Best USB Wi-Fi Adapter For 2021
Our roundup of the best USB Wi-Fi adaptors available today
- Last Updated May 29, 2021
Here’s our guide to help you find the best USB Wi-Fi adapter for you. Whether you want an extra boost to your laptop’s pre-existing Wi-Fi capabilities, or you want a powerful Wi-Fi antenna for your desktop PC, we have you covered. We’ve picked out a bunch of different USB Wi-fi adapters, with varying features, and at a range of different prices.
If you have trouble understanding any of the jargon or specs mentioned, we’ve included a buying guide below to help you choose the right Wi-Fi adapter for you.
Products at a Glance
How We Picked
We’ve compared the different adapters available today, focussing on those that have solid performance at a reasonable price. Each of these wi-fi adapters will offer a reliable wi-fi connection to supported devices and are competitively priced.
How We Tested
We’ve analyzed the specification and performance of each wi-fi adapter we’ve featured, and compared it with the available alternatives, picking out the models which offer the fastest and more reliable wireless connections, at the best prices.
Best USB Wi-Fi Adapter For 2021
The Linksys Dual-Band AC1200 Adapter is one of the most popular Wi-Fi adapters on the market, and for good reason.
Don’t let the lack of a discrete antenna fool you: this baby is fast. Unlike many other small form factor (SFF) Wi-Fi adapters, this adapter comes packed with MU-MIMO support. This allows it to achieve faster download and upload speeds, so long as the router it’s connected to also supports MU-MIMO technology.
In addition to the MIMO support, you also have the expected features intact here. That means USB 3.0 for lower latency and full 802.11ac network support. As always, we recommend using 5 GHz whenever available, especially for gaming purposes.
Some wi-fi adaptors look like something out of a sci-fi movie, and this is one such adaptor. It’s made up of two large black angular rectangles with a USB 3.0 jack sticking out at the end.
These two giant black rectangles can also be called the Netgear Nighthawk Wi-Fi adapter, but don’t let that weird design fool you: this is actually a very powerful option. The second black rectangle is actually a MIMO-powered 3×4 antenna array. This allows for superb range, download speeds, and latency– better than any of the Wi-Fi adapters that we’ve listed so far.
It even has a docking station, which helps alleviate its strange design decisions for desktop use!
The only real issue with the Nighthawk is that it’s starting to get just a little expensive for a Wi-Fi adapter. At around $80 it’s towards the top end of what you can spend on a device like this. That’s a lot to ask for a Wi-Fi adapter, we think. Although it is a very reliable and great performing adaptor.
The EDUP Wi-Fi Adapter is the best cheap USB Wi-Fi adapter we could find. While it may not support USB 3.0, it’s about as cheap as Wi-Fi adapters get and it has the added boon of a discrete antenna.
The addition of a discrete antenna means that this adapter should enjoy fairly strong signal quality, especially if the antenna is pointed in the right direction. This does make the unit a bit larger and more inconvenient than a mini USB Wi-Fi adapter, though.
If all you need is a Wi-Fi connection, respectable range, and decent download speeds this has you covered. We wouldn’t recommend it for gaming, though.
The OURLiNK Wi-Fi dongle is a mini USB Wi-Fi dongle that boasts full support for 5 GHz Wi-Fi and 802.11ac. While this small form factor is ideal for those who want to keep their antennas hidden, this will result in reduced speeds if you aren’t close to your router.
This is very much an entry-level Wi-Fi solution: something to be used in small apartments and dorm rooms, not in large homes or through walls.
If all you need is the ability to connect to Wi-Fi (and you aren’t picky about things like latency or high download speeds), this will do the job and look good doing it. If you want low latency and high speed, though, we recommend one of the other options from this lineup.
Let’s say you want a Wi-Fi adapter, and you live in a big house. You’ve tried other solutions, but you’re always out of range and dealing with dropped connections. What do you do?
You get this bad boy, of course. The TRENDnet AC1900 USB Wireless Adapter doesn’t even look like a wireless adapter. With a whopping array of 4 antennas, it looks more like a miniature router in its own right.
Fortunately, those extra antennas translate to exactly what you’d expect: improved performance and range, especially when compared to cheaper options. In fact, we’re pretty sure that this has the best range out of any Wi-Fi adapter available on the market, thanks to that quad-antenna design.
The lack of MIMO support may result in some lost speed, but if range is your priority this is probably the Wi-Fi adapter for you.
Things To Consider
FAQs
Our Verdict
We’ve picked the Linksys adaptor as our top choice from this roundup. It’s a good balance between functionality and price, it’s from a very reliable manufacturer that’s been making wi-fi adaptors for many years, and it offers great speeds and stable connectivity.