New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper
jeffgeerling.com

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166 points

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calcifer

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4 hours ago

49 comments

GeertJohan ・ 3 hours ago

A Framework expansion card was also announced this week. https://frame.work/nl/en/products/wisdpi-10g-ethernet-expans...

  • topspin ・ 3 hours ago

    That link notes:

    "Card supports 10Gbit/s and 10/100/1000/2500/5000/10000Mbit/s Ethernet"

    Nice to see; some NICs are shedding 10/100 support. Apparently, it's not necessary to do this, even in a low cost device.

    • t312227 ・ 10 minutes ago

      hello,

      as always: imho (!)

      idk. but don't use 10 MBit NICs on your network anymore, please!!

      i would even try to avoid 100 MBit connections in "serious" networks ...

      why? using slow network-connections on an ethernet-segment slows down the whole segement for lets call it "organizational" traffic which reaches every node on the network ... eg. ARP-broadcasts etc.

      so: if for example you have an ancient laserprinter which still uses a 10 MBit connection - because why not, the amount of data sent to the printer is not that big, right!?

      just look at your networks performance and replace the old printer-server with some more modern device ...

      from that standpoint i think dropping support for 10 MBit - or even 100 MBit - for "serious" network-equipment is for the "common good" or some kind of a protection of your network, not a "sensible" feature dropped ...

      just my 0.02€

    • Tade0 ・ an hour ago

      100 mode saved me once when I really really really needed to have a connection in that moment, but the ethernet cable glued to the wall that I was using had only three out of eight wires even functioning.

    • userbinator ・ 3 hours ago

      Low-cost devices are exactly where 10/100 is still widely used. On PCs, it's a common power-saving mode.

      • hsbauauvhabzb ・ an hour ago
        ・ 2 more

        For those of us who don’t know, how does it save power vs a 1gbe running at low throughput?

        • adastra22 ・ 23 minutes ago

          I assume it is for wake-on-LAN. This of course requires the NIC being powered on while the system is sleeping. Lower bandwidth mode = less power draw.

deepsun ・ 3 hours ago

Is it also possible to power a laptop through those adapters? PoE++ can deliver up to 100W of power, more than enough for most laptops.

  • mjlee ・ 4 minutes ago

    I can’t find what you want, but you can buy PoE splitters. PoE in, ethernet and power out.

    Surely a matter of time until someone does this…

  • eqvinox ・ 2 hours ago

    Theoretically yes, practically that hasn't been built yet. I've only seen it for 2.5Gbase-T, and only for 802.3bt Type 3 (51W).

    If anyone's aware of something better, I'd be interested too :)

    (Then again I wouldn't voluntarily use 5Gb-T or 10Gb-T anyway, and ≈50W is enough for most use cases.)

    [ed.: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807960919319.html ("2.5GPD2CBT-20V" variant) - actually 2.5G not 1G as I wrote initially]

    • Iulioh ・ 2 hours ago

      Eh.

      A lot of laptops won't accept less than 60w

      My work laptop won't accept less than 90w (A modern HP, i7 155h with a random low end GPU)

      At first everyone at the office just assumed that the USB C wasn't able to charge the pc

      • javawizard ・ an hour ago
        ・ 4 more

        I gotta say, I love my macbooks. Every Apple laptop I've owned that has USB-C ports will happily charge itself from a 5V/1.5A wall charger (albeit extremely slowly).

        • hnlmorg ・ an hour ago
          ・ 3 more

          That hasn’t been my experience. I once tried to charge an M3 MBP via a lower powered wall plug. It was left off over night and the following morning the battery was still at 1%.

          • Iulioh ・ 36 minutes ago

            Note:

            Some devices expect USB-A on the charger side instead of C

            USB-A pump out 1A5V(5W) regardless of what's connected to it, then it negotiate higher power if available.

            USB C-C does not give any power if the receiving device is not able to negotiate it

          • saagarjha ・ 41 minutes ago

            What did it start at?

      • tjoff ・ 35 minutes ago

        They probably require higher voltages but I havent seen one myself. I usually just charge ny laptop with ny phone charger, what is it, 18 watts? Dont care, charges my laptop and the phone that is plugged into it overnight. Why charge at faster speeds when there is no need to

        Laptop charges fine regular 5V as well.

      • lostlogin ・ an hour ago

        A Mac mini at home used 4.64w averaged over the last 30 days. Even under load it just sips power.

      • spockz ・ 2 hours ago
        ・ 2 more

        Great. So we got EU laws to mandate USB-C chargers and then get manufacturers that flaunt the spirit of the law by rejecting lower wattages.

        • jeroenhd ・ an hour ago

          My laptop refuses to charge for 45W chargers as well, but I can almost understand it.

          When plugged into 100W chargers while powered on, it takes ten minutes to gain a single percentage point. Idle in power save may let me charge the thing in a few hours. If I start playing video, the battery slowly drains.

          If your laptop is part space heater, like most laptops with Nvidia GPUs in them seem to be, using a low power adapter like that is pretty useless.

          Also, 100W chargers are what, 25 euros these days? An OEM charger costs about 120 so the USB-C plan still works out.

          Other manufacturers do similar things. Apple accepts lower wattage chargers (because that's what they sell themselves) but they ignore two power negotiation standards and only supports the very latest, which isn't in many affordable chargers, limiting the fast charge capacity for third parties.

      • _blk ・ 37 minutes ago

        The issue might not be the wattage bit rather the minimum voltage. (Some?) Macs seems to charge at 15v already, most laptops need 20v

  • JonChesterfield ・ an hour ago

    I found a 5gbe one that claimed 60W, will power a phone but not the low power laptop I've got here. It probably isn't far off.

  • gertrunde ・ an hour ago

    I think class 4 tops out at about 71W delivered to the powered device, albeit 90W at the switch port.

    Might be a struggle I suspect!

  • userbinator ・ an hour ago

    Yes, but look up the prices for PoE switches and you might reconsider.

  • burnt-resistor ・ 2 hours ago

    With 802.3bt type 4 (71W delivered, 90W consumed), absolutely achievable with the proper electronics, but would you trust a no-name, fly-by-night NIC to not fry your expensive devices? That's the biggest hurdle. Possibly a company like Apple, Anker, or similar megacorp or high-trust startup could pull if off.

superjan ・ 2 hours ago

My favorite USB ethernet adapter is a lowly 100 MBit one that works everywhere without requiring driver downloads.

fmajid ・ 2 hours ago

FWIW I got a Xikestor 10G adapter with the Realtek chipset from AliExpress and it underperforms my much cheaper 5G one.

  • dijit ・ 36 minutes ago

    Yeah. Just because it negotiates, doesn’t mean it can utilise.

jordand ・ 2 hours ago

For Thunderbolt 4/5 docks, I've held off from buying a high-end Thunderbolt 5 dock as many still have 2.5GbE Ethernet and other limitations with displays. The CalDigit TS5 Plus is one of the only options with 10GbE and its $500 (and usually OoS). I managed to buy an ex-corporate refurb HP Thunderbolt 4 G4 dock for only ~$64 and would recommend others do the same (this has an Intel 2.5GbE and good display outputs)

sva_ ・ 3 hours ago

It seems like a lot of laptop manufacturers skipped the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 in favor of USB4/TB4.

  • TMWNN ・ 3 hours ago

    Conversely, the last time I checked a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to find any USB4 external SSDs on Amazon; only USB 3.2.

    • justinclift ・ 2 hours ago

      If Amazon is a strict requirement, then this won't help. But if you're ok with AliExpress then it's probably a win:

      https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008555989592.html

      I have one of these, though I'm using with a USB 3.x port as that's what my desktop has. For me it's working fine, and for others with actual USB 4 ports it seems to be working properly for them.

    • sva_ ・ 2 hours ago

      Really? I see plenty when I search for 'usb4 nvme enclosure'

user34283 ・ 3 hours ago

I have a RTL8157 5 Gbps adapter from CableMatters.

Interestingly it seems to get burning hot on the MacBook M1 Pro while it remains cool on the M5 Pro model.

Maybe the workload is different, but I would not rule out some sort of hardware or driver difference. I only use a 1G port on my router at the moment.

shevy-java ・ 2 hours ago

Will they be cheaper? I look at the RAM prices. Granted, RAM is in a different category than USB adapters, but I no longer trust anyone writing "will be cheaper" - the reality may be different to the projection made.

eqvinox ・ 2 hours ago

Too bad this is 10Gbase-T, that energy-wasting hot-running garbage needs to die sooner rather than later. Good thing the ranges for 25Gbase-T are short enough to make it impractical for home use.

(Fibre is nowhere near as "sensitive" as some people believe.)

  • zrm ・ 2 hours ago

    The problem with fibre isn't the sensitivity. It's that most endpoints have a 1Gbps copper port on them and then Cat6A ports can be used with the common devices but also allow you to add or relocate 10Gbps devices without rewiring the building again.

    • HappMacDonald ・ 2 hours ago

      However — unlike copper twisted pair — the bandwidth current fiber media can carry is nearly limited by nothing but the optics at each end.

      • zrm ・ 2 hours ago
        ・ 2 more

        That doesn't solve the chicken and egg problem.

        What probably would is something like having PCIe and USB to 1Gbps fiber adapters that cost $5.

        • simoncion ・ 7 minutes ago

          You've been able to get Intel X520 NICs [0], with transceivers included for ~40USD on Newegg for a long time. This is a little more than double the price of Newegg's cheapest single-port 10/100/1000 copper card, but even the cheapest available such card is three times your "chicken and egg"-solving price point.

          I suspect the combination of the absence of cheap-o all-in-one AP/router combo boxes with any SFP+ -er- bays and fiber cabling's reputation of being extremely fragile have much more to do with its scarcity at the extremely low end of networking gear than anything else.

          [0] This is a two-port SFP+ PCI Express card

    • mschuster91 ・ an hour ago

      In practice though 10G via copper requires pretty perfect terminations. The slightest error leads to crosstalk issues.

      • JonChesterfield ・ an hour ago

        Ymmv. I've got a mix of cheap premade patch cables and some I crimped from solid core, all cat5e, all holding 10gbe totally happily. I suspect that only works because they're a meter or two long but that reaches across the rack.

  • userbinator ・ an hour ago

    Good thing the ranges for 25Gbase-T are short enough to make it impractical for home use.

    Anyone who talks about 25GBASE-T like it actually exists, doesn't know anything about what they're talking about.

  • spockz ・ an hour ago

    Is the energy consumption inherent to 10Gbase-T? Or is it that 1Gbit nics have been around forever and optimised ad infinitum?

    To be fair, the power consumption is also my biggest gripe with my WiFi 6 AP, they run extremely hot.