trs96
Moderator
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2012
- Messages
- 22,539
- Motherboard
- GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
- CPU
- i5-4690K
- Graphics
- HD4600 / RX 570
- Mac
-
- Mobile Phone
-
PCI-e based Broadcom Wifi/BT cards have always been the first choice for your hackintosh networking needs. Those generally cost between 40-60 USD. Sometimes you don't have an open PCI-e slot or you may be using a laptop with unsupported wifi built in. This is where a Realtek based USB wifi adapter makes sense. Most cost less than half of what a natively supported Broadcom based card does and are super easy to install.
Support for Realtek based Wifi adapters ended with Catalina 10.15.4 - Chris1111 has a solution that works for the Big Sur/Monterey macOS versions. If you are using Catalina 10.15.3 or older use the official Archer/TP-Link drivers available from the TP-Link website. Note that Continuity and Handoff will not work when using a USB wifi adapter.
See: https://github.com/chris1111/Wireless-USB-Big-Sur-Adapter
This one by EDUP offers the best performance per dollar if you are shopping at Amazon.com
These can be used in a USB 2.0 port or a 3.0 port. Doesn't affect speeds much.
Here's some more models that are known to work with Big Sur and Monterey. The ones in bold are the highest recommendations. If you can obtain one at a good price choose one of those four. The T3U (Plus), EDUP EP-AC1689 and Fenvi AC1300 are all Realtek RTL8812BU chipset based adapters. If you are paying for 200Mbps internet or faster it's wise to go with one of these to get maximum transfer speeds. Use the 5GHz band from your router if possible.
Support for Realtek based Wifi adapters ended with Catalina 10.15.4 - Chris1111 has a solution that works for the Big Sur/Monterey macOS versions. If you are using Catalina 10.15.3 or older use the official Archer/TP-Link drivers available from the TP-Link website. Note that Continuity and Handoff will not work when using a USB wifi adapter.
See: https://github.com/chris1111/Wireless-USB-Big-Sur-Adapter
This one by EDUP offers the best performance per dollar if you are shopping at Amazon.com
These can be used in a USB 2.0 port or a 3.0 port. Doesn't affect speeds much.
Amazon.com: 1300Mbps USB 3.0 Wireless WiFi Adapter for PC, USB Wi-Fi Dongle AC Mini Network Adapters 802.11ac 2.4GHz/5GHz Built-in Antenna for Windows 10/7/8/8.1/XP Mac OS 10.6-10.15 : Electronics
Buy 1300Mbps USB 3.0 Wireless WiFi Adapter for PC, USB Wi-Fi Dongle AC Mini Network Adapters 802.11ac 2.4GHz/5GHz Built-in Antenna for Windows 10/7/8/8.1/XP Mac OS 10.6-10.15: USB Network Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
Here's some more models that are known to work with Big Sur and Monterey. The ones in bold are the highest recommendations. If you can obtain one at a good price choose one of those four. The T3U (Plus), EDUP EP-AC1689 and Fenvi AC1300 are all Realtek RTL8812BU chipset based adapters. If you are paying for 200Mbps internet or faster it's wise to go with one of these to get maximum transfer speeds. Use the 5GHz band from your router if possible.
- Archer T3U (RTL8812BU) Amazon Link
- Archer T3U Plus (RTL8812BU) Amazon Link
- Archer T2U MINI V3
- Archer T2U Plus
- Archer T4U Plus (RTL8812AU)
- Archer T9UH V2
- ASUS USB AC68
- EDUP EP-AC1689 (RTL8812BU)
- Fenvi AC1300 (RTL8812BU)
- Netgear A7000
- TL-WN823Nv2/v3
- TL-WN725Nv3
- TL-WN821Nv6
- TL-WN822Nv4/v5
Last edited: