Third-Party Thunderbolt Docking Stations Remain Vaporware as Shipping Dates Pushed Back

Another sucky port problem....why is Apple always the one involved with new standards that fail to take off?

High cost of licensing + relatively low consumer usage = failure.

Apple/Intel need to really open the specifications up and stop dicking about trying to license the crap out of this or it'll be doomed...though it may already be too late.

It's firewire and display port all over again!

Starship77 said:

I respectfully disagree.

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Me too.

Was I the only one who saw the picture, then though to myself "Yes!!! A new mac mini!!!"?

Lol

PracticalMac said:

No clap of thunder here.

Its like FireWire all over again. Apple was slow to include, made only 2 products to use it, and it started to loose ground to a much lesser technology, USB.

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What are you talking about? FireWire 800 is sweet, my drives sound much better running even FireWire 400 than USB 2(smooth sounding writes not choppy), and FireWire 800 pretty much goes as fast as the drive so USB 3 doesn't get you much more than the inefficient CPU hogging protocol. Ask anyone in digital video, FireWire was a savior and thunderbolt is even more awesome. Just because the masses don't get it doesn't make it a failure.

I think the problem is that they are spending too much time "analyzing" what their competitors are doing, and not just moving forward on the type of device they should "know" their customers want.

The "average" consumer won't be connecting a bunch of devices to these docking stations anyway. They should have aimed at more advanced users/ports to begin with, rather than worrying about their competitors.


a bit of a rant:
We're just in a weird time right now.

I understand if companies want to keep consumer prices down, but how many people want to pay for a "Thunderbolt" drive when it still has a 5400rpm disk, then pay another $50 for the cable, when they won't see any speed improvements? Really?!? In 2012, why is anything still 5400rpm anymore, and if it is, just stick a usb2 on it. Why try to sell it as a "Thunderbolt" drive.

If they want to sell a real Thunderbolt drive, they should make them all SSD.
If it isn't Thunderbolt, it should be at least 7200rpm.

If companies are going to force us into new ports and connections that promise speed advantages, they should offer those products from the beginning, not sit around for several years profiting on marketing terms alone.

I shouldn't have to choose between Thunderbolt and USB3 when I need and want both!!!

Why sell usb2 to anyone anymore, when usb3 is faster and backwards compatible. And 5400rpm disks are just ridiculous now. Seriously!

Everything new should have 3+ Thunderbolt Ports, 3+ USB3 Ports, 3+ HDMI Ports, Ethernet, 802.11x, and expandable/hot-swappable SSD. Additional Ports and port types are more than welcome.

Let's leave the past in the past, and start offering the complete product solutions that people need now!

End of rant.

baryon said:

I'm sticking to my USB 2.0 and the hub I bought for £1 thankyouverymuch!

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If all you use the computer for is email and forum posting then even USB 2.0 is overkill. But what happens if you edit HD video? Or try to edit a batch of a hundred or so photos from an SLR in raw format? Or maybe you are recording a few tracks of audio?

Yes I know, few people actually create stuff. So USB 2 is good enough for the masses.

nutmac said:

Unfortunately, Thunderbolt is also not quite powerful enough for emerging needs, such as driving retina 27" displays.

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Current thunderbolt is, but its made to scale up and go optical and 10x as fast eventually I think.

I still say it should have been called "Lightning Bolt". I've heard of a Bolt of Lightning, but not a Bolt of Thunder. By the time I buy a new Mac Pro, it will be available everywhere as a standard.

rmwebs said:

Another sucky port problem....why is Apple always the one involved with new standards that fail to take off?

High cost of licensing + relatively low consumer usage = failure.

Apple/Intel need to really open the specifications up and stop dicking about trying to license the crap out of this or it'll be doomed...though it may already be too late.

It's firewire and display port all over again!

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Yeah you'd think Apple would have learned from Sony at least lol.

So, I've had this silly little TB port for over a year, and I've used it exactly never. In another year or two, it will be time to buy a new computer, and I will have had used this port for no more than 1/3 of its life in my hands.

Whooowhooooo!

Who here would rather have had USB3?

HMI said:

...In 2012, why is anything still 5400rpm anymore, and if it is, just stick a usb2 on it. Why try to sell it as a "Thunderbolt" drive. ..

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RPM is how fast the platter spins, not how fast the data comes off the platter. Just like on your car, the tachometer does not tell you how fast you are going.

In isk drives, sustained i/o rate is the aerial bit density times the tangential speed. Instantaneous bit rate is set by the speed of the drive's cache.

realeric said:

Success/To be successful
iTunes

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What world are you from? iTunes is the biggest, messiest crap Apple has ever made. It tries to do a million things and fails at all of them. Of all the things apple should copy from iOS to OS X, they should break iTunes into the half dozen smaller apps that work well rather than a single massive one that sucks.

I seriously hope these things actually come out.
I have a late-2011 MBP and a few USB 3.0 HDDs. I thought about upgrading to the Retina MBP but it's just way too expensive and the performance boost I'd get doesn't really justify it.
So, I really want one of these things in order to have the ability to connect a USB3.0 HDD and the iPhone "Lightning" cable to my MBP.
They do seem like vaporware right now, but I hope that (at least) Belkin releases theirs eventually.

It looks really great on paper... Ugh, I am probably holding off until Haswell for a laptop now.

nutmac said:

Given Apple has been the only company to offer computers with Thunderbolt connector, this isn't at all surprising. With PC motherboards starting to implement Thunderbolt, with notebooks to soon follow, we will begin to see larger selection of peripherals next year.

Having said all that, Thunderbolt was never meant to be a replacement for USB. It is an interface that combines benefits of PCI Express and DisplayPort into a single connector.

Thunderbolt is overkill for common tasks such as connecting with single drive external hard disk, transferring photos or videos from digital camera and camcorders, and syncing data between smartphone/tablet. USB 3.0 is far more practical and sufficient to meet these needs.

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The problem is that many of the TB equipped MBA/MBP only have either pathetically slow USB 2.0 or FW800 to fall back on. I originally bought my ex 2011 MBP and 2011 MBA 13 with the intent of using TB for the main high speed interface. At these crazy prices for hubs, it's cheaper to dump last year's model and get a 2012 with USB 3.0. My 2012 rMBP backs up it's photos 3-4x faster on USB 3.0 vs my older usb 2.0 only machines.

I've never had good experiences with multiple Belkin products and this vaporware gets added to the list. I'm glad to have went with  Thunderbolt Display.

Why anyone would want to spend $400 for a hub is beyond me. Pick up a refub TBD for around $829 and get a n awesome screen and true docking station.

Thunderbolt is DOA. Sorry guys, things just aren't going your way lately.

Thank GOD that MacRumors put this on the front page. Finally I have closure!!!! /heavy sarcasm

I forgot I even had a thunderbolt port on my MBA; as it's used as a display port only- and that doesn't wake my external display on a hot plug like SL used to do.

TeamMojo said:

Very uncool. Apple has got to get third party vendors and their own products ready ***BEFORE*** and **IMMEDIATELY AFTER*** launching a new interface if they expect it to be adopted. This is a MAJOR F-UP by Apple. And I say this pretty much as a Fanboy. This is less likely to be an issue with Lightning due to the much wider audience that is the iPhone, but still having no other products lined up for launch, nor even good stock of their own stuff at iPhone 5 launch is a major and very uncharacateristic Apple error. They do this all the time with Apps and special trusted partners that get pre-launch access. So they should have done the various interface products Belkin or someone else who steppe up to generate a competent interface.

Apple has to their **** together.

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I am sure Apple does not thinks so...they have a solution it called the Thunderbolt display. This is why Apple could really care less.

I do agree TB is a bust from my perspective. Thank goodness we have USB 3.

This makes me sad. The technology had potential, but if no one can figure out how to get it to work, what good is it?

Firewire might have always laid in USB's shadow, but at least it had a large, healthy ecosystem of products. Slightly more expensive than USB equivalents, but not too much more, and they worked well.

Thunderbolt seems to have none of that. Everything is ridiculously expensive other than Apple's own gigabit ethernet adapter, which could have easily been USB.

Sorry, Apple+Intel, but you failed on this one.

thejadedmonkey said:

My macbook air has been such a diappointment, on so many levels. I don't think I'd get a docking station for it anymore, even if they were cheaper. It's just not worth it when you have a full desktop [read as: a computer with a real HDD] a foot away.

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I don't think MacBook Airs were created to use a foot away from your home desktop. Seems like a dumb purchase on your part.

Let's just hope

that Lightning accessories will not repeat the same fate.

nutmac said:

Given Apple has been the only company to offer computers with Thunderbolt connector, this isn't at all surprising. With PC motherboards starting to implement Thunderbolt, with notebooks to soon follow, we will begin to see larger selection of peripherals next year.

Having said all that, Thunderbolt was never meant to be a replacement for USB. It is an interface that combines benefits of PCI Express and DisplayPort into a single connector.

Thunderbolt is overkill for common tasks such as connecting with single drive external hard disk, transferring photos or videos from digital camera and camcorders, and syncing data between smartphone/tablet. USB 3.0 is far more practical and sufficient to meet these needs.

Unfortunately, Thunderbolt is also not quite powerful enough for emerging needs, such as driving retina 27" displays.

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It is far too early to call Passbook off.

As for Lightning, how is it half fail/success? Would you have said the same for USB when it debuted in 1995 but didn't take up until it iMac adopted it as exclusive peripheral connector 3 years later?

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I'm fairly certain TB has the bandwidth to push a 27" retina display. I remember reading somewhere that it could push 2 4K screens. Fairly certain...not positive.