Router dying. $100 budget. Replacement options?

I think my cheapo Netgear singe-band N router (WNR2000v3) is in its death throes. It keeps losing connection with all wireless devices, requiring a power cycle of the antenna or whole router to reconnect. Wired works, so it's still good as a switch, but I need WiFi for both my laptop and desktop. Now the question is: For $100, which should I choose?

1. Get an AC router and take advantage of my laptop's shiny new AC 7260 (thanks HTWingNut ). My desktop only has single-band N though, will this still be an improvement over my previous router?
2. Get a dual-band N router and a powerline adapter.

At first, I thought powerline was a great idea to overcome WiFi latency and interference, especially important for gaming and video streaming. But the more I read up on it, the more it sounds like it's actually more flaky than wireless? Ethernet>WiFi>powerline?

My PC's are about 50-60 feet direct line from the router and on the same floor, although there is a wall in-between. Apparently, at this range, a quality router would work better than powerline. Running Ethernet cables to my room is not an option, that's why I went wireless in the first place. I have a 25/5 cable Internet connection if it means anything.

 

I'd buy a TP-Link Archer (I did do that actually but I bought v1). First you get 802.11ac which you will be able to use on your notebook and your desktop will be just fine on 2.4GHz band.

Secondly, while 50-60 feet is actually quite far but with only one wall it shouldn't be too bad. Still it will surely work better than your current router (even when it was new) and if it turns out that it's still not good enough somehow, you can always add a power-line adapter (but you won't be able to add 802.11ac whatever you do so you'd have to spend another $100 on a new router).

 

I grossly overestimated, my PC is actually <20' from the router.

So it looks like AC router is the best and most economical solution. Powerline is too much of a throughput hit and I'd have to get at least a dual-band N router anyway. Thanks for the advice.

 

BUFFALO AirStation Extreme AC 1750 Gigabit Simultaneous Dual Band Wireless Router WZR-1750DHP - Newegg.com

Newegg is selling a Buffalo 1750AC router bundled with a DOCSIS 3.0 modem for $110 this week.

 

Thanks, but I already bought an Archer C7 V2 a week ago.