Why not Gigabit Ethernet?

The first thing I've noticed reading the specs is that it has a 10/100 Mbs ethernet. It's adequate for 1080p, but wonder why? is the cost saving that significant nowadays? It would be a little slow for network file transfers.

That is what is built into the SoC. It is not a separate component. The Raspi has the same 10/100.

I really don't even want to get started on the built-in ethernet. It is the only sore point of the whole SoC. I really don't why they included it (yes I do. to make a cheap TV box).

Keep in mind this is a Chinese SoC made for the Chinese domestic market. It was never intended to be sold to richer Western countries. Most Chinese would be lucky to have a computer, much less a Gigabit switch. The built-in ethernet is only 10/100, and it is total crap. Using it slows down the entire SoC. So you should avoid it and either use the WiFi or get a USB ethernet dongle. From what I have read there are no problems with using a dongle. 802.11n Wifi is great on my tablet and is a module that is included in the vanilla kernel. It streams 1080p from anywhere in the house without stuttering.

I was thinking about Ethernet transfer rates, and I would imagine that the cpu is still the bottleneck on these devices.

I decided to do a very unscientific transfer rate test:

9436KB file - A10 Tablet (RTL8192 802.11n Wifi) to GoFlex Net (MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet): 4.6MB/s

9436KB file GoFlex Net (MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet) to GoFlex Net: 4.6MB/s

9436KB file GoFlex Net (MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet) to PC: 4.6MB/s

48MB file - A10 Tablet (RTL8192 802.11n Wifi) to GoFlex Net (MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet): 4.0MB/s

48MB file - GoFlex Net (MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet) to GoFlex Net: 4.8MB/s

48MB file - GoFlex Net (MV-643xx 10/100/1000 ethernet) to PC: 5.3MB/s

That is using SCP protocol (which will slow things down) and a Netgear Pro Gigabit switch and a PC with gigabit adapter.

Using wget:
A10 Tablet from GoFlex Net : 9,662,414 4.07M/s in 2.3s
GoFlex Net from GoFlex Net : 9,662,414 40.9M/s in 0.2s

As expected the Gigabit is 10x faster unencrypted. But SSH or SSL will make them even. Also, the files on the GoFlex are coming from a very fast 7200RPM SATA drive.

From the GoFlex to my Gigabit router using SCP: 9436KB 28.0KB/s in 05:37
From my Gigabit router to the GoFlex using wget: 9,662,414 14.7M/s in 0.6s
From my Gigabit router to the A10 Tablet (802.11n Wifi) using wget: 9,662,414 4.26M/s in 2.2s

The Gigabit router has a OCZ Vertex SSD. But it only has a 400 MHz MIPS processor. You can see how the proccesor makes a huge difference. The speed of the Ethernet interface is insignificant in comparison. But it does matter.