http://www.gigabyte.us/press-center/news-page.aspx?nid=1140
Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128559&Tpk=Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH
For $229 I get a state of the art Motherboard with Dual Thunderbolt Ports.
Sorry, but the pricing is way overpriced. I'd rather build out a Linux Box with this Mobo, but Belkin wants to charge $399 for this hub?
http://www.belkin.com/thunderbolt/
Sorry, but Gigabyte could eat Belkin's lunch in a flash by gutting that Motherboard down to size and putting a fancy case on it for $199 and own the market while still making a hefty profit.
It's a joke price and a useless product once more Mobo generic manufacturers in the Windows world have dual Thunderbolt on-board.
I was actually going to cite boards such as the one you linked to. If you look at them, there's almost the same amount of $$$ worth of silicon going into both. The Z77 chipset costs $48, but includes USB 3.0, the Gigabyte board only offers 1394a not 1394b, and the video output paths are a lot more straightforward. Gigabyte's design and build processes for motherboards are also very well established at this point, and they're trying to eke out marketshare in a highly competitive market that actually shrank this year, so their typical margin is most likely pretty darn thin. That's why I reckon they'd just be scraping by to offer the features of the Belkin dock for $249 (which is what Belkin would end up selling them for when they are forced to pull a 40% off sale because their list prices are too ambitious.)
The point of all this though, is that the mobo and video card makers are really the ones best suited to get into the Thunderbolt accessory game, not companies like Belkin. I really wish they would as well, because they could provide almost everything people have been asking for: Thunderbolt GPU solutions, docks, PC motherboards (Mini ITX) with Thunderbolt ports so there's more of a market, and enough competition to drive prices down.
This whole TB thing is so ********* up on so many levels.
- Only selected partners get access to TB parts, SDKs and support.
I think it's pretty wide open now, you just have to join Intel's Thunderbolt program.
- Apple supervises the making of every TB device - before you sell, Apple wants prototype after prototype. God knows how long each iteration takes.
This is certainly not true now, and I'm not sure it ever was. Intel is responsible for Thunderbolt certification, not Apple.
- You don't even get a freaking CABLE with your $300+ device. Yes I know, active cables, blahblah - GET OVER IT! $50 at the apple store means that it costs them around $9 (only because it's active - the new dock-connector plus 1m of cable is about 30ct or lower I guess).
Show me all the cables that can handle 2x 10 Gbps full-duplex channels that retail for less than $49. The transceivers used in the first gen Thunderbolt cables were more or less directly borrowed from the telecom industry, and were made using a rather expensive process. Cheaper and better suited silicon is already in the works, so the cable prices should come down soon, but don't expect miracles. The signaling rates are almost double anything else that currently exists in the consumer space.
I fail to understand what Apple's strategy on TB is.
How about investing some $$$ into this cluster-******* by subsidizing the chipsets, cables, whatever? I heard Apple has some cash.
They have been. They kept their prices the same or lower across the board and added a $30 Thunderbolt controller to all the new Macs since 2011. They also pumped all types of controllers, including Thunderbolt, into the ATD and kept the price the same. They have subsidized Thunderbolt for over 18 months now and shipped around 30 million Thunderbolt host devices at this point. You'll also note that 3rd party Thunderbolt cables are almost exactly the same price as Apple's, indicating that there is no excessive margin to be found there either.
I'm not sure what more you want Apple to do (except maybe release a $29 Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adapter for the 2011 Mac owners.) I think most end users who are confused about Thunderbolt just have no pressing need for it. If you don't typically use the ExpressCard slot or video out port on other machines, why would you think you were going to use Thunderbolt?
