Rosewill AC1200UBE 802.11ac USB Wireless Network Adapter Review

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There is no doubt 802.11ac is the largest jump in wireless technology since we went from 802.11g to 802.11n. If you are one that is in the market for an adapter to take advantage of the new technology, then you will quickly find there are many more options with ac than we ever had before.

The Rosewill AC1200UBE is a dual-band network adapter with 2.4GHz capabilities up to 300Mbps and 5GHz up to 867 Mbps. Based on the Realtek RTL8812AU chipset, the AC1200UBE supports USB 3.0, which is needed to get the most out of your 802.11ac network. Additional features include WPS support via a button on the side of the adapter and 128-bit security via WEP, WPA, and WPA2.

Compatibility of the AC1200UBE extends to modern Windows operating systems, Mac OS, and Linux. MSRP of the AC1200UBE is set at $49.99 with a one-year warranty.

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Scope of delivery for the AC1200UBE includes the adapter, utility DVD, and reading materials.

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Looking at the adapter, we find a black plastic design, with the antenna tucked away into the body.

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The side of the adapter houses the WPS button for quick connectivity to your network.

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With the antenna flipped up, the AC1200UBE has a good balance to it. As you can tell, the antenna isn't so big that it will get in your way, and it's not so small as to lose connectivity.

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Here we have the USB 3.0 port.

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To test network adapters, we utilize the very fast and stable Netgear Nighthawk R7000.

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In our first, test we have the 2.4GHz band. The Rosewill did quite well here keeping right with the AC56 from ASUS. Peak throughput came in at 119 Mbps.

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Now, we have switched over to the 5GHz band. Peak throughput for the AC1200UBE came in at 320 Mbps.

While network adapters come in many shapes and sizes, the Rosewill falls into the more compact design category. The foldaway antenna aids in this by allowing you to tuck it away for safe keeping. The build quality of the AC1200UBE was quite good: the plastic felt durable, the hinge pin for the antenna felt secure, and the USB 3.0 connection felt secure.

Performance of the adapter was on par with expectations. It offers a decent amount of throughput on the 2.4GHz band but really ramps up when you connect to its native 802.11ac. In our testing, we saw the unit touch near 320 Mbps of real-world throughput while connected to our 5GHz ac network on the R7000.

As far as drawbacks are concerned, there was one with a bug in the driver, but Rosewill seems to have resolved that with the latest update.

MSRP of the Rosewill AC1200UBE sits at $49.99 with a one-year warranty. Current market pricing for the adapter can be found below.

PRICING: You can find the Rosewill AC1200UBE for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Rosewill AC1200UBE retails for $34.99 at Amazon.

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