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The new and upgraded Framework Laptop

(community.frame.work)
1680 points etbusch | 6 comments | 19 May 22 12:19 UTC | HN request time: 1.054s | source | bottom
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nagisa ◴[19 May 22 13:38 UTC] No.31434483[source]▶
Could you elaborate on why realtek was chosen for the ethernet expansion card? It does tend to have a pretty bad rep, with one of the recent documentations being https://overengineer.dev/blog/2021/04/25/usb-c-hub-madness.h...
replies(2): >>31434578 #>>31434679 #
1. nrp ◴[19 May 22 13:54 UTC] No.31434679[source]▶
Unfortunately, Realtek is the one and only choice for a USB 3.1 to 2.5Gbit Ethernet controller. We don't like it any more than you do, but there are several niches in the PC peripheral space where there is no alternative to using a Realtek part.
replies(2): >>31434888 #>>31435696 #
2. mrpippy ◴[19 May 22 14:11 UTC] No.31434888[source]▶
How about Aquantia?
replies(1): >>31435182 #
3. nrp ◴[19 May 22 14:33 UTC] No.31435182[source]▶
As far as we can tell, Marvell end of lifed the USB to Ethernet solutions. If anyone from Marvell can tell us otherwise, we'd like to know!
4. nfriedly ◴[19 May 22 15:09 UTC] No.31435696[source]▶
What about a Thunderbolt connection and a PCIe ethernet adapter - could that work?
replies(1): >>31436338 #
5. kieranl ◴[19 May 22 15:58 UTC] No.31436338[source]▶
The power consumption of this would be too high.
replies(1): >>31437208 #
6. Sebb767 ◴[19 May 22 17:03 UTC] No.31437208{3}[source]▶
And the cost, probably. 40$ for 2.5Gbit is not that bad of an offering; at 80$, this would probably be even more niche.