The New Linksys Routers

I've long been a fan of the Linksys brand of routers. Their distinctive blue colour could be seen in many homes. I'd become so adept at setting them up for a variety of friends that I had recorded their password info (with permission) so that I could remind my friends of their long forgotten passwords and also troubleshoot problems for them over the phone! This variety of Linksys routers hovered in the $50 price range.

But now that Cisco has purchased Linksys they've come out with a new design:
It's not clear to me that there is any core functionality that has dramatically improved, yet the price has more than doubled overnight. The capitalist in me realizes that Cisco isn't forcing anyone to buy their products but the utilitarian in me was very content with the old models!