One of the best possible things you can do for your home network, if you have the knowledge to do it properly, is to separate the functions of modem, router and WAP into three separate devices. The cablemodems provided by Comcast, Charter and other that have built in NAT and wifi are atrocious and bug-ridden security nightmares.

Example of a basic separated setup:

DOCSIS 3.0 cablemodem that is a dumb layer 2 bridge: https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Download-Certified-Spectrum-T...

router good for up to a 150-200 Mbps class cablemodem connection, $50: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-ER-X-Router/dp/B014...

if you want to mess around with stuff from the CLI, a ubiquiti edgerouter is actually a very tiny debian system. their edgerouter OS is a fork of vyatta and is developed by a team of people they hired away from vyatta when brocade acquired them.

802.11ac 2x2 MIMO dual band WAP: https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS...

or go for the more expensive 3x3 MIMO and 802.11ac wave2 WAPs if you really feel the need for it.

set up the unifi controller in a virtualbox VM that runs on your laptop and use it to do the initial setup/provisioning. bring up the VM whenever you need to make changes.