Quality Wi-Fi is something that we take for granted if we have it, and curse the day when we don't. But when looking for the best Wi-Fi adapter for your computer, there's a ton of information to consider, depending on your existing network, what type of computer you have, and what you want to do with it. The decision is more complex if you have a Wi-Fi 7 router, because, of course, you'll want a compatible Wi-Fi adapter, but not every Wi-Fi 7 adapter works with every computer. Your old laptop or PC might have an old Wi-Fi standard, and you want to swap to something more recent, which is understandable, but you'll want to know which type of add-in card to get, or decide if you want to use a USB port for the upgrade.

Depending on the computer you're buying the Wi-Fi adapter for, you might need one of three types.

USB: The most compatible option, likely to need drivers installed and space around the USB port.

PCIe: If you have a desktop PC with an older motherboard and a spare PCIe slot, you can use one of these cards.

M.2: For most laptops and modern motherboards that have existing onboard Wi-Fi to upgrade.

USB Wi-Fi adapters might not even need drivers as modern operating systems should be able to get them running as plug-and-play devices. They're easy to use, but you do lose the use of that USB port for other peripherals. Plus, they're generally slower and don't have as good range, as they only have a single antenna in them.