Roger Fingas
QNAP on Thursday introduced the QNA-UC5G1T, an adapter bridging USB-C Macs with Ethernet connections running up to 5 gigabits per second.
The UC5G1T connects to a Mac using either a pure USB-C cable or a bundled USB-C-to-USB-A option, QNAP said. It's roughly palm-sized, and fully USB-powered. The Ethernet end is standard, and can be used with switches, modems, and network-attached storage, but 5-gigabit bandwidth requires a Cat 6 cable, and appropriate infrastructure.
The product isn't compatible with macOS, Windows, or even Linux out of the box. Owners must download the Aquantia AQC11U driver here.
QNAP didn't immediately offer pricing, and retailers like B&H and Newegg have yet to put up listings. Amazon is selling the product for $212 plus $40 in shipping, but that's likely a temporarily inflated import price, since QNAP is based in Taiwan.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
8 Comments
At some point we need WiFi 6 small adapter plug-in into Macbook/Air/Pro USB-C port.
It would be worth to test it if it works with mobile devices for some rare cases when you really needs coninuous speed rather than peak speed as speced by WiFi (no it is never continuous speed adn one can check it is not - you will be lucky to get passed 100Mbit with mobile on WiFi regardless of WiFi router you have).
No reason to get this. Never heard of a 5Gbit Ethernet. Ran 10Gbit between switches years ago so why not just get 10? macOS has a driver for 10Gbit Ethernet so why worry about a third party driver?