Apple's Ethernet and FireWire Thunderbolt adapters discontinued

[dandeco]

I don't know if people have really talked about this here, but it seems for a while now, Apple has discontinued the Thunderbolt 1/2 adapters for Ethernet and FireWire, as part of slimming down their product line by eliminating anything outdated (they even finally discontinued that USB 2.0 external SuperDrive). They still make a USB 2.0 to Ethernet adapter, but nothing for Thunderbolt. For use with modern Macs, Apple now directs you to third-party USB-C to Ethernet adapters. Nothing for anyone still using FireWire devices (as long as they still work and get the job done!) but if you already have the FireWire to Thunderbolt adapter, Apple still makes their Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter to daisy-chain to. (This is what I'm currently doing at my college for digitizing the TV studio's Video8 and Hi-8 library via my Sony Digital8 camcorder hooked up to one of our M3 iMacs.)

Though I wouldn't be surprised if some third-party company starts making a FireWire 800 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter in the future, thus avoiding the need to daisy-chain the Apple ones or get an expensive Thunderbolt dock that may have a FireWire 800 port. (And it'd be good for Windows users with some kind of PC laptop or all-in-one with a Thunderbolt 3 port or greater.)

 

[joevt]

The Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet and FireWire 800 adapters were Thunderbolt 1 devices. Do they still work with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 Apple Silicon Macs?

You can buy Ethernet and FireWire PCIe cards and install them into a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis. Although those are 100 times bigger than the adapters and require power input.

 

[Fishrrman]

These still ought to be available on ebay for quite a while to come, either as "used" or perhaps even "new-old stock"...

 

[chrfr]

The Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet and FireWire 800 adapters were Thunderbolt 1 devices. Do they still work with Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 Apple Silicon Macs?

They definitely still work on TB4 computers; I'm pretty confident they still work on TB5 Macs as well. I use the ethernet adapters pretty regularly.

 

[vanc]

They definitely still work on TB4 computers; I'm pretty confident they still work on TB5 Macs as well. I use the ethernet adapters pretty regularly.

I can confirm that.

I have a Sony DCR-TRV20 camcorder and tons of mini-DV tapes. With Apple TB3 to TB2 dongle + TB2 to Firewire dongle and a Firewire 800 to 4-pin cable, I could still use an MBP 14 with M4 Max to digitize all the old videos.

 

[dandeco]

I can confirm that.

I have a Sony DCR-TRV20 camcorder and tons of mini-DV tapes. With Apple TB3 to TB2 dongle + TB2 to Firewire dongle and a Firewire 800 to 4-pin cable, I could still use an MBP 14 with M4 Max to digitize all the old videos.

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Yep; that's exactly what I am doing at my college's TV studio!

Like I said, I'm digitizing their Hi-8 video library with this Sony DCR-TRV460 Digital8 camcorder. It definitely gets the job done, though some of the tapes are kind of deteriorated to the point where they keep dropping out, even if I use my head-cleaning cassette in my Digital8.

 

[dandeco]

I'm seeing scalpers online selling those FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapters online for around $100! I talk about that and how you should avoid those fake FireWire-to-USB cables sold on Amazon...