Belkin's blowing the dust off its Thunderbolt Express Dock at CES and giving us a September 2012 release date for the US. You might recall that we first saw this dock — aka, the port replicator every MacBook Air owner has been waiting for — at IDF in September. Once again, we're looking at three USB 2.0 jacks, one Firewire 800, one HDMI, one Gigabit Ethernet, one 3.5-mm audio jack, and a pair of Thunderbolt ports: one for carrying 10Gbps bi-directional data to your Thunderbolt-equipped laptop and the other for daisy-chaining another Thunderbolt device. Sorry, no USB 3.0 this time. Price is high at $299, but at least it's cheaper than the $999 Thunderbolt dock sold by Apple.
Update: Belkin just sent us new images of a clearly redesigned dock from what we saw previously at IDF.
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I’m so confused. The title says this is $299, but the article says the price is unannounced.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:42 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Sorry about that — fixed now. It’s $299.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:57 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Thanks, Thomas.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:13 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Thunderbolt is cool but I think Apple’s omission of USB3 is a huge fail. Ive never shopped for a USB3 device yet I own several USB3 compatible drives simply because its cheap to implement and its everywhere. Unfortunately my Air can’t use that speed and the only high speed option is Thunderbolt which is overpriced and (as a consumer waiting 2yrs for it) doesnt even exist.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:30 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
It exists, just not in massive form, i think a lot of that is going to change this week. However your right, it’s taken an obnoxious time to get stuff to market, but we have old faithfuls coming out like lacie, and sonnet coming out with some nice stuff, and Supposedly everything ships this year (external PCIE chassis, etc.)
While i would rather both; i prefer a thunderbolt port on machines, especially on things like mini’s which inevitably end up serving something. A thunderbolt port in that case will allow it to scale far beyond what it could in the previous iterations.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:39 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
But on a mini or air then does it make sense to have such a high end drive where the hub and had enclosures cost 300% more than a usb3 equivalent?
I’m all for TB but this is a transition and usb3 was the perfect transition port because it’s affordable, backward compatible and wouldnt have made apple users wait for something that is still so far away from being a standard.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 12:08 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s not that much more, and USB doesn’t have the bandwidth to support something like a large Raid 5, which could be awesome with a mini, for a small company, like up to 2-300 people.
Or you would be using it for 750Mbs speed. (what OCZ says they can get out of an external SSD with thunderbolt, which i believe is faster than sata III. In both those situations, USB 3 is inadequate.)
There are many situations where disk i/o is a massively limiting factor (over the processor) such as audio and video production.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 2:02 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Apple has been waiting for Intel to integrate it into their chipsets. Intel has announced they are doing exactly that, so expect USB 3 to show up in Macs this or next year.
Thunderbolt is much, MUCH faster than USB 3, so if you need actual speed, you shouldn’t be waiting for USB 3 anyway.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 1:36 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Um, he $999 “dock” sold by Apple has a very tasty screen thrown in as a “bonus”.
To be honest I had never missed ports on my Air. One reason I bought the 13 was the SD card slot but I haven’t used that either (I have a n EyeFi card in my P&S but use my iPhone mostly anyway).
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:42 AM EST reply Recommend (5) Flag actions
I could live with the number of ports on the Air but the hard drive needs to be bigger, maybe on the next model. Have you tried hooking it up to a TV?
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:47 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I tend to keep most of my large stuff on my company server or my Dropbox so capacity isn’t a big issue for me (mine is 128Gb).
Yes, I hooked to a TV as I had a mini-displayport >HDMI cable that I bought for the MBP (but didn’t work, but thats another story). It worked fine but you have to go thru the “Detect Displays” bit and adjust the TV to get best format.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:40 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
overscan is the devil
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:41 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Im actually glad you mentioned your lack of use with the SD card slot on the 13. Ive been torn between the upper end 11 and entry 13 for a while now and the SD slot was the main issue. Somehow I forgot that, I too have an Eye-Fi card haha
This paired with an 11 looks good to me!
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:50 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Yeah, the Eye-Fi has been just about my favorite photography purchase in years.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:12 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Reminder to journalists on websites with comment sections. People are serious about their technology, don’t you dare try and throw a bit of humour in your posts.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:02 AM EST reply Recommend (12) Flag actions
$299 for that?? When can I get a portable hard drive that uses Thunderbolt at a reasonable price?
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:44 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My guess, late 2012 or 2013. SSD’s are still pretty expensive by themselves right now.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:48 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
to use anywhere near the bandwidth available, and make it desirable to use a thunderbolt port, it would have to be a SSD, which would drive the price beyond i imagine what you expect to be reasonable.
(personally out of my last 3 purchased hard drives, 2 were SSDs, and i have no regrets.)
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:43 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I agree it’s completely overpriced, for what it is. This won’t sell well at all.
Let’s get real, here: USB hubs are like $5, TB to HDMI adapters cost like $15, USB to audio adapters are $5, and a USB to ethernet adapter is like $5).
A setup like this is infinitely cheaper, and the only difference is that instead of having to just plug power and TB into your MBA, you now also have to plug in the USB cable.
Anyone with $299 to throw away on something so unnecessary (whose only pros are that it looks great, and requires one less connection than the above solution) probably also has $999 to spend on a kickass display, which offers all of this device’s functionality PLUS includes an integrated Macbook charging cable.
Cliffs: seeing this product detailed just makes me want the Thunderbolt display even more.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 10:14 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I can’t believe were not going to see this thing until september. I wonder what’s taking them so long?
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:46 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
usb 3.
oh wait….
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:43 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
No kidding. Why even bother announcing it now? We’re all going to forget about it/find something else in the mean time.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 7:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Uh, the “in the article” section below has a link/pic of the HTC Thunderbolt. May want to remove that.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:50 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Belkin makes complete junk, i would never buy a belkin product
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:54 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Without even USB 3.0: nope, sorry. It’s an overpriced dock, looks nice yes but we desperately need reasonably priced Thunderbolt-cases for hard drives and SSDs. Just a case, with a fast and reliable SATA controller. Apparently, no one is interested in making those case, or it’s just too expensive at this time.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:58 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I would pay $100 for a single purpose Thunderbolt – Firewire 800 dongle. Y NO TAKE MY MONEY, APPLE/BELKIN?
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:03 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
you just want another bus? For an audio application? or video?
FW800 compared to TB is like, ridiculously slow.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:44 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I doubt it’s the speed he’s after but wants to use FireWire equipment in a MacBook Air or 13" Pro.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 1:18 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
idk why i didn’t think of that. Thanks.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 1:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
In the video world, FW is an absolute must to hook up DV cameras and tape decks. A spec’d out Macbook Air + FW800 can be a kick ass, ultra-poratable editing machine.
Posted on Jan 10, 2012 | 12:20 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Sonnet announced the Allegro TB > Fw800 adapter waaaay back in April, hopes to have one fashionably late in “Q2 2012”, after missing a fall ’11 launch window. No idea what is taking so long.
http://www.sonnettech.com/news/pr2011/pr041111_thunderbolt.html
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 11:35 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Crazy expensive for something that should be an non issue if Apple added enough ports to their devices.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:12 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The benefit of a Thunderbolt dock is not simply extra ports, it’s only needing to unplug two cables (power and thunderbolt) when you leave your workspace rather than five (power, firewire, 2x usb, and audio jack). That said, it’s certainly not worth $300 for that convenience. Not even close.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:24 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
By September 2012 I would expect to see a MBP refresh with USB 3.0 since intel is going to ship it on their motherboards. I guess this could still make sense for 2.0 macs, but it seems way overpriced. $99-150 would be more in line with my expectations.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:13 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My god.. How hard is it to finally make a TB → USB 3 adapter already? It’s really freaking me out at this point. The $299 price tag of this thing isn’t creating any hopes either.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:17 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I am pretty sure USB3 over TB won’t work until Apple supports USB3 in OS X.
I’d bet that happens when the Ivy Bridge MacBook Pros come out.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:30 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
$299 is too much. Thunderbolt is quickly going down the path of firewire here, which is too bad. Thunderbolt may be the most exciting new I/O technology since, well, firewire and/or USB 2 but there’s no point to having it if it is priced out of reach.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:19 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
To what extent is the pricing due to Belkin rather than Intel though? I’d bet that Belkin are charging a price that they think they can get away with due to the niche target market. I’m not sure that the price is at all related to Thunderbolt royalties, which was FireWire’s problem.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:26 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
That may be, but at $50 for a TB cable, that may be a distinction without a difference. Does this dock include a TB cable?
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:30 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Yeah, the price for the cable is a lot, too. I know that one RAID Pegasus system that Apple sells costs over $1,000 yet doesn’t even come with a cable.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 7:24 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Intel recently announced they’re working with high end PC makers to integrate TB into their motherboards, so it doesn’t seem like it’s going the way of Firewire at all. It’s still very new, give it time.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 1:41 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
All I want is a TB → USB3 cable and/or a cheap TB External Hard Drive.
I don’t even want an SSD, just an enclosure!!
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:41 AM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
what’s the point when the drive is too slow to fill a quarter of TB’s bandwidth?
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:45 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Faster than USB2, surely? USB3 drives are a hell of a lot better than USB2 ones…
Still, I’d bet it’d be cheaper to buy my own SSD and put it in the enclosure than buy it with one already inside anyway.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 11:26 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
No usb 3 and 299 USD ! They can keep it…
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:43 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Yeesh. At $150 and with USB 3, they’d have a hit. Now the TB display doesn’t seem so overpriced.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 10:06 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
Belkin should just name this thing TB-I’m Rich. $299 for such a dock is nothing but ridiculous.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 10:16 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
eSATA would have been nice at this price point. Still, pretty useful if you already have or don’t need an external monitor.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 10:56 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
300 bucks. way to go guys. bahahaha. i’ve been waiting for this thing to come out too. belkin. you suck.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 11:16 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
$299 is pretty high but at least this has an audio port. Still don’t understand why they left that out on the Thunderbolt display. How many people are really using those speakers? I wonder how confident they are that their pricing will still be competitive when this comes out in 9 months.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 11:47 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Nice idea, hopefully by September they will have sorted the pricing out.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 12:12 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Strongly disagree. The Air is not a desktop replacement, it’s small light and portable for a reason. Nobody I know who owns an Air wants a port replicator for it, and that includes me. They make a Macbook Pro for people who need more ports because they’re using it as a desktop computer.
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 1:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
a hundred bucks and I might, 300 and forget it. So sad, I want to use Thunderbolt but nothing is at a justified price tag yet :(
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 7:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
At that price point I’d want the works – Thunderbolt passthrough for an external display (the bog HDMI spec can’t take the resolution of the newer large monitors), e-sata, USB3 and preferably gigabit ethernet too.
As it stands it sucks in value for money – that’s before considering the 9 month lag
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 8:47 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Is it too much to ask for for a dock that just converts the thunderbolt port to 2 normal DVI/HDMI ports to drive 2 external monitors? I have no need for any of the other ports on this thing, and it only has the one HDMI port. Unless maybe the Thunderbolt port on this thing can drive another monitor instead of just stuff like hard drives…
Posted on Jan 09, 2012 | 9:25 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
At this stage you stuck with stuff like a matrox dual2head go for that sort of thing.
Even if thunderbolt does have output out 2 digital output you are likely to hit issues with the maximum resolution that the laptop’s graphics chipset will handle.
Posted on Jan 10, 2012 | 8:13 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The reason I’d want this is primarily to daisy chain external monitors. At $300 for this alone, I may as well just buy myself a Thunderbolt Display, especially considering that it’s priced competitively when compared to other 27" displays with the same resolution.
Posted on Jan 10, 2012 | 12:37 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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