Is it just me, or are Thunderbolt accessories

Internaut said:

About as think on the ground as rocking horse ---- at the moment. I see a Belkin Dock (which would actually be useful for me; now) but no evidence of any evidence of availability. Likewise, I can do a Google on Thunderbolt storage, which recommends a Lacie page with no trace of any Thunderbolt storage whatsoever.

Since the latest MBAs have been out for a while, I'm a little surprised.....

Oh, and there is of course the Apple Thunderbolt display but Apple displays have never impressed me. Ok, perhaps that's a bit strong (they are nice, as is everything by Apple) but I've never been able to justify the cost, bearing in mind you can get a great monitor without spending too much these days.

Click to expand...

LaCie has one little big disk but pretty expensive, starts at $450 for 1 TB. There is one server option From another company (can be found via google) that is even more expensive. And the Belkin dock as far as I know. Not quite a broad spectrum of offers at the moment.

Apple is on the bleeding edge with this technology, so you probably won't start seeing more selection of TB accessories until first or second quarter next year. Intel hasn't produced the chipset for TB to be added to non-Mac PCs yet. Once they do that... assuming that PC makers add the port... you'll start to see many more accessories. The only risk is that the PC makers get lazy and decide to just support USB 3.0 and not TB... then it could be a problem for us. In the mean time, there are a number of TB storage devices you can see on the Apple website, and the display. I have the TBD and have been quite happy with it. I wish it wasn't glossy, but other than that it does the job for me and has greatly reduced the cable clutter on my desk.

Intel is going to make Thunderbolt part of the Ultrabook spec and plans to add it to the mobile chipsets for the Ivy Bridge processors coming out next year. At that point, we should start seeing Windows PCs with the port, and with it, more peripherals. The Belkin dock is slated for availability in the 2nd quarter of 2012. Sonnet Tech is releasing a Thunderbolt Expresscard slot for a fairly steep $149 that is supposed to ship 12/14/11, but they have delayed that a few times (once for a redesign).

It is very frustrating to me for sure when I had a $500 Dell that I added a USB3 and eSATA card to and now I have a $2700 iMac with firewire 800 as the fastest connection.