When is the 10GB ethernet good?

[mralexandercom]

Would I ever need this?

Most of the times if someone asks this question it indicates they don't.

When would someone need this connection?

I am thinking of getting a fairly base configuration for the Mac Mini 2018 and upgrade the RAM and add an external storage, if needed.

• 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)
• 8GB 2666MHz DDR4
• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• 256GB SSD storage
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)

I would add another 16GB or 32GB; My current Mac Book pro runs on 16GB and its plenty for me.

 

[twennywonn]

If you have a 10 Gig NAS or a network connection with 10 Gig

 

[Nermal]

Due to overheads, even a 1 Gb/s Internet connection won't run at full speed on a Gigabit Ethernet system. If your ISP offers such a service then it may be worth the upgrade.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

For residential users, most ISPs don't have service fast enough to require 10GB, and 10GB equipment is still uncommon and pricier.. So for home type users, I wouldn't bother.

That said, it the Mini is going on a corporate network that supports 10GB, or if you are going to put it in a co-location facility, then it might be worthwhile.

 

[alien3dx]

Due to overheads, even a 1 Gb/s Internet connection won't run at full speed on a Gigabit Ethernet system. If your ISP offers such a service then it may be worth the upgrade.

i waiting for my free upgrade next year 100 mbps.. i only think torrent only can maximize it .

 

[Oculus Mentis]

10Gbe is what is usually required to run iSCSI at decent speeds (similar to usb 3).
iSCSI volumes appear to the OS as internal disks and this means, for example, that you can host your lightroom data or a database on a remote raid array on the network.

Such raid arrays offer redundancy and performance and can be shared among different machines (the arrays not the volumes).Think of those huge 4U racks with 22 SAS hard disks. You can get them on eBay these days if you don't mind the noise and/or the electricity bill...

On a smaller scale, vendors like Synology, Netgear, QNAP and others offer similar raid array for home or small offices.
So, again, whenever you need to run an application that needs direct attached storage (DAS) volumes, iSCSI and 10Gbe are your friends.

There are many geeks among the Mac Mini user community, I would not be surprised to see people installing VMware ESXi on the new mini and configuring remote datastores via iSCSI to play, learn and for production tasks.

What I am not sure about is Apple strategy towards iSCSI... They just plonked 10Gbe interfaces on their hardware when the most basic support for iSCSI is not even on Mac OS: people have to buy from other vendors the software to configure iSCSI initiators. And is not even cheap!

 

[thisismyusername]

Few home users would be able to take advantage of 10Gbe. You'd have to have a 10Gb switch (which aren't cheap), another 10Gb server/computer to talk to (e.g. a NAS), and wiring in your house that supports 10Gb. That server you're talking to also has to have storage fast enough to handle speeds greater than 1Gb/s. You'd also have to have a need to regularly move large amounts of data back and forth.

Do you find yourself routinely moving TBs of data back and forth to another computer on your local network and find your current 1Gb/S network limiting? Are you currently even able to max out your 1Gb/S network? Do you have Cat 6/6a/7 wiring in your house?

Like people say, you'd know if you needed 10Gbe.

I do, however, think it's very cool that Apple made it an option and that it's only $100. I can see it being very useful in pro environments where the Mini is in a data center, lab, etc.

 

[pl1984]

It's beneficial when you're moving large amounts of data across the network (and have the corresponding infrastructure to support it). Typically this would be in a NAS or SAN setup.

It's also one of the transfer methods where the sequential throughput of the internal SSD can benefit. Theoretically 10 Gb/sec (bits) ethernet translates into 1.25 GB/sec (bytes).