A bulky but reliable option is the $29 Apple “Thunderbolt (1) to Gigabit Ethernet adapter” connected to the $49 Apple “Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter”. It’s gigabit and PCIe using the rock-solid BCM570x chip.
Should it be the other way around? 95% of people who haven't thought about ethernet cables for the past year should have a bulky port on the laptop that eats into PCB + battery space
The assertion that something as basic as a functioning Ethernet port in a "professional" laptop - the high end model of which exceeds $6000 - constitutes a waste of PCB and battery space, is utter delusion. At that price they should throw in a Saks Fifth Avenue bag to carry your dongles.
The same company has been selling a tiny 10Ge machine that can saturate this plus both TB ports without breaking a sweat. You'd think they could make a single dongle with 1/10th of that capacity.
There are collapsible ports that some laptop manufacturers include. Robustness might be a worry but I’m sure Apple would be able to engineer something suitable.
3Com was doing this[1] over 25 years ago stuffing a retractable RJ-45 into a PCMCIA card. The concept is not new. I'm sure if Apple ever did such a thing it would be lauded as pure genius, an invention so incredible we would not be worthy of it.
Wifi is still not on par with ethernet and probably wont be until wifi 7 is the norm. Even then 10gbps ethernet will likely be more common and still out perform wifi especially in urban areas of high interference
Reliable, meh. I've had two die on me. One lasted a few years of VERY light usage, the other died barely a year or two in. Also almost no usage.
In both cases it simply stopped appearing on the bus, but was clearly "running" to some degree - it would get warm to the touch, just as they normally do.
I've also found that the Thunderbolt connector's lack of a "click" engagement to be a serious issue for storage, network, and even display - every Mac I've seen it in use, the connection has been flaky. It really fucking sucks to whip out the thunderbolt adapter and plug into ethernet for "reliability", set up a transfer of a ton of data, and half-way though shift the machine slightly aaaaaaaaand then the ethernet adapter disappears and your transfer is fucked.
Happy to see them drop that idiotic connector for USB-C, as at least that has some sort of physical retention mechanism other than "hopes and dreams" (ie: rely on proper clearance tolerances between different vendors, on surfaces that will wear with use.)
My first (2011?) MBP had very sturdy Thunderbolt connectors, and dongles wouldn’t suddenly fall out. The lauded 2015 model I had had very loose connectors with the problem you’re describing. Strange design change IMO.
Yes, this adapter works well in my experience, too. A little clunky since Apple still hasn't updated it to native Thunderbolt 3 so it needs an adapter, but that doesn't really impact how it functions.
I've also had good luck with whatever Caldigit uses in their Thunderbolt Mini Docks (not at my desk to check and see what chipset's in mine).
