Inspirational Technology

Going Gigabit

At the same time I picked up my new DVD burner, I also picked up a Gigabit ethernet switch. I really have no true need for Gigabit speeds, but I needed a new hub, so I figured why not. Gigabit equipment has really dropped in price. I picked up a Hawking Technology 4 port Gigabit switch for $120. It's definitely bottom of the line gear, but for what I use it for it doesn't matter. All my Macs have Gigabit ethernet built in, so they were ready to go. My windows PCs are still puttering along at just 100 megabit speeds.

Actually what I've found is that the throughput between my PowerMac and PowerBook is no where near actual Gigabit speeds. It seems that transfers are severely constrained by the speed of the harddrive and the CPU in the PowerBook. I can get roughly 200Mbs when transferring something that has been cached in RAM on the powerbook, but get less then 100Mbs when transferring a file that can't be cached entirely. The 200Mbs speed completely pegs the CPU on the PowerBook. Definitely shows the limits of the performance on the old 667Mhz powerbook that I have. It's also a little surprising how hard these transfers are on the CPU.

Anyway, given how cheap gigabit gear is now, I'd say it's about time for it to move into the mainstream. I know gigabit ethernet will certainly be a feature I'll expect from any future machines I buy. Now I'm looking forward to seeing 10Gbs ethernet added to new Macs.