Aside from extra hardware, routers generally have a firewall built-in and can perform NAT translations and otherwise act as a gateway. They do DHCP in most cases, too. Of course when you start to look at enterprise setups things get a little more complicated.
Since routers act as gateways, they have their own IP address too.
Switches are not gateways. They join two physical segments and mask them as a single logical segment. They do routing only in the most basic of senses - moving packets between the physical lines.
Since routers act as gateways, they have their own IP address too.
Switches are not gateways. They join two physical segments and mask them as a single logical segment. They do routing only in the most basic of senses - moving packets between the physical lines.