MacBook Pro 14/16 ain't so Pro without Ethernet dongle minimally ...

[rajs]

You'd think Apple would have also released with the "Pro" machines minimally some Ethernet solution - be it via a power brick or you know a USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 dongle. So these "Pro" machines could actually transfer on/off large media files over the network.

Instead we have:
- an old 100 megabit USB A Ethernet available
- a Thunderbolt 2 Gigabit Adaptor - when all machines have Thunderbolt 3 or 4 now

Really doesn't make any sense since there isn't an ethernet port on the device itself -- minimally allow us to purchase properly function gigabit or faster ethernet solution that:

• works reliably
• offloads network traffic processing from laptop CPU onto the NIC chip so you aren't tying up 1 core of the laptop's CPU during sustained network file / data transfers.
• survives sleep / wake cycle

 

[Gnattu]

• offloads network traffic processing from laptop CPU onto the NIC chip so you aren't tying up 1 core of the laptop's CPU during sustained network file / data transfers.

This should not be a problem for 1GbE on nowadays computers, and will be a problem if we go over 10GbE.

I'm using 10GbE "dongles" from both Caldigit and Sonnet and both works well. You will understand why it is not on the device by just look at how large the dongle is. They will run very hot because 10GbE PHYs are very hot.

I don't think Apple need to make their own dongle if the third-party one just works.

 

[mr_roboto]

This should not be a problem for 1GbE on nowadays computers, and will be a problem if we go over 10GbE.

I'm using 10GbE "dongles" from both Caldigit and Sonnet and both works well. You will understand why it is not on the device by just look at how large the dongle is. They will run very hot because 10GbE PHYs are very hot.

I don't think Apple need to make their own dongle if the third-party one just works.

The issue (imo) is not 10GbE, it's the lack of a good 1GbE adapter for basic needs. Apple really should update their $29 Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter to TB4 and perhaps even 2.5 Gbps (2.5 being possible to do at reasonably low power, unlike 10GbE).

In theory the built in WiFi is good for gigabit network speeds, but WiFi is never as good as theory suggests it should be.

There are sub-$30 USB-C 2.5GbE adapters out there. Unfortunately, after putting some research into them, they have very high CPU overhead. Apparently the issue is that these things use a Windows networking driver standard called NDIS for TCP/IP checksum offload. macOS doesn't support NDIS, and Big Sur/Monterey/M1 have killed off the old KEXT drivers which hardware vendors sometimes provided to take full advantage of NDIS in their hardware. So, for now at least, we're stuck on generic built-in Apple drivers for the USB CDC-NCM and CDC-ECM device classes, and using them results in a lot of CPU overhead.

For what it's worth, if I end up trying one of these USB adapters out, it's going to be a 2.5G dongle based on the Realtek RTL8156B chip. Most 1GbE USB ethernet dongles are based on the older RTL8153B. RTL8156 is a better choice even for 1GbE since, besides upgrading to 2.5G, RTL8156 added support for the newer CDC-NCM device class. CDC-NCM slightly reduces CPU overhead relative to CDC-ECM by packaging multiple Ethernet datagrams in one USB transaction.

The specific one to get seems to be the UGREEN USB C to 2.5G dongle. It's one of the cheaper offerings, but more importantly it has an aluminum housing. This is important. ServeTheHome has reviewed a few RTL8156 dongles and measured their power consumption at 1.7 to 1.8 W with a very long cable run. This is quite reasonable, but ~2W in a tiny thumb-sized box is still more than enough to overheat the RTL8156 and cause it to throttle. Amazon reviews of plastic-shell RTL8153 and RTL8156 dongles are full of people reporting overheating and throttling. Aluminum housings seem to help, as you'd expect.

 

[UBS28]

I agree. 10Gbit ethernet should have been included.

But considering where we are coming from and I also did not expect Apple to have mini-LED ready for 2021 (due to supply constraints), I am not complaining.

We could have had a worse machine.

 

[Gnattu]

lack of a good 1GbE adapter for basic needs

Agreed, you cannot find (good) thunderbolt based adapters in such a "basic" speed, instead they are often embedded in the premium thunderbolt docks, but I guess nobody want to buy a ~$300 dock just for gigabit ethernet.

 

[iandk]

Same problem here, there’s no proper 1GBps USB NIC available

 

[darngooddesign]

I agree that Apple should update their Ethernet dongles.

 

[mcnallym]

2012 was the last MacBook/pro to have built in Ethernet.

I stopped buying Mac laptops after my 2008 as just not needing one, but in general laptops have dumped Ethernet as becomes a size limiting factor.

Generally (not everyone) with the laptop used as a mobile desktop will have ended up with a decent thunderbolt dock for adding additional storage, monitors anyway.

If has not been a big enough issue over the past 9 years almost a complete decade since dropped built in Ethernet then I really don’t see Apple changing tack now.

And if people can afford decent 10gb networking then a thunderbolt dock isn’t going to be a problem purchasing for those that need it.

If was the first mbp to drop Ethernet May have a point but almost a decade later then really is looking to pick issues.

 

[JMacHack]

Well, I agree that Apple should update their dongles.

For a laptop though, there’s always design compromises.

 

[seismicshader29]

Agreed, Apple should offer a thunderbolt 1GbE or even 2.5GbE adapter. On my Intel MBP 13", I had trouble using my NAS without the fans going at 100% using a Realtek Ethernet adapter, and was limited to around 700Mb/s on Big Sur. Luckily not as much of a problem with my M1 Max but I actually just ended up getting a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter and the Thunderbolt 2 to 1GbE adapter. Cost about £40~ on amazon but has worked flawlessly for me.

 

[ADGrant]

You'd think Apple would have also released with the "Pro" machines minimally some Ethernet solution - be it via a power brick or you know a USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 dongle. So these "Pro" machines could actually transfer on/off large media files over the network.

The lack of an ethernet port on the power brick is a missed opportunity.

 

[darngooddesign]

The lack of an ethernet port on the power brick is a missed opportunity.

Ethernet on the iMac works well because the magnets in its plug are very strong, but would you really want to transfer data over a more easily disconnected MagSafe plug?

 

[JPack]

This is one of those questions that only Apple can answer. But it's clear there is still a bit of Jony Ive influence in the design team.

The MacBook Pro isn't lightweight or thin. If you look at the PC side, almost everything in this weight class (3.5 lbs to 4.5 lbs) has an Ethernet port, especially if it's intended for professional users (e.g. Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Latitude). So space or weight isn't a valid excuse for Apple.

 

[Gnattu]

This is one of those questions that only Apple can answer. But it's clear there is still a bit of Jony Ive influence in the design team.

The MacBook Pro isn't lightweight or thin. If you look at the PC side, almost everything in this weight class (3.5 lbs to 4.5 lbs) has an Ethernet port, especially if it's intended for professional users (e.g. Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell Latitude). So space or weight isn't a valid excuse for Apple.

At least it has a headphone jack.

 

[Zdigital2015]

The lack of an ethernet port on the power brick is a missed opportunity.

No, it’s not. Connectivity interrupted the second MagSafe disconnects? Yeah, that wouldn’t be a feature, it’s be a bug, a big one.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Naaaa... I would've rather seen a MacBook Pro with cellular internet capabilities built into it.

 

[Wolf1701]

If only Apple wanted...

 

[Basic75]

Ethernet on the iMac works well because the magnets in its plug are very strong, but would you really want to transfer data over a more easily disconnected MagSafe plug?

It's Ethernet, if you plug it in quickly again everything should just continue working.

 

[Basic75]

Ethernet on the iMac works well because the magnets in its plug are very strong, but would you really want to transfer data over a more easily disconnected MagSafe plug?

How often do you trip over your cable?

 

[throAU]

You'd think Apple would have also released with the "Pro" machines minimally some Ethernet solution - be it via a power brick or you know a USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 dongle. So these "Pro" machines could actually transfer on/off large media files over the network.

Instead we have:
- an old 100 megabit USB A Ethernet available
- a Thunderbolt 2 Gigabit Adaptor - when all machines have Thunderbolt 3 or 4 now

Really doesn't make any sense since there isn't an ethernet port on the device itself -- minimally allow us to purchase properly function gigabit or faster ethernet solution that:

• works reliably
• offloads network traffic processing from laptop CPU onto the NIC chip so you aren't tying up 1 core of the laptop's CPU during sustained network file / data transfers.
• survives sleep / wake cycle

For the target demographic they're mostly using high speed direct attached storage. If you need 10 gig ethernet, buy a dock.

Also, TCP offload for NICs is no longer a thing even in Windows land - TCP offload has been deprecated in Windows because CPUs are faster at it and there were implementation bugs/problems/security issues, etc. to deal with that were just way easier to deal with by doing TCP in software.

1 Gigabyte per second (for 10 gig ethernet) is nothing for modern CPUs, and you want it to be encrypted these days so the CPU is involved anyhow.

 

[throAU]

The lack of an ethernet port on the power brick is a missed opportunity.

The lack of an ethernet port on the power brick means cheaper power bricks and more PCIe lanes available for the other generic ports to be used for people who don't give a hoot about included ethernet.

 

[darngooddesign]

How often do you trip over your cable?

My dogs frequently unplug the MagSafe on my 2014; it's literally one of the most valuable features to me. I dont use Ethernet at home so I have no opinion on it except that data transfers can corrupt if you unplug the connection while it is happening so I would never want it to be an easily unplugged magnetic connection for data transfers.

 

[Basic75]

data transfers can corrupt

Do you transfer stuff via plain UDP?

 

[JPack]

My dogs frequently unplug the MagSafe on my 2014; it's literally one of the most valuable features to me. I dont use Ethernet at home so I have no opinion on it except that data transfers can corrupt if you unplug the connection while it is happening so I would never want it to be an easily unplugged magnetic connection for data transfers.

It would be no different than if a typical notebook user moved out of Wi-Fi range. It’s not a catastrophic failure. For the vast majority of notebook users without hazards running around, Ethernet would be big benefit.

 

[darngooddesign]

It would be no different than if a typical notebook user moved out of Wi-Fi range. It’s not a catastrophic failure. For the vast majority of notebook users without hazards running around, Ethernet would be big benefit.

Technically they are the same, but in reality most people have control over when they move out of wifi range, and will usually wait until they have finished copying their files, whereas accidentally unplugging MagSafe is not something the user can control.