drive in the WiFi router to be v-e-r-y slow. An alternative is to plug it into a PC, use Windows to assign it a fixed drive letter like Z:, and share the drive or selected folders.

Which router? There's a review section here. I'd get a $50 11n WiFi router, Belkin, Buffalo, Engenius (newegg.com). Opinion: I avoid D-Link and Netgear due to inconsistent firmware quality from one product model to another.