D-Link Aquila Pro AI M60 Review – Simplicity Does It

Unboxing & Walkaround

Today we’re reviewing the D-Link AQUILA PRO AI M60 router, the highest-end model for the AQUILA PRO AI series with AX6000 rating and mesh capabilities. Right away, you can see the router is designed with a very distinct shape and a mostly white exterior, accompanied by light blue accents.

In the box, you will find:
– Type G (UK, MY&SG) AC socket adapter
– Europlug AC socket adapter
– DC power supply
– LAN cable
– Warranty & safety document
– Quick installation guide
– D-Link AQUILA PRO AI M60 main unit

The router’s design is highly minimalist, with a single LED located in front while everything else is hidden in the rear end, including WAN/LAN ports, reset pins, DC power connector, and three buttons: power, WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), and LED switch, which is useful if you don’t want any distractions in dark environments. Wall mounting slots are located at the bottom, along with perforations likely for cooling use (you can also find your default login information above it).

Specifications

D-Link AQUILA PRO AI M60

Full specifications available on product page and datasheet.

Device Type	Wi-Fi Router
Operation Modes	Router, Mesh mode
Wireless Specification	802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)
Antenna Topography	4x internal omnidirectional 2.4GHz antennas 4x internal omnidirectional 5GHz antennas
Coverage Area	Single-unit: 3,000 sq. ft. Dual-unit: 5,500 sq. ft. Triple-unit: 8,000 sq. ft.
Operating Frequencies	2.4GHz (1148 Mbps) 5GHz (4804 Mbps)
Mesh Compatibility	All D-Link AQUILA PRO AI models
Backhaul Channel Support	No
Bandwidth Modes	2.4GHz: 20 / 40 MHz 5GHz: 20 / 40 / 80 / 160 MHz
Throughput Rating	AX6000 (1148 + 4804 Mbps)
Signal Modulation	1024-QAM
Processor	Unspecified
RAM	512MB
Onboard Storage	128MB
WAN	1x 2.5GbE RJ-45
LAN	4x GbE RJ-45
Auxiliary I/O	None
Wireless Security	WPA/WPA2-Personal WPA2/WPA3 – Personal (WPS Not supported) WPA2-Personal WPA3 Only (WPS Not supported)
Web Protection	None
Control Interface	Via gateway IP address (Web) D-Link AQUILA PRO AI app (Mobile) Amazon Alexa / Google Assistant (Voice)
Wall Mount Support	Yes
Dimensions	226.7 x 163.8 x 79.6 mm
Weight	584g

Test System

Server	Standard benchmark system Intel Core i9-13900K ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 HERO Network adapter: Intel I-226V 2.5GbE LAN
Router	D-Link AQUILA PRO AI M60 8x omnidirectional antennas (4x 5GHz + 4x 2.4GHz), 1Gbps LAN
Client	Razer Blade 14 (2024) AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS Network adapter: Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 (Wi-Fi 7)

Performance

Using our iperf3 command-line tool to measure the throughput across multiple frequency bands and distances, the D-Link M60 managed to hit nearly 900Mbps in the 5GHz band in close range, though the speed dipped quite a lot when distance is increased to 10 meters (with direct line-of-sight). In all cases, it didn’t fare quite as good as the other model D-Link also offers, the DIR-X6080Z, capable of delivering plenty more bandwidth in all test conditions.

One thing worth pointing out during our setup of the testing procedures is that we found out the router is actually smart enough to avoid all the congested channels on our location and picked a completely empty channel to establish its Wi-Fi connection (by default, the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band is combined into a single SSID). Not all routers does this, and it’s pretty nice that you can simply input the ISP credentials, set up Wi-Fi password, and let the router handle the rest for you and not worry about interference issues.

Ignoring the throughput and just purely looking at the signal performance, we can see the M60 manage to fare better in 5GHz compared to other models shown in the chart above. On the contrary, the 2.4GHz performance fared slightly worse, but generally in the same range overall.

Management

If you’re already familiar with networking, I’d usually recommend to access the web management interface for the setup process since this can be done faster. In this case, the webpage will guide you throughout the setup process, so anyone with reasonable levels of computer knowledge should be able to get this up and running in no time. The interface does provide plenty of controls, ranging from VPN client to parental controls, and there’s even user profiles if you want to quickly load a certain set of settings for extra convenience.

Alternatively, if you prefer to manage the network on your phone (or while you’re away), you can also configure the router with the AQUILA PRO AI app available in app stores of your platform of choice. Overall, the app is intuitive to navigate – you can even integrate voice assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to enable voice controls if you don’t like to fiddle with all the switches throughout the app.

The Good

The D-Link AQUILA PRO AI M60 is quite a feature-packed Wi-Fi 6 router with a lot of positives to go for. For starters, the design looks the part, and the performance is generally solid (better if you pair it in a mesh system). We particularly appreciate its capability to automatically pick an empty channel to establish a Wi-Fi connection, which means you won’t have to worry about other 5GHz signals getting in the way and potentially hurting your network performance (especially latency due to packet losses, which is crucial if you game).

The router also comes with a 2.5GbE WAN port for those who signed up for ultra high-speed ISP packages, which means you get to tap into even more speed than gigabit routers can offer (or share it to more systems without congestion). On the Wi-Fi side of things, having a single SSID means it can automatically pick up the best signal source from your mesh setup (which supports all AQUILA PRO AI models).

One thing I like about the whole setup process is the ease of use for the router’s management interface and its app. Both provide a comprehensive set of settings accessible via web or remotely (you’ll need to sign-in for this), and for novice users, integration with voice assistants like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa means managing the device is easy even for the less experienced.

The Bad

However, there are two things worth pointing out as well: despite the router featuring 2.5GbE WAN, none of the four LAN ports support this speed – they’re all Gigabit-rated. If you’re running on a single-user setup, this is obviously not ideal since the GbE LAN will be the bottleneck. Additionally, no online protection software is included in the router, so it’s pretty much a case of bring-your-own here.

Verdict

At the time of publishing, we currently have no local pricing for the D-Link AQUILA PRO AI M60 yet, but the US MSRP is listed as $179.99 (~RM805). Not cheap by any means – but it’s generally a solid performer that can be worth investing if you got a big house or infrastructure to serve its occupants with solid Wi-Fi experience.

Special thanks to D-Link for providing the AQUILA PRO AI M60 Wi-Fi 6 router for this review.