Oct 8, 2026, 4:50 PMInteresting Apple changed the ethernet chip from Aquantia, which they’ve been using forever, to the new Realtek 8127 on the M5 Max studio. Its a cheaper chip, but also runs a lot less hot…
Anyone know what the new M6 Mini uses? I was assuming Intel but could be another Realtek.
@paul Realtek 8125 on the 2.5GBit model
Oct 8, 2026, 5:07 PM@paul M6 Mac Mini has Realtek 8125 (for 2.5GbE)
@paul Been wondering if they would start showing up in thunderbolt cards too. They are actually incredibly performant, low power, don’t emit a ton of heat compared to other 10G-BaseT chipsets and are are cheap. You can get PCI-E 4.0 x1 cards for 40-50 range on Amazon for use in PC’s
@paul I would also venture to guess the Mini is using Realtek for both the stock 2.5g nic and the 10g nic