Welcome to a Laptop AC Adapter specialist of the Asus Ac Adapter
Ever look at the latest MacBook models with envy, and wish you could get a taste of 11ac Wi-Fi, the new higher-speed wireless networking technology? Then await good news – not only does Asus’ USB wireless adaptor break sprint and long-distance records compared to older 802.11n networking, it also does all this on the Mac. And does so rather well, as the USB-AC56 Dual-band Wireless-AC1200 USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ticks the boxes to actually deliver a worthwhile upgrade.
First, it connects to a computer by USB 3.0, even if that does narrow the Apple Mac choice somewhat to mid-2012 and later models. If you have an earlier Mac with Thunderbolt but now USB 3.0 (early 20122 to mid 2012), consider a Thunderbolt dock such as the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock with adapter like Asus P52 AC Adapter , Asus Pro50 AC Adapter , Asus U6V AC Adapter , Acer W2V AC Adapter , Asus X61 AC Adapter , Asus B50 AC Adapter , Asus UL80 AC Adapter , Asus Eee PC 900 AC Adapter , Asus Eee PC 700 AC Adapter , Asus N90 AC Adapter , Asus G71 AC Adapter , Asus F9F AC Adapter . But the high-bandwidth USB 3.0 data port – when combined with two internal, one external antennae and a two-stream wireless chipset – means that truly 11n-busting speeds are now readily attainable from an aftermarket Wi-Fi adaptor.
It may superficially resemble a modern USB thumbdrive, but the Asus USB-AC56 is not a compact accessory. It arrives as a tough black plastic obelisk 115 mm long, its rectangular mass tapering slightly at both ends, and it’s decorated with oddly faceted sides. Along the matt underside these resemble the oblique cleave lines of a stealth bomber; on the fancy shiny top are regular diamond-like patterns cut into the gloss plastic.
Each end has an identical endcap – the left side covers the male USB plug, the right a screw-fitting connector to attach an optional aerial that’s included in the box.
You can insert just the USB-AC56 device into a Mac without its additional aerial, where it will protrude a substantial 100 mm. It’s not a pretty sight, and is ill-suited to safe handling – for the sake of busted USB ports we’d recommend you don’t carry your laptop around far at home or in the office with the dongle in place.
The gantry situation is made worse with the screw-on aerial attached, particularly if you don’t bend the hinge 90 degrees to point the antenna skywards. The combined length of dongle plus twig can become a very pendulous 245 mm.
Fortunately there is a smart solution, also included in the kit, in the form of a USB extension cable with cradle to hold the whole dongle-plus-aerial assembly. In our tests, we also found data performance was marginally improved with the device sited just remote of the test MacBook.
Asus provides drivers for Windows XP to 8, Linux, and OS X for the Realtek RTL8812AU chipset inside. In the case of OS X, an installer package will install the necessary Realtek kernel extension (kext) and the Wireless-AC Network Utility.app on your computer.
Instead of OS X’s built-in wireless software, usually accessed from System Preferences/Network, you use the supplied application to find available wireless networks and connect with necessary security passwords.
The app is simple and plain-looking, showing just SSID names, channels, encryption type and BSSID codes. Missing is any useful dBm information for RSSI signal strength, noise levels or available 802.11 protocols, and there’s no indication of current wireless sync speed. You can at least save configuration for more than one wireless network under the Profiles tab.
We tested the Asus USB-AC56 on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Retina, Late 2013), a model also well equipped with its own built-in 3x3 MIMO draft-11ac wireless capability. For a wireless router we used the current Apple AirPort Extreme (6th Generation) launched in June 2013.
Data measurements were made with a Mac mini (Late 2012) as server, with both computers running WiFiPerf 1.6. Most tests were run over a fixed 2 minute timespan. To simulate better real-world data transfers, the application was set to measure TCP rather than UDP traffic. And since send and receive data-transmission modes can give different results, we made measurements both client to server (MacBook to Mac mini) and vice versa.
We tested at three different ranges: 1 m and 2 m, to try to gauge best available speeds; and a medium/long-range test at 10 m, through one intervening 6in (150 mm) plaster/wood stud wall.