New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper

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ccalcifer about 4 hours ago 44 commentsRead Article on jeffgeerling.com

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Discussion (44 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

GeertJohan•about 2 hours ago

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

topspin•about 2 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.

Tade0•24 minutes 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•about 2 hours ago

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

hsbauauvhabzb•25 minutes ago

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

lostlogin•about 1 hour ago

TVs too.

deepsun•about 2 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.

eqvinox•about 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•about 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

tjoff•10 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.

javawizard•43 minutes ago

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).

lostlogin•38 minutes ago

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

_blk•13 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

spockz•about 1 hour ago

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.

lostlogin•40 minutes ago

The idea of a POE Mac mini makes me happy. It would be a nice way of power cycling it from the switch, tidier than the smart plug I have.

https://hackaday.com/2023/08/14/adding-power-over-ethernet-s...

JonChesterfield•22 minutes 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•about 1 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•about 1 hour ago

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

burnt-resistor•about 1 hour 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.

fmajid•about 1 hour ago

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

dijit•11 minutes ago

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

superjan•about 1 hour ago

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

userbinator•about 3 hours ago

The PCIe version: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46423967

jordand•about 1 hour 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_•about 2 hours ago

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

TMWNN•about 2 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•about 1 hour 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.

whilenot-dev•about 2 hours ago

Wouldn't it be better to just buy an M.2 NVMe adapter, eg. ICY DOCK ICYNano MB861U31-1M2B[0]?

[0]: https://global.icydock.com/product_247.html

justinclift•about 1 hour ago

That doesn't seem to be USB 4?

sva_•about 2 hours ago

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

user34283•about 2 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•about 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•about 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•about 1 hour 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•about 1 hour 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•about 1 hour ago

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.

mschuster91•about 1 hour ago

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

JonChesterfield•24 minutes 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•about 1 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•about 1 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.