I just gave my old laptop a major Wi-Fi 7 speed boost with these USB adapters — here’s how
My favorite notebook of all time is an HP EliteBook Dragonfly from 2019 that goes where I go, regardless of whether it’s cross town or across the globe. Despite its age, it still has lots of power, a bright touchscreen, excellent Bang and Olufsen audio and a 7 hour battery life. Its dark blue machined aluminum case makes for a sophisticated 2.5-pound package that travels easily, although its Wi-Fi networking has fallen behind the times.
Rather than get something newer, I’m going to add Wi-Fi 7 to this system with a USB adapter that promises top speeds without, hopefully, draining the battery too much. The two Wi-Fi 7 USB adapters available right now couldn’t be more different though.
A tale of two Wi-Fi 7 USB adapters
The Asus USB BE92 Nano ($70, Amazon) is tiny, weighs less than an ounce and sticks out of the notebook’s side only 0.7 inches like a little black nub. The module’s pair of antennas are buried deep inside and the device lacks any lights to show that it’s online.
By contrast, TP-Link’s Archer TBE6500UH ($180, Best Buy) is much bigger and heavier at 4.2 x 1.2 x 0.7 inches and 1.3 ounces. The black and gray device sticks out 3.9 inches and easily snags things in my bag but it does come with a desktop stand and features a status LED along with two adjustable, high-gain paddle antennas.
Despite their physical differences, they have a lot in common, starting with the Realtek 8912AU Wi-Fi chip that both use. This allows them to cover all three Wi-Fi 7 bands including the high performance 6 GHz one with 2×2 streaming that seems like a modern miracle considering the Nano’s size. They can move a maximum of 688 Mbps over the 2.4 GHz band as well as 2.882 Gbps over the 5.0 and 6.0 GHz bands for a BE6500 speed rating.
Both are held back from peak performance by not being able to tap into Wi-Fi 7’s ultrawide 320MHz data channels though.
Riding on slow and fast buses
The beauty of an external Wi-Fi adapter is that I don’t have to open up the notebook to swap out parts and at any time, I can revert to the notebook’s built-in Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 card. On the downside, both USB adapters take up the Dragonfly’s only USB Type A port, an even bigger problem with newer systems that only have USB C ports. Neither device included something as simple as a USB-C to USB-A adapter.
Unlike the Dragonfly’s mini-PCI based AX200 networking card, my pair of Wi-Fi 7 adapters connect with the notebook’s slower USB bus. While the TBE6500UH uses the computer’s USB 3.0 that tops out at 5 Gbps, the Nano takes a step back with the slower, but more compatible USB 2.0 standard at one-tenth as much data flow.
That said, it took all of 3 minutes to install each. Both setups were easy, quick and hassle-free, both required loading a driver file from the device.
Not for Mac or Chromebooks
There’s one more thing they have in common: the Nano and TBE6500UH modules sadly only work with Windows 10 or Windows 11 systems. While each worked well with my Windows 11-powered Dragonfly system, it’s a big disappointment because I use Chromebooks and Macs a lot and feel strongly that they should be able to take advantage of the speed boost available.
The proof of Wi-Fi 7 is in the downloading and both improved the Dragonfly’s networking abilities – one more than the other. The baseline here is its stock X200 networking chip that registered 326.6 Mbps 15 feet from a Netgear Nighthawk RS600 router using Keysight’s IxChariot networking benchmark.
A reasonable amount of throughput for a five year old notebook but with the Nano in place, the throughput rose 9 percent to a reasonable 354.1 Mbps. By contrast the TBE6500UH’s 478.4 Mbps led the way a third more throughput than the Nano delivered. Neither, however, could compete with the 539.5 Mbps that my Acer Swift 15 Edge system with PCI-based Wi-Fi 7 moved.
Running hot and cool
The TBE6500UH’s large antennas ruled with the device staying online for 125 feet, compared to the Dragonfly’s 95-feet; in between was the Nano’s 115 feet. While the data was flying back and forth, both the Nano and the TBE6500U used a modest 0.9 watt of power although because of the Nano’s constrained design, it a peak temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit versus the larger and better ventilated TBE6500UH’s 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Both of these USB Wi-Fi upgrades were workhorses for moving data but they both reduced the system’s battery life to 5 hours and 45 minutes. That’s 18% slower than the Dragonfly’s 7 hours of runtime with its native Wi-Fi 6 networking. This shows that the price of Wi-Fi 7 performance can be measured in more than dollars and cents.
Small and sleek or top performance
Which to get is a tough choice. I love the sleek simplicity and $70 price tag of the Asus USB BE92 Nano that disappears into the side of one of the best laptops. For a few minutes work, it’s a no brainer.
On the other hand, for top speeds look to the TP-Link Archer TBE6500UH. It may be larger but it has the ability to take in nearly 50% more data than the notebook’s built-in Wi-Fi networking. At $180, it’s expensive but peanuts compared to a new computer. Likewise, the included stand is perfect for using it at your desk with one of the best computers.
This first generation of USB Wi-Fi 7 adapters don’t completely fulfill the promise of Wi-Fi 7 and I can’t wait for the second generation. The reason being is that they will come with full throttle 320MHz networking to better take advantage of Wi-Fi 7’s performance potential while lowering its thirst for power. That way I’ll enjoy bandwidth busting performance without worrying about straying too far from an AC outlet.
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