Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

no Ethernet in 2012 MBP? bad move

PracticalMac

PracticalMac

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 22, 2009
2,857
5,246
Houston, TX
Too many businesses insist on Ethernet for security reasons.
WiFi still far slower then Gigabit Ethernet.

MBA is fine because it is designed for size (not meant for significant projects), but on a Pro machine?

EDIT:
Forcing one to get (buy) a dongle to use a industry wide standard and expected connection on a business/pro level machine is bad practice.
This is not about pushing advanced technology, its about supporting technology that is still top of line and ubiquitous.

Dongles are also bad practice in industry, used only for very specific, limited reasons. They can get damaged, lost, stolen. Worse is damage to the Thunderbolt port itself. Remember why Apple went with MagSafe power connection?
 
Last edited:
Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?
 
PracticalMac said:
Too many businesses insist on Ethernet for security reasons.
WiFi still far slower then Gigabit Ethernet.

MBA is fine becuase it is designed for size, but on a Pro machine?
Click to expand...
You do realize that ethernet is still an option for ALL MBPs? Thats what an adapter is for....
 
I wonder if the HDMI port supports ethernet. That would be nice because it would mean cheap adapters are possible. Otherwise I need to get a Thunderbolt ethernet adapter that costs who knows how much, and I need to keep track of it just for those rare inopportune times when there's no wifi.
 
PracticalMac said:
Video editors?
3D models?
Click to expand...
I'm not too familiar with what they do (aside from the obvious implication of their titles). So you're saying their files are all stored remotely or something? I was under the impression it was all done on a computer, no internet connection really required?
 
The only time I really need to use ethernet is for work (I'm an IT guy for a school. When we get new computers or a computer crashed & I need to wipe the hard drive, I just boot off a Netboot server and put y school's appropriate software on. Unfortunately, or Netboot system doesn't support Wi-fi. Fortunately, there's going to be adaptors. Probably $69 adaptors or something, but adaptors nonetheless.

----------
KylePowers said:
I'm not too familiar with what they do (aside from the obvious implication of their titles). So you're saying their files are all stored remotely or something? I was under the impression it was all done on a computer, no internet connection really required?
Click to expand...

May have a NAS on the local network, not necessarily on the internet.
 
guzhogi said:
May have a NAS on the local network, not necessarily on the internet.
Click to expand...
Sorry, that's what I meant... some type of network connection. Hmm, well interesting. Looks like people will have to go with the regular MBPs or get a Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 ethernet adapter.

It's a good thing though. Once more companies nix ethernet, it'll force networking companies to pump out faster wireless and more secure routers. They'll stay relatively stagnant if no one pushes them, because there's really no profitable reason to push the boundaries.
 
Buy the normal MBP, ill be enjoying my thin retina MBP and use a dongle if (read never) required.
 
m85476585 said:
I wonder if the HDMI port supports ethernet. That would be nice because it would mean cheap adapters are possible. Otherwise I need to get a Thunderbolt ethernet adapter that costs who knows how much, and I need to keep track of it just for those rare inopportune times when there's no wifi.
Click to expand...

I bet you could get one for under $10 on eBay...

It's just wire. You don't need to get the Apple branded one that costs 5x more than it costs to build.
 
Honestly they really should have just included it. It costs next to nothing, but I guess they wanted it as thin as possible.

I wonder how much that accessory will cost, probably $30 to $50 ... Lol. Apple gonna Apple.

----------
m85476585 said:
I wonder if the HDMI port supports ethernet. That would be nice because it would mean cheap adapters are possible. Otherwise I need to get a Thunderbolt ethernet adapter that costs who knows how much, and I need to keep track of it just for those rare inopportune times when there's no wifi.
Click to expand...

Lord have mercy.

HDMI support Ethernet? Lol, just ... Lol. You guys are killing me here.
 
It SEEEMS old to have an ethernet port. Everything else is immediately second rate. Use wifi, make it secure.
 
I'll tell you something that is bad, they appear to have not updated the Mac pro in anyway at all:

http://www.apple.com/macpro/

!!! oh dear.... I can hear the Pro's running to Windows....

As for ethernet, yeah it is VERY poor that they dropped it from a machine costing so much and then failed to include 802.11 AC wireless! That is what they should have done. But we will need to see how much the adapters are I guess.
 
KylePowers said:
Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?
Click to expand...

Seriously? Anything involving collaborating on very large files. :rolleyes:
 
KylePowers said:
Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?
Click to expand...

Large file transfers to a server. Basic sysadmin work.

Setting up Lights Out Server controls with a cat 5 cable. No servers I know of have wireless in the datacenter.
 
Ap0ks said:
Go check the 1.4 spec before you laugh too hard (it has a 100Mb ethernet channel) ;)
Click to expand...

Whoa, I didn't know that!

Still, 100Mb is pathetic in today's data heavy world ... It's a shame they didn't have the foresight to put in gigabit.
 
KylePowers said:
Honest question - What businesses/companies do people work for that they'd notice the difference in speed between WiFi and ethernet? What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?
Click to expand...
Good point. Unless you work for rapidshare I don't really see the point.
 
KylePowers said:
What would you actually be doing that would make the difference apparent?
Click to expand...

If you're only using WiFi to hook up to the Internet then its probably faster than your broadband connection, so that's fine. If you actually start file-sharing between machines, then its really not that fast at all, unless you've got a cutting-edge WiFi router and no interference. Neither 300Mbps WiFi or 1Gbps Ethernet actually gives you anything like that speed in practice, but I'd rather have half of 1000 than half of 300 thank you.

Easy: Working with files over a network for sharing or backup. At home I have 2 or 3 systems hooked up with Gigabit, used for Time Machine backups (faster is better) or, when I bring my work machine home, I just plug it in and mount it over the network from my home machine and work on the files, rather than juggle displays and keyboards.

At work, they only have 100Mbps Ethernet, but even that's faster than the WiFi there.

As for the new MacBook Pro - if the Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet dongle isn't too overpriced (Edit: $30), its a solution, esp. considering that there are now 2 Thunderbolt ports and HDMI and 3 USB3 ports. On an old MBP with 2xUSB2 (not fast enough for 1Gbps and hard on the CPU) and only 1 Thunderbolt (which doubles as the only display output) it would have been a deal breaker.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back