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-230

Replace RJ45 phone jack with an USB LAN adapter

-230 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops by jonathan_hsu Apr 21

If Dell is going after the low cost UMPC market, I would suggest replacing the RJ45 phone jack with an optional USB2.0 Ethernet adapter, like a small and elegant adapter showing here, http://www.zoltantech.com/UsbLanA.php.

For reasons such as:
1. Now a days wireless is a must-have, and the Ethernet becomes redundant, more than 80% of the time it is not used.
2. An Ethernet controller consumes power even when the CAT5 cable is not plugged in. So you conserve power and prolong battery usage time between charges.
3. On the same token, less heat generated. Therefore less chance for the fan to turn on if it is needed at all.
4. Save you a PCIe slot.
5. Save you real state for thinner body design by not having RJ45 phone jack.
6. Save BOM cost.

wallyhorse
Apr 22		 I understand where you are coming from, however, I don't think you can do that. Some people do need the RJ-45 spot for things other than Eithernet (mainly networking), so I do think it is not the best idea out there.
jdelidc
Apr 22		 given the choice between wireless and cable, i'm going with cable. on top of that, due to the frequent typhoons, even interior walls here are made of 8 cm thick poured concrete, which is not an easy thing to get a radio wave through. granted america ain't THAT ready for typhoons or hurricanes or tornadoes but walls still do cause problems. i'd get rid of the wifi card long before i got rid of the RJ-45

at the same time, having an internal dial-up modem needs to be completely killed and switched to usb
wallyhorse
Apr 22		 I would not get rid of the dial-up modem either. There are some parts of the US where dial-up is still the only option for some people, and there are times for others with a laptop (especially in a power failure) where dial-up can be the only option as well.
jonathan_hsu
Apr 22		 You can always plug in the USB to Ethernet dongle whenever you want to use wired connectivity.

While Intel Atom CPU running on average 2W power. Ethernet controller consumes almost 1W when idle (no link), that is a total waste especially when you're not intend to use it. That extra power saving may boost your battery 1/4 loger before next charge. Moreover, if Dell sells 5KK of the UMPC, there's going to be a lot of power squandered over the total up time of those machines. That is a lot of trees.

Whenever you need to use it plug it in; unplug it otherwise. As simple as turn off the light when you done using it.
jdelidc
Apr 22		 @wallyhorse: small ups's at walmart cost $40 and would be able to keep the dsl routers up for probably a few days, definitely longer than the laptop battery will last. it's how i got online after a thunderstorm knocked the power out for an hour. it's cheaper than the $30 a month for dial-up as backup

@jonathan_hsu: i don't want to compromise my speed in the interest of saving 1 watt. 100mbps (now 1gbps) is a boat load faster than 45mbps. not worth the 1 watt saved. 1 watt won't make much difference anyway, linux' power manager was saying my laptop used 18 watts on the lightest use and spiked to 24 in heavy use

just my opinion and i know not everyone thinks that way
aikiwolfie
Apr 22		 If you take away the physical port then you need to emulate it when using an adapter. Which uses more system resources than would otherwise be needed just to make a network connection. In my experience these USB to Ethernet connections are slower and not worth the effort.
jonathan_hsu
Apr 23		 USB 2.0 supports upto 480Mbps, more than enough to feed to and take in from an Ethernet controller dongle. So, 100 Mbps throughput should not be compromized in any way.
jdelidc
Apr 23		 my bad. forgot about the last 0 in that
mizsteel66
Apr 23		 Ok I’m confused by the topic of this title.
Which do you mean RJ-11 phone jack(dial-up adapter) or RJ45 for networking.
Regardless, I’d vote demote on either scenario.
1. Ethernet is not at all becoming redundant, not sure where you got that information from. Dialup in some areas of the US is the only option available to many people. We all don’t have access to high speed.
2. Wireless has its good and bad points. While it works for many, its clearly not a final solution for everyone.
3. An Ethernet and dialup adapter if not used can be turned off in most OS’s thus conserving power, batter life and heat generated.
4. The majority of RJ45 plugs are built in on board, unless you specify an add on card. I would assume there isn’t going to be much of a cost benefit right now to removing them.
Just my nickel thought….
aikiwolfie
Apr 23		 The transfer speed of USB isn't the issue. To use USB with Ethernet adapters you need to use a virtual device that routs network traffic through your USB ports. Basically emulating a hardware Ethernet adapter. That has an expensive over head in processing time. It's not worth it.

If it doesn't compromise transfer speed, it uses additional system resources.
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