does a thunderbolt 2 to ethernet adapter exist?

Question

does a thunderbolt 2 to ethernet adapter exist?

it seems there only exists an adapter for thunderbolt v1 to ethernet. i have thunderbolt 2 ports on my macbook pro. i can find thunderbolt 2 cable; i can find devices that support thunderbolt 2; i can find gobs of the thunderbolt (v1) to ethernet adapters; i cannot find an adapter that begins as a male thunderbolt 2 cable and ends as a female ethernet adapter. yes, i know that the thunderbolt 2 ports are backwards compatible with the above mentioned adapter (at 10 GbE), and yes i know that i do not have 20 GbE network capability (or 10 GbE capability, at that), but nonetheless it would seem that somebody would have produced an updated adapter to support the updated version of thunderbolt and take advantage of the many suckers like me who are willing to upgrade anything to say its the best available. i think i may have just provided myself with an answer while forming the question. feedback appreciated.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Jan 20, 2018 9:48 AM

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Answer 1

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y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Jan 20, 2018 1:20 PM in response to apple.II.gs.420

apple.II.gs.420 wrote:

thanks for response! yeah, i meant to mention that i did see some "dock" or large devices that would do the trick, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the mobility of a notebook. i was referring to something more along the lines of this: Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (MD463LL/A): Computers & Accessories

or: Kanex Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit Ethernet + USB 3.0 Adapter - Apple

anybody know of a better alternative?

Both of those should work with a Thunderbolt 2 port. It's kind of like, what would be gained by having a Thunderbolt 2 specific adapter when the original Thunderbolt is perfectly capable (with the max ethernet speed) and the product is backwards compatible.

I do remember when there was the issue with USB 2.0. They had an additional 480 Mbit/sec "high speed", but the nomenclature from USB 1.1/1.0 was that 12 Mbit/sec was "full speed". There were some companies that configured a USB 2.0 compliant core with larger processes and lower performing transceivers, and used "USB 2.0 full speed" in on the label.

I guess you understand what I'm getting at. There's really no practical need for what you're asking for since the devices you linked to have all the performance you'd want.

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Answer 2

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Jan 20, 2018 1:03 PM in response to apple.II.gs.420

There are several Thunderbolt 2 docks out there with ethernet.

Maybe this one twin ethernet adapter? It's bulky box though and not a small captive cable device. I think it needs external power and weighs more than your MBP. I don't think you're going to like the price though.

https://www.sonnetstore.com/products/twin-10g

Amazon.com: Sonnet Technologies TWIN10G-TB2 Dual Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Thunderbolt 2 Adapter, Twin, 10 gram: Computer…

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Answer 3

Jan 20, 2018 1:07 PM in response to y_p_w

thank you yet again, and you have just confirmed that I did indeed provide the answer as i was typing the question like i thought maybe i had done.

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Answer 4

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Jan 20, 2018 1:12 PM in response to apple.II.gs.420

As far as I can tell there's no real need for that with a single ethernet port. The original Thunderbolt port should be able handle any single wired ethernet out there, so there's no need for a Thunderbolt 2 specific one unless it's something like that dual setup I linked to.

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Answer 5

Jan 20, 2018 1:02 PM in response to y_p_w

thanks for response! yeah, i meant to mention that i did see some "dock" or large devices that would do the trick, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the mobility of a notebook. i was referring to something more along the lines of this: Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (MD463LL/A): Computers & Accessories

or: Kanex Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit Ethernet + USB 3.0 Adapter - Apple

anybody know of a better alternative?

Reply

Answer 6

Jan 20, 2018 1:11 PM in response to y_p_w

thanks for response! yeah, i meant to mention that i did see some "dock" or large devices that would do the trick, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the mobility of a notebook. i was referring to something more along the lines of this: Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (MD463LL/A): Computers & Accessories

or: Kanex Thunderbolt-to-Gigabit Ethernet + USB 3.0 Adapter - Apple

anybody know of a better alternative?

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Answer 7

Jan 20, 2018 10:10 AM in response to apple.II.gs.420

sorry wrong thread

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Answer 8

Jan 20, 2018 1:14 PM in response to y_p_w

sorry for snafu with the double posts - couldnt figure out how to delete a post...

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