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Comment by bserge | Hacker News Reader

Speaking of which, when is 10Gbit Ethernet coming to laptops? Most have even lost the port ffs.

Never. Power consumption for 10Gbps Ethernet on copper is huge compared to 1 Gbps, so it is not sexy for laptops. Consumer switches with 10 Gpbs ports don't exist - price per port is way too high versus 1 Gbps. Even 2.5 & 5 Gbps switches are rare and very expensive, so the 2.5Bbps Intel and Realtek Lan on Motherboard chips are there, but not useful.

At the same time, 10 Gbps on fiber is low power and great speed, but the form factor of SFP+ is simply too big for any laptop of 2022. In theory USB-C 3.2 @ 10Gbps to SFP+ fiber adapters are possible, but fiber is not popular outside server rooms, so there is no market for it.

As I said, never. It is not a matter of PCIe speeds, but a technology one: copper is power hungry and requires new cabling, fiber has no cabling.

10GbaseT power requirements are dropping every year as the MACs get more efficient. Its also of course dependent on cable length. Besides saving power it has also enabled 10GbaseT SFP+'s in recent years.

So, there probably isn't a good reason for not putting it in a laptop. Like wifi, just speed shift it based on load, etc. AKA see 802.3az

So, the old max power draw models from 15 years ago, don't really apply entirely.

> Consumer switches with 10 Gpbs ports don't exist - price per port is way too high versus 1 Gbps

Mikrotik CRS305 ($150, 4x SFP+) & CRS309 ($250, 8x SFP+) w/ as many S+RJ10s as you want.

Mikrotik quotes 2.7W per transceiver at 10GBASE-T.

https://www.servethehome.com/mikrotik-crs309-1g-8sin-review-...

https://mikrotik.com/product/s_rj10

So yes, it's a bit hot, but definitely something you can get done well under $500 if you want copper.

Those Mikrotik SFP+ RJ 10Gbps modules get VERY hot. Idle temp is usually in the 60-70C range in my experience. They have guidance about not putting them next to each other in switch ports: https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/S%2BRJ10_general_guidance#Gen...

I know about that option, but the price per port, including RJ45 transceiver, is huge compared to 1 Gbps ports. Also it is limited to 4 ports only - even for home use it is not enough, all the switches in my home (more than 3) are 8 ports and above.

Well, the idea is that you only wire trunks, wifi APs, and SANs w/ 10GbE, and light a select few wall jacks that matter.

~$120 per port (assuming 309s, the recommended interleaved spacing, and amortizing the switch cost over # ports) isn't very expensive if (a) you need the capability & (b) already have copper in the walls.

Drywall finishing along will run you that much. :) But yeah, new builds should definitely be fiber.

> Power consumption for 10Gbps Ethernet on copper is huge compared to 1 Gbps, so it is not sexy for laptops.

How often do you have your laptop plugged into networking but not power? And if that's an important use, I could see manufacturers spicing it up with some power over ethernet to not only fix but reverse the problem.

Though it feels like ethernet ports on laptops are already unsexy at any speed. And you could have the 'balanced' power profile limit the port to 1Gbps on battery.

Ethernet/power brick combo on new macs come to mind ...

Many laptops have a thunderbolt port which serves a similar purpose. On TB4 I get 15gbps in practice, and I can bridge it to ethernet using either a dock or a PC (I use a mac mini with a 10g port to bridge TB to 10ge).

10GB Ethernet requires at least CAT6 or CAT6a cabling. CAT5e is insufficient. For home use, that means that the newer standards of 2.5GB and 5GB which do work over 5e are more reasonable for personal computers.

Who cares about 5e? Maybe if it's embedded in your wall, but how many people have done that?

A 25 foot cable on monoprice costs $6.49 for cat5e and $7.99 for cat6. It doesn't matter at all.

I could get cat8 for $22.49! Compared to what you're plugging that into for 25/40Gbps that's nothing.

The last batch of cables I bought was 5x 10 foot cat7, for $22 total. (You're not 'supposed' to put normal plugs on cat7 but nobody really cares.)

Depends on the length.

I think the real question is when will 10G Ethernet USB4 dongles drop to a reasonable price like <$150.

A USB4 peripheral interface is $15 and a 10g ethernet IC is like $80 at least, plus a little box, SFP+ thing, other physical items. Seems hard to get the price down that low and still make a profit. Plus the buyer still needs an expensive cable on both sides.

A 10G PCIe card is only $100 retail so $150 seems fair for an external version. Newer dongles will include a captive USB4 cable. And consumers use base-T not SFP+.

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