My 2012 MBP kicked the bucket this summer and I was waiting for the Apple announcements of late October to decide on a replacement. After much soul-searching and intense budget-shuffling, I decided on a 2015 MBP that should arrive tomorrow. (My local Best Buy has the new 2016 MBPs on display and it is one beautiful and sexy piece of gear.)
The network I'm on has an Apple AirPort Extreme (803.11ac equipped) as well as 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Because the MBP has no Ethernet port, I’m looking at purchasing an adapter to connect it via Ethernet. As I understand it the speeds the MBP could achieve to get on the network are:
But these are theoretical. It seems that the Thunderbolt 2 port has the fastest speed, but will it make a difference on the 1 Gb Ethernet network? Will the USB port provide the same throughput?
So my question is: Which one of these options will give me the fastest network connection?
The network I'm on has an Apple AirPort Extreme (803.11ac equipped) as well as 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Because the MBP has no Ethernet port, I’m looking at purchasing an adapter to connect it via Ethernet. As I understand it the speeds the MBP could achieve to get on the network are:
- IEEE 802.11ac = 500 Megabits/sec
- USB 3 = 5 Gigabits/sec
- Thunderbolt 2 = 20 Gigabits/sec
But these are theoretical. It seems that the Thunderbolt 2 port has the fastest speed, but will it make a difference on the 1 Gb Ethernet network? Will the USB port provide the same throughput?
So my question is: Which one of these options will give me the fastest network connection?