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Best USB 802.11AC adapter for Yosemite?

spaceballl

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2003
2,941
365
San Francisco, CA
Hi All,

I thought at first I'd be waiting until I got a new Mac.... but I think my first gen rMBP still has a lot of life left in it, but I need me some 802.11AC!

Anyone know which adapter will work best w/ Yosemite? I don't need the *best* one, in terms of range, but I'd like it to work seamlessly w/ Yosemite.

FWIW, before people tell me that I'll be just fine w/ my current 802.11N wifi adaptor, I do a LOT of large file transfers to my NAS, and for that, I could use some faster wifi.
 
There are quite a few complaints about WIFI issues on Yosemite.
Given that it is a new release Apple will surely address those in their 0.1 release.
 
spaceballl said:
Hi All,

I thought at first I'd be waiting until I got a new Mac.... but I think my first gen rMBP still has a lot of life left in it, but I need me some 802.11AC!

Anyone know which adapter will work best w/ Yosemite? I don't need the *best* one, in terms of range, but I'd like it to work seamlessly w/ Yosemite.

FWIW, before people tell me that I'll be just fine w/ my current 802.11N wifi adaptor, I do a LOT of large file transfers to my NAS, and for that, I could use some faster wifi.
Click to expand...

Why not use Apples own BCM94360CS2 $30 on ebay that way you don't need a dongle or anything?
 
spaceballl said:
That makes a lot of sense... Is the rMBP airport card upgradeable?
Click to expand...

Yup, just unscrew the back panel, pop the old one out throw the new one in

----------

The $30 card uses 2 antennas, you can get the BCM94360CSAX that will use all 3 of your antennas but it bumps the price to $89 Heres that one

Honestly though I don't think you will see real world differences. But hey its up to you
 
Very cool. Looks like I need BCM94360CSAX, which is going to run me about $100 on eBay, which is obviously more expensive than a dongle, but that's definitely going to be nicer than having something hang out. THANKS!
 
spaceballl said:
Very cool. Looks like I need BCM94360CSAX, which is going to run me about $100 on eBay, which is obviously more expensive than a dongle, but that's definitely going to be nicer than having something hang out. THANKS!
Click to expand...
No problem, I did the switch with my air worked great. Just don't buy the cards for $990 hah
Like I said I really don't think you'll see a real world difference between the $30 (2 antenna)and $90 (3 antenna) but if you don't mind the extra money for piece of mind then go for it.
 
UncleSchnitty said:
No problem, I did the switch with my air worked great. Just don't buy the cards for $990 hah
Like I said I really don't think you'll see a real world difference between the $30 (2 antenna)and $90 (3 antenna) but if you don't mind the extra money for piece of mind then go for it.
Click to expand...
I notice a big difference on my wife's laptop (more recent MacBook Air w/ 802.11AC) when transferring large files over my NAS so I just want to have that same experience!
 
spaceballl said:
I notice a big difference on my wife's laptop (more recent MacBook Air w/ 802.11AC) when transferring large files over my NAS so I just want to have that same experience!
Click to expand...

Agreed, I use it for file transfers from computer to computer thru my lan with the Asus ac68u and it's made a huge difference. I think people who talk down on ac are talking about Internet access (where it caps at your ul/dl plan) and not in network file transfers. For anything in your network its almost on par with wired
 
UncleSchnitty said:
Agreed, I use it for file transfers from computer to computer thru my lan with the Asus ac68u and it's made a huge difference. I think people who talk down on ac are talking about Internet access (where it caps at your ul/dl plan) and not in network file transfers. For anything in your network its almost on par with wired
Click to expand...
I have an AC68U w/ the Merlin firmware on it as well... love that router...
 
spaceballl said:
I have an AC68U w/ the Merlin firmware on it as well... love that router...
Click to expand...

How do you like the melin firmware? I've been thinking about doing the flash but couldn't find anything that shows me the difference. The Asus firmware has a lot of options to begin with.
 
UncleSchnitty said:
How do you like the melin firmware? I've been thinking about doing the flash but couldn't find anything that shows me the difference. The Asus firmware has a lot of options to begin with.
Click to expand...
The differences are minimal, which is why I like it so much. You can flash the Merlin firmware directly over your existing firmware, which is not the case with some like DD-WRT. Merlin basically just takes the Asus GPL code, optimizes portions of it, does his own testing, and provides his version. Thus, it's not vastly different, but it has some optimizations / speed improvements. I recommend using the Merlin firmwares, but stay away from the betas - not worth it. The most recent stable Merlin firmware has been rock solid for me.
 
spaceballl said:
The differences are minimal, which is why I like it so much. You can flash the Merlin firmware directly over your existing firmware, which is not the case with some like DD-WRT. Merlin basically just takes the Asus GPL code, optimizes portions of it, does his own testing, and provides his version. Thus, it's not vastly different, but it has some optimizations / speed improvements. I recommend using the Merlin firmwares, but stay away from the betas - not worth it. The most recent stable Merlin firmware has been rock solid for me.
Click to expand...
Does it auto update to latest stable release or will I have to download and flash each release?
 
spaceballl said:
Hi All,

I thought at first I'd be waiting until I got a new Mac.... but I think my first gen rMBP still has a lot of life left in it, but I need me some 802.11AC!

Anyone know which adapter will work best w/ Yosemite? I don't need the *best* one, in terms of range, but I'd like it to work seamlessly w/ Yosemite.

FWIW, before people tell me that I'll be just fine w/ my current 802.11N wifi adaptor, I do a LOT of large file transfers to my NAS, and for that, I could use some faster wifi.
Click to expand...

Will BCM94360CD be fine?Maybe you shall connect the BT4.0 antenna to 360cd.
 
Now that Yosemite has been out for some time, and El Cap has been announced, I was just wondering if anyone has successfully got a usb 802.11ac adapter to work on Yosemite? My 2012 Macbook Air's wireless connection is sucky - worse if I have bluetooth turned on. Was looking for a USB 802.11ac solution.
 
Just put the newer card in and its gonna work, i have seen huge bumps in speed with my synology unit and the newer time capsule
 

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