Gigabit uplink versus regular switch port

I have a 10/100/1000 24-port + 2 mini-GBIC ports switch which I have to link to other switches. Unfortunately, on the other switch all the mini-GBIC slots are taken up, so all I can do is link them together using a regular Ethernet port (which is also 1 Gbit/s) on the switch.

My question: does using a regular port instead of the uplink have disadvantages? If I understand correctly, the only advantage of that mini-GBIC adapter is that it is fiber so you can link switches that are kilometers away.

Solution 1:

If your switch isn't non-blocking then often the uplink ports are non-blocking, so they could have that benefit, otherwise I can't think of any other real differences between types of port.

Solution 2:

Some switches will have additional benefits when using the SFP uplink ports that are not readily apparent. For example, they could have larger hardware buffers dedicated to than available to normal ports. This is more important on uplink ports as they are more likely to see bursts of traffic that may exceed their capacity.