Do the majority of iMac owners use the "Ethernet cable" or connect wireless?

[bobright]

It's a nice change coming over from a bulky old windows PC the iMac can actually connect to the Internet wirelessly. I was thinking at the same time speeds obviously areceffected by being wireless though right? Do most people just use their Ethernet cable?

It is a desktop afterall I think once I get it moved into my office ill hook it up via the Ethernet cable.

[GGJstudios]

Both Ethernet and wireless networks are faster than any internet connection you may have. You won't see any difference in internet performance between the two.

[Sue De Nimes]

I use Ethernet as my iMac is on a, erm, network.

Wireless still doesn't come close for data throughput or reliability.

I wouldn't recommend anyone using WiFi unless they were unable to use an Ethernet connection.

There isn't any difference between connecting over Wifi under OSX or Window. Both of them work fine.

[WrrN]

I use wifi but am within a couple meters of the router, so I don't see a need to hard wire to Ethernet. One less cable.

[Sodner]

Everthing wireless in my place.

2 iMac's
1 Air
3 iPads
3 iPhones
2 Apple TV's

[GGJstudios]

Originally Posted by Sue De Nimes

Wireless still doesn't come close for data throughput or reliability.

That's not true for internet use. WiFi is still much faster than the internet connection, and is extremely reliable.

[Foggy]

I have cat 6 based gigabit network throughout the house. Everything that stays in one place is wired in. It's much faster and vastly more reliable.

[C62008]

By wire. Noticeably faster than wireless even 4 feet from router.

[maflynn]

While I own a MBP and not an iMac, I think its something I can give my $.02

I use my computer on my desk most of the time and when that's the case its using ethernet. I find the performance to be better then wireless, not just to the internet but also with my NAS.

[tom vilsack]

Wired...it's simply faster

Don't believe? Run speedtest with both...I'm betting your wired will be faster,even if only slightly

http://www.speedtest.net/

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by C62008

By wire. Noticeably faster than wireless even 4 feet from router.

Wired will always be faster than wireless (latencies etc), and wireless is NOT as reliable, especially when waking a system from sleep.

That said, I do run wireless, but if I could do so easily I'd be wired 100% of the time.

[cloudyo]

Ethernet has a lower latency than WiFi. When you play online games you will notice a lower ping for example when using ethernet. While browsing the web you might notice websites loading a tiny bit faster.

You will most likely not notice any difference in download or upload speed unless you have a very fast connection.

[maflynn]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

That said, I do run wireless, but if I could do so easily I'd be wired 100% of the time.

When I got my rMBP, I ran it wireless and noticed that I was saturating the bandwidth when I surfed, ran a TM backup and was playing music off my NAS. Copying files to my NAS was significantly slower as well.

In the end, I decided to buy the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter because I was noticing a significant degradation.

[CoMoMacUser]

Mine is wired to my Time Capsule, which serves as my router.

[Nermal]

Originally Posted by maflynn

When I got my rMBP, I ran it wireless and noticed that I was saturating the bandwidth when I surfed, ran a TM backup and was playing music off my NAS. Copying files to my NAS was significantly slower as well.

In the end, I decided to buy the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter because I was noticing a significant degradation.

There was also a bug with the 2011 MBPs where you could have more than 300 ms latency to your own base station. Fortunately that was fixed with an update, but I'll always use Ethernet for anything "serious". After all, if I'm at my desk then the cable's there.

[jetjaguar]

my imac is wired .. other ones on different floors are wireless.
mine wired gets 150 /65 .. mine wireless right next to the router gets 55/50
the ones downstairs get like 35/25

might need to put a airport extreme on the other two floors

[spyguy10709]

Hey all-

Even with 802.11N 2.4Ghz networks suck. and they suck bad.

Switching networks (like dual band) also suck because for some unexplained reason, OS X perfers a crowded 2.4GHz network over the 5Ghz one.

Set your Wifi AP to 5Ghz mode, and enjoy. I get the same speed in my bedroom (2 walls, 120feet away) that I get with ethernet next to the router.

(And I have 75/50Mbit FiOS)

[bobright]

Originally Posted by maflynn

When I got my rMBP, I ran it wireless and noticed that I was saturating the bandwidth when I surfed, ran a TM backup and was playing music off my NAS. Copying files to my NAS was significantly slower as well.

In the end, I decided to buy the thunderbolt to ethernet adapter because I was noticing a significant degradation.

I am running wireless out the box right now but wait a minute, in order to hook the iMac to Ethernet I need an adapter?

I'm a new Mac owner so this is all new to me wow it really is so different from windows need adapters for everything

[MeFromHere]

Originally Posted by bobright

I am running wireless out the box right now but wait a minute, in order to hook the iMac to Ethernet I need an adapter?

I'm a new Mac owner so this is all new to me wow it really is so different from windows need adapters for everything

You don't need an adapter for ethernet on the iMac; it has a built-in Gbit ethernet port.

The retina MacBook Pro doesn't have a built-in ethernet port, so that system needs an adapter.

[reclusive46]

I have fibre broadband and I don't quite get full speed via WI-FI (On my time capsule). Ethernet sometimes does have an advantage.

[Phillie86]

Ethernet all the way. Wifi is for macbook pros, iphones and ipads in the house

[crows]

the only advantage I can think of is Ethernet connection is not encrypted so the computer does not have to decrypt the data as it comes in... assuming you have the encryption enabled on your router so only you can access your router and not the entire neighborhood... but obviously the decryption in today's computers is very fast hence you don't notice much of a performance penalty if any..

[Weaselboy]

Always wired if I can. Not subject to wifi interference from portable phones, microwaves, you name it. Also gets me access to 1GB transfer rates within the LAN.

[OLDCODGER]

Wired only - not wasting good money on a wireless router.

[rpg51]

home is that so long as I have the wireless well configured (which is a big if) I notice zero difference in internet speed/performance between ethernet and wireless. Speedtest results are the same. The transfer of data on my home network, on the other hand, is faster via ethernet as compared to wireless.

My understanding has been that the typical high speed internet cable connection is generally the slow link or bottleneck, not the wireless or ethernet network connection and my experience bears that out.