Any alternative to USB adaptor?

There have been threads about this. There are adaptors that work with Apple's drivers and others that need third-party drivers.

One thing to note about Apple's adaptor is that it only does 10/100Mbit/s. I think there are others that will do 1000Mbit/s, though those will be bottlenecked by the maximum 480Mbit/s of USB 2.0; but that's still better than 100Mbit/s.

I just got one of these via ebay:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-USB-Gigabit-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B002N56EWI

It just plugs in and works on my Air 2010 C2D 13".

Design is a little odd and it doesn't feel very stable sticking out of the USB, but it was cheap, is gigabit-ready, and I only need it rarely.

sahni130 said:

is there a viable/cheaper alternative adaptor to Apple's own USB to Ethernet $29 one?

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The D-Link DUB-E100 USB 2.0 Fast Ethernet Adapter is know to work on Lion without any additional device drives, it tends to run about $20 but it's ugly and clunky.

My recommendation would be to pay the extra few dollars for the Apple one. after all it won't have to be replaced when you upgrade your Air.

sahni130 said:

I see numerous ones on amazon and ebay but i don't know how well they work.

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I use a Linksys / Cisco USB300M. It also works with Lion natively without any other software required. It's also only 100 speed, but for twice a year I use it, it's been enough.

I've also heard good things about monoprice's gigabit offering.

wi-fi

Since the USB port can't benefit from 1000 Mbps internet, you don't even need to go for Monoprice's $18 gigabit ethernet adapter (although it looks prettier). These two things from Monoprice should do the trick:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10311&cs_id=1031102&p_id=6150&seq=1&format=2
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=8604&seq=1&format=2

The adapter is a bit ugly and clunky thus the extra $0.85 cable to distance the bulk of the adapter from the MagSafe port. All in with shipping should be around $10.

jgc said:

Since the USB port can't benefit from 1000 Mbps internet, you don't even need to go for Monoprice's $18 gigabit ethernet adapter (although it looks prettier). These two things from Monoprice should do the trick:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10311&cs_id=1031102&p_id=6150&seq=1&format=2
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=8604&seq=1&format=2

The adapter is a bit ugly and clunky thus the extra $0.85 cable to distance the bulk of the adapter from the MagSafe port. All in with shipping should be around $10.

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No, this is not entirely true. I would not recommend using a 100mbps adapter anywhere, anymore. There's a huge difference between 100mbps and the 480mbps that is the limit of usb when connected with a 1000mbps adapter. I know I've experienced a great difference after I replaced my Apple adapter with the Monoprice one.

On a side note, are there any Thunderbolt ethernet adapters yet ?

antonis said:

On a side note, are there any Thunderbolt ethernet adapters yet ?

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Yup. It's $1000 and comes with a free monitor.

NewbieCanada said:

antonis said:

...
On a side note, are there any Thunderbolt ethernet adapters yet ?

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Yup. It's $1000 and comes with a free monitor.

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And there's the announced Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock.

USB has a bit of overhead. With hard drives, it's quite high. So don't expect to get 480Mbps with a gigabit adapter.

Also, depending on what you're doing - 100Mbps is just fine (web browsing, streaming videos, streaming music) as your bottleneck might be something else (i.e. internet).

Bear said:

And there's the announced Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock.

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So it's 300 and comes without a monitor!