CalDigit Thunderbolt Station Adds to Growing Ranks of Thunderbolt Docks

I love the comparison to the belkin dock

onirocdarb said:

I love the comparison to the belkin dock

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Yeah, I know. It's a little more stylish in my opinion, has HDMI out and is $100 cheaper! How much more could you ask for?

Btw, the is the first article published by MacRumors that I tipped off. Even though it's lame, I feel so cool lol.

Awesome, looks like a great way to enhance the Thunderbolt display (which currently lacks USB 3.0), and also add HDMI out in the process. And cheaper than other options, too.

Looks like what the doc ordered (although I would've settled for merely a TB -> USB3 hub).

Hoping we can use the HDMI and still use a Display Port plug/adaptor for 2x external monitors.

snoozy355 said:

Looks like what the doc ordered (although I would've settled for merely a TB -> USB3 hub).

Hoping we can use the HDMI and still use a Display Port plug/adaptor for 2x external monitors.

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i am really hoping this is the case and i can finally power dual monitors. if this is the case, sign me up asap

canucksfan88 said:

i am really hoping this is the case and i can finally power dual monitors. if this is the case, sign me up asap

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Came here to say this also, if this is the case i will definitely get one. It's what has been lacking in all the other ones

Why are all these hubs so expensive? (I don't mean this as a criticism as there may be a good reason - I'm simply curious)

Dumb question if you have a Mac with thunderbolt but only USB 2 can you get USB 3 speeds if you connect a USB3 device to one of these hubs?

No Firewire port. That would rule it out for me, as I have too much investment in Firewire peripherals, and I wouldn't want to tie up the Thunderbolt daisy chain port with an Apple Firewire adapter.

So far every Thunderbolt dock I've seen mentioned is missing at least one feature I'd want.

Matrox's doesn't have Thunderbolt daisy chain or Firewire.

CalDigit's doesn't have Firewire.

Belkin's and Sonnet's don't have HDMI output. That's probably the feature of a dock I can most easily live without, as I only occasionally plug in an external display, and my future Retina MBP would have an HDMI port anyway.

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sfwalter said:

Dumb question if you have a Mac with thunderbolt but only USB 2 can you get USB 3 speeds if you connect a USB3 device to one of these hubs?

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Yes, as long as the Thunderbolt bus speed isn't saturated by the combined usage of all connected peripherals.

The dock contains its own USB 3 controller, which is addressed by the host computer independently from the built-in USB 2 controller.

You would need to be running a new enough OS version which has the necessary USB 3 driver support. That definitely means Lion or later, since the first models with USB 3 ports were in June 2012 and came with OS X 10.7.4, and it wouldn't surprise me if Mountain Lion was required for stability reasons.

snoozy355 said:

Looks like what the doc ordered (although I would've settled for merely a TB -> USB3 hub).

Hoping we can use the HDMI and still use a Display Port plug/adaptor for 2x external monitors.

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I got the CalDigit PCI card for USB3 and eSata (to use with one of their Raid drive sets). Be nice if CalDigit offered a hub with FW800, eSata, USB3 as well as Thunderbolt ports for displays or TB drive arrays. Especially as MacPro seems to get delayed further each time there is a new MacRumor about it.

My investment in FW drives and now eSata drives is not easily undone, and I'll bet that USB3 is still not the best video editing choice, though I could be wrong. I edit ProRes 422 (1080p60) and I get glitches even with the CalDigit two drive Raid 0 array.

is this the only thing that thunderbolt is useful for - docks? i was looking forward to affordable drives, screens, and other devices popping up on the market, but instead we're getting flooded with ... docks

bluewooster said:

Why are all these hubs so expensive? (I don't mean this as a criticism as there may be a good reason - I'm simply curious)

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Certainly when the first docks were announced, there was a lot of discussion about Intel demanding very high licensing fees to 3rd party manufacturers who wanted to create thunderbolt peripherals. This seems like a pretty odd strategy if you're trying to drive adoption of a new standard, and I don't know if things have changed since then...

Actually I thought this one looked quite reasonable. It's the first hub I've seen that I'm actually half considering buying.

dempson said:

You would need to be running a new enough OS version which has the necessary USB 3 driver support. That definitely means Lion or later, since the first models with USB 3 ports were in June 2012 and came with OS X 10.7.4, and it wouldn't surprise me if Mountain Lion was required for stability reasons.

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That's interesting to hear. I have USB 3.0 on my Mac Pro running Snow Leopard, thanks to a CalDigit eSATA (x2), USB3.0 (x2) 4-port PCI card. It came with a driver on disc, but I can't recall if that was for eSATA or USB3. Probably USB3.

Oh please come out with this dock around pay-day. This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for since buying a Mac with Thunderbolt.

what are these used for i don't understand you can get a thunderbolt to hdmi adapter and and u can get a usb 3.0 hub

RoastingPig said:

what are these used for i don't understand you can get a thunderbolt to hdmi adapter and and u can get a usb 3.0 hub

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Not all Macs have native USB3

hmmm... it doesn't say in the website, but I wonder if those audio in/out are combo analog / digital like on my old iMac, it's one thing that I personally miss on my MBA being an audio guy, but I imagine most people couldn't give a ****.

wonderspark said:

That's interesting to hear. I have USB 3.0 on my Mac Pro running Snow Leopard, thanks to a CalDigit eSATA (x2), USB3.0 (x2) 4-port PCI card. It came with a driver on disc, but I can't recall if that was for eSATA or USB3. Probably USB3.

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Thanks for the correction. I thought there would be core OS features required for full USB 3 support, not something which could be added in drivers for earlier OS versions.

Ding ding ding...we have a winner!

Finally, after seeing all those high-priced docks coming out with either features I didn't need, or a lame/paltry assortment of features for a high price, this looks like something reasonable.

Unless something better comes out soon, I'm gonna get this.

dempson said:

No Firewire port. That would rule it out for me, as I have too much investment in Firewire peripherals, and I wouldn't want to tie up the Thunderbolt daisy chain port with an Apple Firewire adapter.

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You can buy this dock and use the Firewire adapter on one of its Thunderbolt ports. Considering nobody else is offering what you want, that seems to be a good option. I have the adapter, it is barely thicker than FW800 connector, so the combination won't take up much space or look ugly on your setup.

blesscheese said:

Ding ding ding...we have a winner!

Finally, after seeing all those high-priced docks coming out with either features I didn't need, or a lame/paltry assortment of features for a high price, this looks like something reasonable.

Unless something better comes out soon, I'm gonna get this.

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+1 for me too.

My Mac mini 2011 really could thrive with usb3 speeds, especially for Plex serving. I know my speeds would increase dramatically!

Shut up and take my money.

edoates said:

My investment in FW drives and now eSata drives is not easily undone, and I'll bet that USB3 is still not the best video editing choice, though I could be wrong. I edit ProRes 422 (1080p60) and I get glitches even with the CalDigit two drive Raid 0 array.

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It could be worth trying the new docking station with an eSATA to USB 3 adapter (e.g., http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=798839&Q=&is=REG&A=details). I don't know if a double adapter set-up like that will work but it could be worth a shot to connect to eSATA.

snoozy355 said:

Looks like what the doc ordered (although I would've settled for merely a TB -> USB3 hub).

Hoping we can use the HDMI and still use a Display Port plug/adaptor for 2x external monitors.

Click to expand...

canucksfan88 said:

i am really hoping this is the case and i can finally power dual monitors. if this is the case, sign me up asap

Click to expand...

TheRdungeon said:

Came here to say this also, if this is the case i will definitely get one. It's what has been lacking in all the other ones

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This would be highly unlikely. We haven't seen Intel release a Thunderbolt controller with more than a single Thunderbolt to DisplayPort sink protocol adapter yet. This means that a Thunderbolt controller can only drive one display directly. However, you can buy DisplayPort to dual HDMI or DVI adapters for around $50 that should work fine as long as your displays aren't more than 1920x1200.

bluewooster said:

Why are all these hubs so expensive? (I don't mean this as a criticism as there may be a good reason - I'm simply curious)

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10 Gbit/s per channel serial technology is seriously out there on the performance curve. Nothing even remotely that fast was available on a consumer device, or even available at all for less than 10x the price when Thunderbolt was introduced in 2011. The two port controller used in this dock costs the device manufacturer $30. The current reference designs for 2-port devices also require about a dozen other components, which despite being less expensive still add about $20 to the bill of materials. By the time you factor in reasonable markups for the various players in the distribution chain, it is very difficult to bring a 2-port Thunderbolt device to retail for much less than $200.