New stable dual-band router advice (2.4Ghz overcrowded)

[loves_ramen]

I have a relatively low budget < $100. Would really prefer something in the 50-80$ range.

Range is not a big reason (tiny apartment, all devices mainly just in living room with the router).
The only criteria is stability & to a degree sustained throughput ( 105mbps comcast connection).

I thought of tp-link archer C7 or tp-link WDR4300 (but may or may not play nice with a mbp & iphone and an old dell which has a broadcom wireless as well?) , netgear WNDR4300 and asus 56u.

But seeing that all I really need is a wireless N router (no G devices and I dont care about AC) in 5Ghz mode (there are about 30 wifi ssids I've seen in 2.4ghz and 0 in 5Ghz) , and all I really care about is stability with support for my fastish internet (?) ,
please recommend me a good router for my range.

Edit PS: also have a single band chromecast , but rest of my devices pretty much support 5ghz

 

[theveterans]

Apple Airport Express. You pay $20 more for the name though but reviews are saying that it's very stable.

 

[Trip]

At that price point, it seems tough to find both signal strength and stability with 5Ghz. If you're comfortable with trial+error'ing TP-Link/Netgear stuff, go for it. Else, I'd second the Apple AE - even though I don't run any of their gear personally, whenever I've have to deal with them at client locations, they've always appeared stable (about a half-dozen experiences to go off of there...).

 

[azazel1024]

The TP-Link WDR4300 and WDR3600 (I have the later) WILL play nicely with Apple stuff. I currently have one WDR3600 running as an AP and I had one as a router as well for a couple of months and all of my apple devices were rock solid with it and the routers were also rock solid.

 

[microchip]

I also recommend TP-Link. All the routers I had from this brand, were extremely solid thus far.