Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor

Features

The Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor lets you easily connect to a high-performance Gigabit Ethernet network. Small and compact, it connects to the Thunderbolt port on your Mac computer and provides an RJ-45 port that supports 10/100/1000BASE-T networks.

What's in the Box?

Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor with built-in Thunderbolt cable

System Requirements

Thunderbolt-equipped Mac computer

OS X v10.7.4 or later

What's in the Box?
System Requirements

Ratings & Reviews

Based on 84 reviews

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Most Useful Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars

Exceptional with the 2011 Macbook Air 13
- Written by Sayantan N from White Plains
- Jun 13, 2012
Installed the new Driver / Thunderbolt 1.2 Update from Software Update, plugged it in, and zoom. Works great, no longer wasting a USB port, and its super fast! Will be perfect in those hotels with no WiFi. No compatibility issues with my 2011 MBA 13 inch I bought last year.
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240 of 267 people found this useful

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5.0 out of 5 stars

Works great on Retina MBP
- Written by Rick R from Hewitt
- Jul 10, 2012
Works perfectly fine on the new Retina MBP.

218 of 251 people found this useful

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4.0 out of 5 stars

Works if you can find the Thunderbolt 1.2 update
- Written by Bruce C from Kentfield
- Jun 14, 2012
This adapter requires an update to the AppleBCM5701Ethernet plugin to work. That update was present in the thunderbolt software update 1.2 package. Said update was pulled from the automatic update list due to it crashing non-thunderbolt systems such as old macbook pros. I haven't read a report of any problems for us macbook air users, and it works great on my 2011 macbook air. If you're lucky enough to have grabbed a copy of the update from apple's KB article before it was pulled from there as well, you should be able to use the adapter. Presumably apple will fix this big error in a day or so with a newer thunderbolt update.

If you know what you're doing, you could always backup your IONetworkingFamily kext before applying the update, and then restore just that kext it if your system crashes from the update.

Nice performance with this dongle - I get 900Mbps throughput. Driver (and broadcom's specs) indicate jumbo frame support, but I haven't tried it. Jumbo frames not really necessary IMO since the CPU is beefy enough to handle high packet/second data rates.

Finally a cheap way to get data on&off a macbook air at speeds above USB 2. …More

184 of 203 people found this useful

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Most Recent Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars

Hangs bootcamp Windows 7 on lid close
- Written by Igor V from Brooklyn
- May 10, 2013
Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor DOES work on Windows 7, but requires a reboot after you connect it. The problem I have every time I close/reopen the lid, bootcamp doesn't come out of sleep/hibernation and you have to reboot again. …More

2 of 2 people found this useful

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5.0 out of 5 stars

Fully Functional
- Written by Nigel K from Dublin
- May 9, 2013
Works perfectly with the Macbook Air!

0 of 1 people found this useful

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1.0 out of 5 stars

Loose thunderbolt ethernet adaptor after five months
- Written by jarina M from greenbank
- May 8, 2013
I have been using the Thunderbolt ethernet adaptor for five months now. While it worked well till up to this week, the connection to the laptop is getting loose and I lose connection to the internet. This is very frustrating. I miss not having the ethernet port directly in my new laptop. The price for the adaptor is high, considering that it loosens up and behaves unpredictably. I may have to purchase a new one every six months. I will try the USB adaptor, since it is a little wider and hopefully more stable. I also do not like the length of the adaptor. If it is not supported by a table, it puts quite a torque on it. I wish that it was smaller and without any movable parts. I love my new retina display laptop and if this bit of an inconvenience was resolved, I would be thrilled. …More

6 of 6 people found this useful

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Questions & Answers

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See all 48 Questions

Most Interesting

Will Windows 7 (bootcamp) recognize a thunderbolt ethernet adapter?
- Asked by Jason R from Brookfield
- Jun 12, 2012
7 Answers
Best Answer

The previous "yes" answer is correct, it does indeed work under Wndows 7 Bootcamp, but the answer is a bit light on detail for a couple of the steps. Here's a fuller explanation:

1) download the driver per the instructions in the previous answer
2) unzip the drivers to a temporary folder on your hard drive
3) connect the adaptor to the thunderbolt port
4) reboot Windows

Windows should automatically detect the adaptor now and install it. You may need to point the installer at the location where you unzipped the drivers.

If Windows doesn't automatically install the device...

1) go to Start > Control Panel > Hardware & Sound and open Device Manager
2) click the name of your computer at the top of the device tree
3) click Action at the top of the window and choose Add Legacy Hardware
4) Click Next
5) Select "Install hardware that I manually select..."
6) Choose Network Adaptors
7) Choose "Have Disk"
8) Browse to the location of the drivers you unzipped earlier.
9) Click the .inf file
10) Select Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet from the list of drivers available
11) OK and install

You may need to reboot again with the adaptor plugged into the Thunderbolt port to finish the job, …More
- Answered by Benjamin C from London
- Jul 10, 2012
What's the difference between Thunderbolt to gigabit ethernet and USB to Ethernet?
- Asked by Jarett E from Beavercreek
- Jul 13, 2012
2 Answers
Best Answer

If you own a Macintosh Computer with a Thunderbolt port, then I recommend the Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter because it has Gigabit speeds and works on a standard network. …More
- Answered by Joshua G from Ft Lauderdale
- Nov 3, 2012
what connection do i need to connect to a BT landline
- Asked by Russell F
- Mar 17, 2013
1 Answer