Anyone ordering the new Mini with the faster 10gig ethernet port?

[dmk1974]

I currently have a $20 USB-C dongle for 2.5 gig ethernet connected to my M2 Mac Mini (I have MoCA 2.5 and Xfinity X2 speed service to my house). Works well and fast as expected.

For ordering the new M4 Mac Mini, I saw the option to upgrade the ethernet port to 10 gig for $100. Any real benefit to that (aside from not needing my USB-C dongle)? I don't see myself upgrading anything in my house to 10 gig speed and assumed I'd just connect the dongle I already have. Thanks.

 

[elchorizo]

I recently added 10 gig to my home network but I still ordered my mini with the default gig ethernet. I could always use an adapter as you do for some extra speed, but tbh, even gig ethernet is fast enough for my use case of streaming media from my NAS.

If however I was using the machine for work, and my workflow involved a lot of file transfers around my networks I'd upgrade for sure. The 10 gig connection on my Mac Studio is pretty sick when I'm transferring 100s of gigs of photo/video content over after a shoot.

 

[wikeeboy]

Sorry for the newbie question but if the mini will be wired via ethernet to a fibre modem is there any advantage to this 10gig option? My internet is currently around 100mbps and possibly moving to 1gbps. I don't transfer large files, really only need the ethernet port for internet access.

 

[waloshin]

Sorry for the newbie question but if the mini will be wired via ethernet to a fibre modem is there any advantage to this 10gig option? My internet is currently around 100mbps and possibly moving to 1gbps. I don't transfer large files, really only need the ethernet port for internet access.

No as 1 gigabit ethernet is 1 gbps.

 

[wikeeboy]

No as 1 gigabit ethernet is 1 gbps.

Great, you're saving me money

 

[sammyman]

I did order it. I think 1gbe is fine, but I have a 10gbe NAS and the 256gb is way too small.

 

[Donka]

I'm waiting on reviews but will be ordering with the 10GbE upgrade. Just got a new fibre connection installed - 1Gbps at the moment but they offer up to 8Gbps currently so future proofing myself as I'll likely be on a minimum of 2Gbps in the next year or two.

 

[Fishrrman]

Not even sure if it's technically possible, but Apple should be providing 2.5gb ethernet ports in Macs now.

Just as "16gb is 'the new 8'",
2.5gb ethernet is "the new 1gb" ...

 

[xraydoc]

Not even sure if it's technically possible, but Apple should be providing 2.5gb ethernet ports in Macs now.

Just as "16gb is 'the new 8'",
2.5gb ethernet is "the new 1gb" ...

I agree. Even my router and wifi access points have 2.5Gb ports on them. though I'm not looking forward to replacing all my home network switches with 2.5Gb-capable switches.

My house is wired with Cat5e (was preinstalled when we bought it 7 years ago), so I think over the shorter runs it'll probably handle 2.5Gb, though I suspect it'll struggle to handle any faster, even with faster switches.

We just got 1Gb/s fiber symmetric internet service (fastest offered in the neighborhood) and I don't require a fast NAS in the house, so I'm good for now topping out at single gigabit speeds. But rewiring the in-wall cables with Cat 6 or better for anything beyond 2.5Gbs will likely be damn-near impossible.

 

[TheRealAlex]

I currently have a $20 USB-C dongle for 2.5 gig ethernet connected to my M2 Mac Mini (I have MoCA 2.5 and Xfinity X2 speed service to my house). Works well and fast as expected.

For ordering the new M4 Mac Mini, I saw the option to upgrade the ethernet port to 10 gig for $100. Any real benefit to that (aside from not needing my USB-C dongle)? I don't see myself upgrading anything in my house to 10 gig speed and assumed I'd just connect the dongle I already have. Thanks.

Yes 100% my home service just got AT&T fiber 5Gig. So I’ve transitioned all my home networking to 2.5Gig since that’s Half the Price of 5Gig and a 2.5Gig switch is just $99 not $200+ for 5Gig. So having 10Gig built in is a must have.

 

[stiligFox]

Yup! I only have 1gig networking gear for the moment, but I plan to start upgrading my set up soon so I can get a faster connection to my NAS.

 

[jimhanseng]

I recently purchased a MAC Mini P4 Pro with the 10 gig upgrade. The Port is total trash. Even when I can keep it connected, performance is all over the place. Upload speed is below 5mbps when they should be at 41.5 mbps for my internet service. Down loan sometime runs near full speed at 1.2 gbps (it should be 1.4 gbs) but often drops to under 100 mbps. I have a $24 USB c 2.5 gig adapter that runs perfectly all the time. I have tried many different cables (some very expensive) and both 2.6gb and 1gb switches but get the same results. the eternal Wi-Fi often take primary position when the port is acting up. If I disable the Wi-Fi to keep the ethernet port the primary then I lose network access all together even though the port shows connected.

 

[haralds]

I did. Both my M1 Ultra Studio and mini Pro are 10Gbps. I currently have 2Gbps fiber and Eero WiFi 7. But Apple's WiFi 6 is a slug. Both systems are hooked to the Eero via 10Gbps ports and get full throughput, with the mini Pro being hooked to a mesh point and not on the office 10Gbps backbone. I have not tried the 5 Gbps fiber, but really do not need it.

 

[kirbyrun]

I ordered the 10Gb option, purely for future-proofing purposes. My network maxes out at 1Gb, but I plan to keep this Mac for quite a while and may upgrade at some point.

 

[Kargo]

I'm getting faster speeds on my M4 mini using WiFi than the default 1gig ethernet port. Using Cat 7 cables as well. At this point, I've just accepted it and using WiFi permanently

 

[jimhanseng]

I'm getting faster speeds on my M4 mini using WiFi than the default 1gig ethernet port. Using Cat 7 cables as well. At this point, I've just accepted it and using WiFi permanently

I got a 2.5 gig usb adapter and it works great. I get rull 2.5gig file transfer speeds on my local network and 1.5gbps on my 1.5gbps on my 1.5gbps internet service. They are cheap. Get a USB Adapter until Apple fixes this problem (if ever).

 

[bapegg]

I had issues with the 1gb port on my 2018 mini and also on my new M4 mini. I never could get them to stay connected when I manually set them to 1gb. Otherwise they would always default to 100mb. Yet the OWC 11 port thunderbolt dock runs just fine at 1gb when it was hooked up to the 2018 and then moved over to the M4.

I didn't bother with getting any faster that 1gb since internet access is capped at 400 mb with Charter Spectrum. My choices for internet service is Spectrum or the new AT&T Internet Air. Who knows when fiber will be available in my small rural town.

The fastest internal network won't do much good if my internet speed is the bottleneck.

I currently use a 8 bay DAS connected to my 2018 mini as a file server and transfer speeds are fine between all of my Apple products.Transferign from a Windows 11 computer to the 2018 Mac is sometimes painfully slow though.

 

[Che Castro]

I currently have a $20 USB-C dongle for 2.5 gig ethernet connected to my M2 Mac Mini (I have MoCA 2.5 and Xfinity X2 speed service to my house). Works well and fast as expected.

For ordering the new M4 Mac Mini, I saw the option to upgrade the ethernet port to 10 gig for $100. Any real benefit to that (aside from not needing my USB-C dongle)? I don't see myself upgrading anything in my house to 10 gig speed and assumed I'd just connect the dongle I already have. Thanks.

would that dongle work connected to a Thunderbolt hub?

 

[Fishrrman]

jimhanseng wrote:
"I got a 2.5 gig usb adapter and it works great. I get rull 2.5gig file transfer speeds on my local network and 1.5gbps on my 1.5gbps on my 1.5gbps internet service."

Could you tell us which one works for you?
Perhaps a URL, too?

 

[mikeboss]

Mac mini M4 with 10 GbE NIC connected to my (unfortunately still) 1 Gb network here: zero issues so far.

 

[smithrh]

jimhanseng wrote:
"I got a 2.5 gig usb adapter and it works great. I get rull 2.5gig file transfer speeds on my local network and 1.5gbps on my 1.5gbps on my 1.5gbps internet service."

Could you tell us which one works for you?
Perhaps a URL, too?

Not the person you were asking but I have several UGREEN 2.5Gbe USB adapters and they work right out of the box on MacOS, both AS and Intel.

CM646 I think.

Full 2.5Gbps speed, of course there's some overhead with TCP so actual throughput is around 2.2Gbps if doing an SSD-to-SSD file transfer.

Found on Amazon. UGREEN makes NAS hardware as well so I figured a USB-Ethernet adapter wouldn't be a stretch for them.

 

[rezwits]

I bought my mm2018 when I used it as a server in a Mac-mini-colo hoping to get to use the 10Gb one day, fat chance! But I shipped the Mac mini home set the project up on an image hosting service, and used the mm2018 at home.

Finally got the mmM4Pro with the same 10Gb. The mm2018 has a CalDigit TS3 the mmM4Pro has the CalDigit TS4 (2.5Gb) I use the CalDigit for the main internet connection (on both) and put a Cat8 •LOL• cable connection between the two machines on their 10Gb and use a SanDisk Blade Station connected via TB3 directly to the mmM4Pro.

the Blade mounted via TB3 to the mmM4P is r2400MB/w2700MB/s
the Blade shared via eNet 10Gb to the mm2018 (from the mmM4P) is r500MB/w700MB/s

I am enjoying the 500MB/s, especially because the 2018 only had a 256GB ssd
(note the same blade using the SanDisk USB-C enclosure connected to the mm2018 is r950MB/w950MB/s)

2¢

 

[H_D]

Ordered it for faster access to a local DAS archive, same as the studios (and 2.5 dongles on MBP)

 

[seggy]

I agree. Even my router and wifi access points have 2.5Gb ports on them. though I'm not looking forward to replacing all my home network switches with 2.5Gb-capable switches.

My house is wired with Cat5e (was preinstalled when we bought it 7 years ago), so I think over the shorter runs it'll probably handle 2.5Gb, though I suspect it'll struggle to handle any faster, even with faster switches.

We just got 1Gb/s fiber symmetric internet service (fastest offered in the neighborhood) and I don't require a fast NAS in the house, so I'm good for now topping out at single gigabit speeds. But rewiring the in-wall cables with Cat 6 or better for anything beyond 2.5Gbs will likely be damn-near impossible.

You could always re-do it in a more accessible way instead of ripping it out. Obivously at this point, go fiber for backbones at least.

 

[butterwm]

I did. Both my M1 Ultra Studio and mini Pro are 10Gbps. I currently have 2Gbps fiber and Eero WiFi 7. But Apple's WiFi 6 is a slug. Both systems are hooked to the Eero via 10Gbps ports and get full throughput, with the mini Pro being hooked to a mesh point and not on the office 10Gbps backbone. I have not tried the 5 Gbps fiber, but really do not need it.

Mind if I ask you how you are liking the Eero 7’s? I am currently shopping for a new WiFi mesh setup and they are at the top of my list.