Although 802.11ac routers are commonplace these days, many laptops and desktops still do not come equipped with a wireless adapter that is compatible with this fast standard. If you want to connect wirelessly at "ac-speeds", you can do so using a USB 802.11ac adapter. We tested no less than 21 of them.

There are different options for making your laptop or desktop capable of using 802.11ac. You could replace your computer's existing adapter, and owners of a desktop could also opt to connect an adapter through a PCI Express add-in card or purchase a so-called bridge to add or upgrade Wi-Fi capabilities. We will first briefly discuss these three options, after which we'll cover the 21 different USB 802.11ac adapters that we have tested.