With network requirements increasing for content creators, small businesses, gamers, CAD users with large assemblies and anyone else in need of a high data throughput within a short amount of time and the affordability of high speed networking growing, 10Gb networking is becoming more widely used. In order to integrate all your devices into your new fast network, it is essential to have a router or switch which can handle such high throughput. Whereas normally this is quite expensive, with TRENDnet’s TEG-7080ES it becomes quite affordable. For a more detailed review of this 8 port 10Gb managed switch check out my full review here.
With 10Gb networking becoming more affordable and necessary for video / photo editors, gamers, CAD users with large assemblies and anyone else in need of a high data throughput within a short amount of time, it is time to upgrade networking configuration. In order to achieve 10Gb networking, users require network cards capable of handling the given throughput. With a desktop PC this can easily be achieved by installing a 10Gb network card. Due to the size and heat output by such 10Gb networking cards, the available options to achieve 10Gb networking within a laptop are minimal. The easiest and most cost effective solution is to use network adapters.
A common such adapter, which is capable of achieving 10 Gigabits, is a Thunderbolt to 10Gb ethernet. The earliest Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 1, is able to achieve speeds of up to 10Gbit/s. The current state of the art is Thunderbolt 3, which in theory is able to reach speeds of 20Gbit/s with 1 lane and 40Gbit/s with 2 lanes. In January 2020, Intel announced Thunderbolt 4, which improves on the previous generation, while keeping the same maximum transfer rates. To learn more about the Thunderbolt standards see here.
With Thunderbolt, laptops can be integrated into 10Gb networks using adapters such as OWC’s portable THUNDERBOLT 3 10G ETHERNET ADAPTER or SONNET’s workstation Twin10G (Thunderbolt 3 Edition). There are many other similar Thunderbolt 3 to 10Gb ethernet adapters.
DISCLAIMER! Not all advertised Thunderbolt 3 ports are the same. Check with your manufacturer for how many PCIe lanes are dedicated to said Thunderbolt 3 port. This will limit the true transfer speed of your connection, so be sure to check this before buying the appropriate hardware. Furthermore, make sure you have an appropriate ethernet cable, with compatibility starting at CAT 6.
Furthermore, If you don’t have a device equipped with Thunderbolt 3 and would like to improve your Ethernet performance don’t dismay. SONNET has you covered with their wide range of networking adapters. With their new 5GbE Network USB 3 Adapter: Solo5G; 10GbE Network Thunderbolt 2 Adapters: Solo10G, Twin10G and Twin10G SFP+; and their 10GbE Network Thunderbolt 3 Adapters: Solo10G (Copper / SFP+) and Twin10G (Copper / SFP+) they have the laptop industry covered. The PC tower users can also enjoy SONNET’s Hardware with their wide range of 10GbE PCIe Cards: Solo10G PCIe 3.0 (Copper / SFP+) and Presto 10GbE (Copper / SFP+) dual 10Gb networking PCIe cards. To view their extensive range of networking cards / adapters feel free to visit here.
To read the full review of these two adapters visit here.