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irishgrizzly

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 15, 2006
1,461
2
Should this work on a late 2013 MacBook Pro ok? Or is it better to get the official thunderbolt version(speed wise)?
 
It will probably require its own driver.
That's not a problem -- so long as you have the right driver.
Make sure the one you buy is advertised as being "Mac compatible".
If possible, go to amazon and read the reviews, pay attention to those from Mac users.
 
It will probably require its own driver.
That's not a problem -- so long as you have the right driver.
Make sure the one you buy is advertised as being "Mac compatible".
If possible, go to amazon and read the reviews, pay attention to those from Mac users.

Thanks, the guy I rang at the store said it's Mac compatible - but I wanted to double check.
 
I assume your 2013 rMBP is similar to my 2015 rMBP. For this unit I prefer the Thunderbolt to Ethernet Adapter from Apple. It seem to work better (full gigabit to and from my NAS) than my USB3 to Ethernet adapter, and runs cooler, but still gets kind of warm.
 
I have used the Plugable USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter, and it does require a driver. I also own the Apple thunderbolt adapter. There is no noticeable difference in speed when copying files across the home gigabit network. I finally abandoned the Plugable device simply because I often need both USB ports on my MBP. The thunderbolt adapter is recognized right away during an install, too.
 
I would recommend the Thunderbolt to Ethernet adaptor because the drives are built-in to macOS.
 
Lenovo's USB3 to 1Gbps ethernet adapter works straight out of the box
 
the one i have is a USB 3 hub with gigabit ethernet from iclever, i don't think it's made anymore.

i have much better luck with the USB adapter over the thunderbolt
with the thunderbolt, i normally have to unplug and replug at least once, either the thunderbolt side or the ethernet side sometimes both.

and a bonus with the USB version, if you use parallels, you can hook the ethernet port directly to windows, and not have to deal withe shared/bridged networking in parallels
i have software that i need for work that's windows only, and this has simplified that process greatly.

not to mention for work i use a 13" air, so i only have one thunderbolt, the USB lets me hook up an external monitor and used wired ethernet at the same time.

It's been a while since i got it, i think mac recongnized it, but i had to install drivers for windows. Maybe the other way around, but one did recognize it and one didnt'
 
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