Josh Ong
The Cupertino, Calif., company on Monday pushed out version 1.2.1 of its Thunderbolt software, adding support for its Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter. The download weighs 526kb and requires OS X 10.7.4 or later.
An earlier version of Apple's Thunderbolt software arrived last week, but it is believed to have caused freezing and boot error problems on a number of Macs. The problems were reportedly caused by a kernel extension that was making the connectivity kernel incompatible with the machines.
The new Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter is designed to pair with Apple's new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. In order to make the new notebook thinner and lighter, Apple cut several ports and components, such as an optical disc drive and the Ethernet port, from it.
Though Apple has sold its MacBook Air computers without Ethernet ports for years, it sold USB adapters for them.
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
11 Comments
Slightly OT but I can't believe the low cost of the TB to GigE. I would have expected $49.99.
Its still quite pricy for what it does. In my opinion, it should come with the Retina MBP.
Didn't this update make your Mac not boot on some? If so, then how do you run the update? Reload the OS and then run the update? Thats pretty shitty Apple!
Hmm - does that mean I could add a second gigabit network port to my Mac Mini Server?
Hmm - does that mean I could add a second gigabit network port to my Mac Mini Server?
As long as you install the thunderbolt firmware update and have that port available, yes. Also, it has to have a Thunderbolt port, not a mini display port. If all of those are met, then yes it should work fine.
Its still quite pricy for what it does. In my opinion, it should come with the Retina MBP.
Didn't this update make your Mac not boot on some? If so, then how do you run the update? Reload the OS and then run the update? Thats pretty shitty Apple!
What? It's an ethernet card stuffed into a little cable. It's cheap. Should it come with the Retina MBP? Why? How many MBP owners do you think use the GigE port? I use the GigE port in my MBP, but even I agree it should be relegated to a dongle (not included) if I'm in the small minority.