- Switches frequently offer PoE by default whereas routers (especially consumer or PC-grade stuff) would need a PoE adapter
- Devices connected to the switch can communicate directly without the router, saving a hop
- Modern switches may only need to read the first few bytes of the frame before cutting the packet over to the appropriate port, whereas routers tend to need to read the whole packet and apply rules/policy, incurring higher processing costs
An ordinary home LAN may not find any noticeable benefits, but an enterprise setup might benefit.
- Switches frequently offer PoE by default whereas routers (especially consumer or PC-grade stuff) would need a PoE adapter
- Devices connected to the switch can communicate directly without the router, saving a hop
- Modern switches may only need to read the first few bytes of the frame before cutting the packet over to the appropriate port, whereas routers tend to need to read the whole packet and apply rules/policy, incurring higher processing costs
An ordinary home LAN may not find any noticeable benefits, but an enterprise setup might benefit.