Shopping around for Wireless AC adapters

[Chris313AllNight]

I have a friend who has a Asus 87U and is looking for a AC adapter for his laptop. All the computers he normally uses are Vista/Win 7 or later.

This is one that came up: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JBJ6VG8/?tag=snbforums-20

Is there anything better then this? Or is this what I should recommend to him?

 

[jerry6]

I'm using the edimax 1200 -7822 , so far 8 months it works well , a few glitches with the settings . ie you have to keep it on n-ac not auto to get 5 ghz channel and other strange things , but it works and get good transfer rates on large files and signal is strong

 

[thiggins]

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32545-ac580-usb-wireless-adapter-roundup

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32271-ac1200-usb-wireless-adapter-roundup

 

[RMerlin]

If his laptop isn't BIOS locked (some manufacturers do), an internal Intel 7260AC works great. This is what I installed in my Asus K55E laptop.

 

[System Error Message]

The Intel 7260AC is inexpensive and works well even for alienware which is notorious for having crippled bios and extreme temperature throttling (GPU throttles at 70C).

Aside from miniPCIe solution you can also use usb. Ive tested an asus ac53 usb and it works well too but requires a usb3 port and use of asus utility. A lot of other usb brands would work but just read the reviews on their reliability and performance. The last thing you want is a usb wifi that falls apart or cant maintain a stable connection. If you can go with the intel 7260 or similar although they are only 2x2.

When doing stress testing ive used both the asus usb AC53 and intel 7260 and managed to utilise 80% of the 866Mb/s rated using synthetic data transfers without breaking the connection though i did see lost packets from trying to force too many packets through. Practically you should expect to use 50-60% of their rated speeds.

I got my intel 7260 for less than £20 which is surprisingly a good price for a reliable AC wifi card. It has some really good settings and intel connection settings as well. The asus utility is sometimes a little glitchy but you can force it to use 5 Ghz if you have an AP that is both 2.4 and 5 Ghz. It shows the same AP as 2 different SSIDs if it has 2.4 and 5 Ghz.

 

[ddarko]

For the last week, I've been using the Netgear A6210 adapter. It's the same as the Netgear A6200 except it's USB 3.0 versus USB 2.0. I got it at Best Buy for $70, it's on Amazon for a little bit less. It performs well when connected to an Asus RT-AC66U though I had to use the Netgear Genie software to make it work. Using it with Windows drivers made it unacceptably flaky - I was never sure if a wireless network would be found or not. The Netgear Genie software made things much more stable and rock solid. I've used this adapter on a newly built computer and it's downloaded tens of gigabytes of data over the past few days without a hitch.

Today, I noticed that Asus is selling the USB-AC55 which is the counterpart to the Netgear A6210. The AC55 is the USB 3.0 version of the Asus AC53 adapter which was reviewed in the roundup posted above. Right now, the AC55 is cheaper than the Netgear A6210, selling for $50 on online retailers like Amazon or Newegg. I ordered one today to see how it compares with the Netgear A6210.

 

[jegesq]

Like Merlin, I also upgraded my HP laptop with an Intel AC7260. You have to insure that your computer's bios will accept it (most laptop manufacturers encode a "whitelist" into the bios, so that only certain "approved" wireless adapters will work...if your card is not on the whitelist, the only way to make it work is to flash a modded bios, and that can be very risky, as in you can brick your computer, so I wouldn't recommend it).

The AC7260 is cheap (about $35-40 from Amazon) and it's really easy to install (basically, find the card in your laptop, take out the screws holding it in place, pop it out and replace it with the AC7260). Make sure that you have a card with two antenna wires, because the card is a 2x2. You also need the correct driver. Use one from your laptop manufacturer, or get the latest one from Intel.

I've also used the Asus AC53USB and AC56USB and they are very good, actually better and more consistent than the 7260; the only inconvenience is they are external cards and the drivers take a bit longer to load each time at bootup than an internal card's drivers and it also requires unplugging when you pack your laptop to go.

My wife is also using the Asus USB-AC51 in her HP laptop (the Intel AC7260 was blocked by her laptop's bios so it wouldn't work). The performance on this adapter is not much faster than a really good 11n card, but the fact that it's 11ac keeps our 5ghz channels running all 11ac at 80mhz.

I have used and compared the performance of every wireless USB AC adapter currently on the market that I could get my hands on at my local Fry's....D-Link, Edimax, Trendnet, Linksys, EnGenius, Amped, and Netgear, and without question, all of the Asus USB adapters provided superior performance, higher throughput, higher link connection rates (comparing each class to class, i.e., 1200 to 1200, etc.). Edimax was probably the next best in terms of performance, but it's large and the weird antenna just wasn't something I could deal with (I like to use my laptop literally on my lap, and I move around a lot and the antenna design just seemed a bit fragile).

If you want internal, the Intel AC7260 is really the only viable and cost-effective option out there. If you want a USB, then any of the Asus adapters will work great. The are pricey, but worth it.

 

[mteicher]

Hello,

I have been using the Intel AC-7260 for several months. With one of the first drivers stability was an issue. However the last several driver versions has made this AC card a joy.

 

[jegesq]

Hello,

I have been using the Intel AC-7260 for several months. With one of the first drivers stability was an issue. However the last several driver versions has made this AC card a joy.

What version are you currently using? And for the benefit of others who are using the AC7260, can you provide a link to the particular Intel page from which you downloaded the driver?

In what brand and model laptop are you using the AC7260?

And if you didn't get the driver from Intel directly, did you download it from your laptop manufacturer's own site?

Thanks.

 

[mteicher]

What version are you currently using? And for the benefit of others who are using the AC7260, can you provide a link to the particular Intel page from which you downloaded the driver?

In what brand and model laptop are you using the AC7260?

And if you didn't get the driver from Intel directly, did you download it from your laptop manufacturer's own site?

Thanks.

I am using the current version 17.14.0
Download link:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&keyword=7260

The other version that worked very good but for some reason is not a d/l anymore is 17.13.2

Prior to these two versions if Proset was installed, after the computer came back from sleep the only way I was able to get internet access was to disable/enable wifi. The intel website/forums had quite a big discussion on this issue.

Installed in a Dell Studio.

 

[staticfree]

Intel AC7260 wireless drivers

What version are you currently using? And for the benefit of others who are using the AC7260, can you provide a link to the particular Intel page from which you downloaded the driver?

In what brand and model laptop are you using the AC7260?

And if you didn't get the driver from Intel directly, did you download it from your laptop manufacturer's own site?

Thanks.

I too just bought an Intel 7260AC adapter card for my Samsung N700G7US laptop and installed it. I got the latest Intel drivers and PROSET software for Windows OS' from here:
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034315.htm

The card works great with my new Asus RT-AC68P and Netgear R7000 routers.

 

[ddarko]

I got the Asus USB-AC55 today and surprisingly, it is much much worse than the Netgear A6210. Using the Asus software, connections are completely unstable - there are 10 second loading delays when doing nothing more than google searches which are obviously not bandwidth-heavy. This despite the software reporting a strong connection. Swap in the Netgear A6210 and the loading delays are gone. The router is 50 feet away from the computer so it's not the most difficult setup and I'm puzzled why the Asus adapter has so much trouble with such a baseline task. It's hard to generalize from one person's unscientific comparison so some people may find the Asus better than the Netgear but in my case the Netgear adapter is far superior to the Asus.

 

[jegesq]

I got the Asus USB-AC55 today and surprisingly, it is much much worse than the Netgear A6210. Using the Asus software, connections are completely unstable - there are 10 second loading delays when doing nothing more than google searches which are obviously not bandwidth-heavy. This despite the software reporting a strong connection. Swap in the Netgear A6210 and the loading delays are gone. The router is 50 feet away from the computer so it's not the most difficult setup and I'm puzzled why the Asus adapter has so much trouble with such a baseline task. It's hard to generalize from one person's unscientific comparison so some people may find the Asus better than the Netgear but in my case the Netgear adapter is far superior to the Asus.

That's actually pretty surprising. Or perhaps not. You'd already been using the Netgear, so if you didn't remove the Netgear drivers and software before installing the Asus USB-AC55 driver software, and also didn't remove any other USB wireless adapter drivers before installing the drivers and software for the Asus USB-AC55, that could explain why you experienced diminished performance. Also, if you don't delete your older wireless profiles that can also impact performance when using a different driver or adapter.

My experience, as I said, was that virtually every one of the Asus USB adapters performed better, often significantly, than other brands when teamed with my AC66U's (one as router the other a repeater).

Also, did you just plug the USB-AC55 adapter itself directly into a USB port of your computer (so that the adapter was only oriented horizontally), or are you using the cradle and extension cord that it ships with?

I found that my best results with any USB wireless adapter (regardless of brand) have come when I use the extension cord that the Asus USB adapters all ship with. This gives maximum flexibility and allows one to position the adapter in virtually any position possible, instead of just orienting it by having to move the computer.

 

[ddarko]

I did uninstall each adapter's vendor software and all related profiles before using the other. In fact, neither adapter software would function if the competitor software was installed - probably they try to occupy the same software space so they conflict if they're both installed (stopping the other software from loading during startup would likely have been enough but I uninstalled and rebooted before switching adapters). And both adapters were plugged into their cradles which was plugged into the same USB 3.0 port. The Netgear adapter can be swiveled out to form a Z shape and I thought maybe that helped the radio pickup versus the Asus adapter but the Netgear's performance was as good even when it remained in the slanted L shape.

Another difference was the client software. I liked that the Asus utility is much more detailed and granular than the Netgear Genie software which doesn't provide a whole lot more information that you couldn't already get from Windows. However, it took a lot longer for Windows to fully boot to the desktop and release mouse and keyboard controls with the Asus utility. The utility introduced a 5-second long freeze into the boot while it established a wifi link. The Asus utility also insisted on fully launching every time the system was booted, making you manually minimize it each time. Perhaps I overlooked it but I couldn't locate a configuration setting that would boot the Asus utility into the taskbar notification area.

All in all, I'm surprised. I like Asus - the Asus adapter was linking to an Asus router and plugged into an Asus motherboard with an Asus graphics card - but the performance of this adapter was awful. I could have tried both with the native Windows drivers to take the client software out of the picture but I think the client software is part of the package you buy and should be evaluated alongside the hardware. I did try the Netgear with the Windows drivers when I first installed it and it would only sporadically find and pair with the wifi router - the vendor software is a necessity with the Netgear because it doesn't work reliably otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if the hardware for both adapters is the same, meaning the source of the performance gap is a peculiarity of my space/setup and/or the client software. I didn't try to figure out the root cause(s), all I can report is that for me and my setup, the Netgear adapter works a lot better.

 

[jegesq]

I too just bought an Intel 7260AC adapter card for my Samsung N700G7US laptop and installed it. I got the latest Intel drivers and PROSET software for Windows OS' from here:
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034315.htm

The card works great with my new Asus RT-AC68P and Netgear R7000 routers.

Thanks for the update. I'm currently using 17.1.0, and still have occasional issues with the adapter no longer working after waking up the computer from sleep/hibernation (not fatal, it just requires disabling and then re-enabling the adapter in Device Manager...but it can be a pain to have to do it), so it will be interesting to see if the new drivers have resolved that issue. I'll try the new one and report back.

 

[Steve40th]

Getting ready to buy this chip for my laptops. Thanks for the updates..

 

[coxhaus]

I bought the Intel AC-7260 from Newegg for $24.00. It did not work in my old laptop so I bought a new used Dell Latitude E6320 to put it in. I downloaded the latest drivers from Intel's web site. I did not want a dongle sticking out of my laptop. I am sure I would break it off. I like inside better.