QNAP ships Mac-compatible USB-C to 5-gig Ethernet adapter

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited May 2019
QNAP on Thursday introduced the QNA-UC5G1T, an adapter bridging USB-C Macs with Ethernet connections running up to 5 gigabits per second.

QNAP QNA-UC5G1T


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.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    At some point we need WiFi 6 small adapter plug-in into Macbook/Air/Pro USB-C port.
    Roger_Fingascaladanian
  • Reply 2 of 8
    maciekskontaktmaciekskontakt Posts: 1,169member
    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).
  • Reply 3 of 8
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    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?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    rob53 said:
    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?
    Apple's 10-gig driver does not cover all possible chipsets for adapters, thus, the driver for this one. 5-gig gear works fine on 10-gig networking hardware.

    This isn't for everyone, obviously.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    rob53 said:
    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 rob53 said:
    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?

    driver?
    NBaseT products are designed to deliver 2.4/5/10Gpbs speeds over standard Cat 5e cable.  Thus these products are ideal for people that can’t swap out older Ethernet cable for newer Cat 6 for better performance. 
    wozwozarthurba
  • Reply 6 of 8
    ciacia Posts: 248member
    rob53 said:
    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?
    According to the specs, its a pure vanilla USB 3.0 device, so limited to 5Gbps anyway. If it was a USB 3.1 (any flavor) or USB 3.2 then it would have the bandwidth for a true 10Gbps connection. Basically for whatever reason they are limited by the 3.0 standard in the hardware.
    arthurba
  • Reply 7 of 8
    wozwozwozwoz Posts: 263member
    It makes much more sense (leaving aside the question of cost) than using one of those idiot Ethernet to USBC adaptors that we all have to buy. Having said so, it would make much more sense to be USA 3.1 rather than 3.0. At least, we get the advantage of any speed bonus on your network, up to 5G. I run Cat 6 cable everywhere, and assuming I updated my switches to 10G, I think I could reasonably see a significant performance network improvement ... without having to buy those much larger and more expensive 10G Ethernet adaptors. This looks no bigger than a standard Ethernet adaptor.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    arthurbaarthurba Posts: 154member
    Owners must download the Aquantia AQC11U driver here.

    Typo - should be AQC-111U.

    The 
    Aquantia page and download don't seem to specify a minimum macos version.  Would be nice to know if it supports 10.12 which I can't upgrade past due to other issues.
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