Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor

Reviews for Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 85 reviews

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Not working with 2011 Macbook Air

    • Written by from Saratoga

    Pick one up today at the retail store, I have a 2011 MBA (Thunderbolt port) 1.8GHz and 10.7.4, plugs into the TB port and nothing happens. Went into Network under System Preferences and tired to see if I can manually add, no go... Not sure if I have a defective one or what.... Need some confirmation from other users....

    85 of 146 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Do not use if you want this to work with WIndows 7

    • Written by from marina del rey

    I dual boot my MBP to Windows 7 in order to do work on it. Although I can get this adapter to work in Windows 7, there are two major drawbacks. First is that the dongle has to be attached to the MBP AT BOOT or it will not see it. You cannot plug it in after it has booted and expect Windows to see it. Second is that once you do have it working, the laptop CANT GO TO SLEEP! It goes into hibernation mode, which is a deal-breaker. If you need a network adapter that'll work with Windows 7, this is NOT your product. I am very disappointed with Apple about this.

    26 of 30 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Does not work

    • Written by from Dallas

    WAIT FOR UPDTE PATCH BEFORE PURCHASING. Bought this to use with my MacBook Air and Apple messed up the patch to make it work and then pulled it with no explanation (typical). Currently I have an unusable dongle and cannot download any software while at the WWDC since they require you to have a wired connection to do so. Nice job Apple - not.

    109 of 196 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Doesn't work - get USB 3.0 to Gigabit instead

    • Written by from Poway

    Got one from apple store, had trouble getting it to work with Windows 7 or Windows 8 (worked on Mac side fine though). Since i use bootcamp a lot and needed a full gigabit speed - ended up returning and buying a USB 3.0 one from usb3gigabit.com. This one worked on mac and on Windows without any issues plus it left my thunderbolt usable for the display or storage.

    23 of 29 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Apple - it just works... NOT

    • Written by from HELENSVALE

    Picked one up today from my local Apple Store... nothing; doesn't work.

    The adaptor shows up in System Information, but just sits there inert:

    ___________________________________

    Vendor Name: Apple, Inc.
    Device Name: MacBook Air
    UID: 0x0001000C1C2DC7C0
    Firmware Version: 8.1
    Port:
    Status: Connected
    Link Status: 2
    Port Micro Firmware Version: 2.1.0

    Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter:

    Vendor Name: Apple, Inc.
    Device Name: Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
    Vendor ID: 0x1
    Device ID: 0x8003
    Device Revision: 0x1
    UID: 0x0001000200362E20
    Route String: 1
    Firmware Version: 5.5
    Port:
    Status: Connected
    Link Status: 2
    Port Micro Firmware Version: 0.0.8
    ____________________________________

    31 of 49 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Expensive and flawed

    • Written by from Roma

    I can understand the removal of ethernet ports if it was for reasons of size (since the Retina is quite thin and I'm not entirely sure Ethernet would fit too well), otherwise not a very good decision.
    That said the adaptor does what it's mean to do, but it has some major flaws.
    First of all, the price tag. After having purchased a rather expensive computer, having to throw in another 30 just to be able to go online isn't really ideal. They could've thrown one in for free, but I guess that's not how Apple rolls.
    The second problem is that, despite being light and portable to bring behind when out, the cable part of the adaptor is quite thick and not very flexible, which can be pretty annoying if you're trying to work in cramped spaces (or just don't have 15cm to the left of your laptop). The cable part can, obviously, be bent, but I wouldn't be surprised if it would soon destroy the adaptor. I try not bending it as much as possible, and having had it for just over 4 months I can see it's getting pretty ruined.
    But the last, and definitely most annoying problem, is that the adaptor does not fit snugly in the port and wobbles. The slightest twitch can cause your connection to drop, forcing you to disconnect and reconnect the cable for it to be recognized again.

    16 of 20 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    This adapter takes more battery juice than Wifi

    • Written by from Davao

    Is everyone experiencing this? I've tried testing both wifi and thunderbolt adapter. My conclusion was wrong.

    Using Battery Health app I got this:
    The watts usage after 1 minute:

    Wifi ~ 9.34 Watts
    Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet ~ 12.31 Watts

    I'm using ML 10.8.1 and MacBook Pro Retina.

    It's disappointing because I bought this to minimize battery usage in the first place.

    23 of 35 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    JUST DOES NOT WORK...

    • Written by from NEW YORK

    Bought this to connect ethernet in my dorm on my Macbook with Retina Display. Since August, I have not been able to get any internet access. Why??? I don't get it! Never experienced such disappointment with an Apple product!

    21 of 34 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Loose thunderbolt ethernet adaptor after five months

    • Written by from greenbank

    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.

    6 of 6 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Does not work with Windows 7 under Bootcamp

    • Written by from Bangkok

    Beware when buying this for use with Windows 7 running on Bootcamp - have tried fixes offered online and still does not work. Works fine under Mac OS.....

    Apparently the USB to ethernet works under Windows 7 on Bootcamp but only delivers 100Mbps

    8 of 10 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Worked for about a month

    • Written by from Carlisle

    Speed was fine. I used it constantly because we have no wifi here, and after the first time I unplugged it, I got a DNS error. Some random rebooting and unplugging fixed it, but after unplugging it a second time the same thing happened and nothing I've tried has fixed it. Looking around the internet, other people with mid-2012 macbook airs seem to be having the same problem with it. Fix this apple!

    9 of 12 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Not working!

    • Written by from Zurich

    not recognized on a MBA 13" 2011 model

    14 of 22 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Does not work properly in Windows 8 with BootCamp 5

    • Written by from York

    Using this device in Windows 8 results in the Sleep States being disabled due to poorly written Apple Bootcamp Drivers. If you need this to work in Windows don't buy.

    6 of 8 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Hangs bootcamp Windows 7 on lid close

    • Written by from Brooklyn

    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.

    2 of 2 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    This product Killed my MacBook Air

    • Written by from Dunstable

    I plugged it in and it froze my MacBook Air, on reboot my SSD drive was dead!! The Mac is now a Brick! Previously the Firewire Adaptor also froze the OS but I managed to recover the SSD that time with Disk Utility. I have posed this review a couple of days ago, but its been removed so here it is again.

    1 of 2 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    1 step forward 2 steps back

    • Written by from Portland

    Well Apple has the amazing ability to ignore the little things.. And they did it again.

    Got a new Macbook pro with retina a few weeks ago, love the machine.. But,,,

    First,,, why did Apple take the network port out? REALLY?? The world is NOT wireless yet.. Right now us IT folk still dwell in the data center with lots Of wire, and most network switches, power strips printers etc need some direct connection attention once in a while..

    Second,,, The Lighting Bolt network adapter ,,, its NOT an adaptive port like the older model MacBook Pro's had. So if your business is working with hardware you get to carry a hub with you or a flipped ethernet cable.. BOOOOOO! They had it right then "fixed" it..

    Darnit...

    32 of 65 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Apple lacks when it comes to updates...

    • Written by from Gastonia

    I purchased the adapter for my MacBook Air the day it was debut. Held off for the first update due to the issues claimed. I use my Air for I.T. purposes daily and thankfully the USB 10/100 adapter I purchased still allows me to troubleshoot LAN based networks. The known fact "buying the first/new is not always best" should have made me pause during my purchase but when converting everything to Mac and going with an Air, having gigabit ethernet was the last piece of the puzzle I needed. It's been a huge curve dropping all things M$ and going Mac to maintain corporate environment domains, and though most all of the many locations have wifi installed that does not help in configuring networks when the router/firewall goes on the fritz. Get it together engineers and post the updated fix!!!

    17 of 35 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Can't use

    • Written by from Woolooma

    I'm sill waiting for Apple to fix its Thunderbolt Software Update issue so that I can actually use the expensive adapter I bought.

    0 of 1 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Not working for MBA...

    • Written by from Rumia

    Same situation here, bought this specifically for WWDC as they run out of USB 2 Ethernet, not working at all.

    0 of 1 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Defective Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter

    • Written by from Onex

    I purchase the adapter some 6 weeks ago. Everything was working fine although I can't really see a difference between my USB Ethernet adapter. This night it just stopped working. I though it might be the router or my network card but it's actually only the thunderbolt adapter which went defective. 6 week life cycle is a bit short... Not very happy with that... I have a D-Link power over ethernet switch behind my router. Could that explain the issue ?

    9 of 20 people found this useful

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