Elgato Launches Thunderbolt 2 Dock with 4K Resolution Support

MacRumors · Dec 2, 2014

Following the release of its original Thunderbolt Docking Station earlier this year, popular TV and video accessory maker Elgato has now introduced an upgraded Thunderbolt 2 Dock.

Elgato's new dock is similar to the original, sticking with an aluminum shell and black plastic core, now with added focus on taking advantage of Macs and accessories with Thunderbolt 2 ports. The Thunderbolt 2 Dock also shuffles around the arrangement of the ports compared to the original, but maintains the same feature set.

Just like its predecessor, Elgato's new Thunderbolt 2 Dock has three USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, audio in and out ports, and a port for the power source.

As noted by iLounge, the change in port arrangement has seen the two audio ports on the device's front swapped and now sitting to the right of the front-facing USB 3.0 port, instead of the left. The rear Ethernet port has also been moved from between the HDMI and power ports on the original to the far left of the new version's rear section, shifting everything else slightly to the right.

Elgato claims the dock can support any HDMI input display, even those reaching up to 4K resolution. The Thunderbolt 2 Dock also has a few features not offered by many other hubs: the USB ports provide enough power so that you can boost the charge of your iPhone or iPad even if your computer is shut down and not connected to the dock, use Apple SuperDrive, or even connect additional USB bus-powered devices onto an Apple Keyboard.

The same menu bar utility that enables high-powered USB support and allows for easy ejection of the Thunderbolt 2 Dock is still free and available for download.

Elgato's Thunderbolt 2 Dock comes in at the same retail price of its predecessor, $229.95 with an included Thunderbolt cable, and can be purchased from Elgato's official website. Elgato's launch comes as OWC continues to take pre-orders for its Thunderbolt 2 Dock, which will begin shipping later this month with pre-order pricing of $249 without a Thunderbolt cable. Pricing on OWC's dock will rise to $299.99 once it launches.

Article Link: Elgato Launches Thunderbolt 2 Dock with 4K Resolution Support

jayducharme · Dec 2, 2014

The upcoming OWC dock looks like it will have more bang for the buck. Only 3 USB ports on the Elgato? My Mac Pro has way more native ports than this.

H2SO4 · Dec 2, 2014

Why the bloody hell is a dock so expensive?

barkmonster · Dec 2, 2014

H2SO4 said:
Why the bloody hell is a dock so expensive?

Thunderbolt anything is a financial shafting compared with previous PCIe or Firewire equivalents.

H2SO4 · Dec 2, 2014

barkmonster said:
Thunderbolt anything is a financial shafting compared with previous PCIe or Firewire equivalents.

Its almost like they prefer exclusivity over money and exposure.

Traverse · Dec 2, 2014

It looks very nice. If only Apple would release a 4K Thunderbolt display!

barkmonster · Dec 2, 2014

H2SO4 said:
Its almost like they prefer exclusivity over money and exposure.

I know. It's hilarious with hard drive enclosures and RAID systems because they can't even compete with their own Firewire 800/USB 3.0 offerings on price.

At least with "Some" high end audio interfaces they've added zero latency and Firewire 800 port functionality along with a Thunderbolt throughport for other uses to previously Firewire 800 only systems but other companies haven't even had the sense to include 2 Thunderbolt ports which make their devices useless for a lot of people because it's either their product or a monitor, not both without using Apple's woefully over-priced and underspecified display.

solamar · Dec 2, 2014

OWC's TB2 Dock is MUCH better @ $249

OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock

More ports, more backward compatibility, hi-powered USB ports, etc..

It's just better for extra $15

CHIPSET
Thunderbolt 2

INTERFACE / PORTS
2 x Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gb/s)
5 x USB 3.0 (5 Gb/s) - (3) USB 3.0 / (2) USB 3.0 high-power charging
1 x FireWire 800 (800 Mbit/s)
1 x HDMI 1.4b
1 x Gigabit Ethernet
1 x 3.5mm Audio Input
1 x 3.5mm Audio Output

POWER SUPPLY
Universal auto-switching
Input: AC 100-240V
Output: 12V 6.0A

DISPLAY SUPPORT
DisplayPort 1.2 with support for up to 4K/60Hz, or HDMI 1.4b with support for up to 4K/30Hz
MAX DATA RATE - 20 Gb/s

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Works with any Thunderbolt equipped Mac running OS X 10.9.4 or later

DIMENSIONS
Width: 9.05 in / 23 cm
Height: 0.98 in / 2.5 cm
Depth: 3.54 in / 9 cm

WEIGHT
0.85 lbs / 0.38 kg

WARRANTY
1 Year OWC Limited Warranty

INCLUDES
OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock

cube · Dec 2, 2014

No eSATA, no buy.

I guess this pushes the Sonnet even more into the future (I agree).

foobarbaz · Dec 2, 2014

The prices would be fine for me, if the standards weren't so short lived!
The docks launched last year can't do 4K, and the ones available now won't work with next year's new plugs (or 5K).

It really looks like it was bad timing to combine Thunderbolt with DisplayPort at a time where DP needs rapid evolution. (Because when it comes to speed, Thunderbolt 1 is still fast enough to handle anything else over one cable.)

ArtOfWarfare · Dec 2, 2014

t.gillespie said:
It's just better for extra $15

It's $19.05 more, not $15. Just saying.

Also, it looks like it's a limited time offer and that the price will be bumped up by $50 shortly, at which point it will cost $69.05 more than this.

Digital Skunk · Dec 2, 2014

jayducharme said:
The upcoming OWC dock looks like it will have more bang for the buck. Only 3 USB ports on the Elgato? My Mac Pro has way more native ports than this.

I agree. Having only three USB3 ports is a terrible waste of time and space.

Even the 5 ports on the OWC model made me want to look elsewhere but there's nothing better so far that I know about.

H2SO4 said:
Why the bloody hell is a dock so expensive?

It's actually not that pricey. What would be an ideal price point? Even for a TB2 device $250 is a rather decent price.

cube said:
No eSATA, no buy.

I guess this pushes the Sonnet even more into the future (I agree).

I used to feel the same way, but at this point I don't think eSATA will get any more love as even drive manufacturers are moving to USB3.0 and ThunderBolt.

ellsworth · Dec 2, 2014

H2SO4 said:
It’s almost like they prefer exclusivity over money and exposure.

I've always thought/read that Thunderbolt was Intel's technology/invention. Didn't they call it Lightpeak at one point?

I wonder if Apple purchase exclusive rights to it from Intel?

Glad to see Firewire 800 on OWC's hub. I have 2 Thunderbolt drives and 20 Firewire 800 drives. I'm not ready to full commit to Thunderbolt at it's current price point.

MacTCE · Dec 2, 2014

ellsworth said:
I've always thought/read that Thunderbolt was Intel's technology/invention. Didn't they call it Lightpeak at one point?

I wonder if Apple purchase exclusive rights to it from Intel?

Glad to see Firewire 800 on OWC's hub. I have 2 Thunderbolt drives and 20 Firewire 800 drives. I'm not ready to full commit to Thunderbolt at it's current price point.

Thunderbolt is still an Intel technology and it's definitely not an Apple exclusive since you can find it on some Sony and Lenovo laptops.

blackcrayon · Dec 2, 2014

jayducharme said:
The upcoming OWC dock looks like it will have more bang for the buck. Only 3 USB ports on the Elgato? My Mac Pro has way more native ports than this.

t.gillespie said:
OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock

Image

More ports, more backward compatibility, hi-powered USB ports, etc..

It's just better for extra $15

OWC dock looks a bit better, but once the price goes back to $299 it's almost $100 more than the El Gato one. $299 + ~$30 Thunderbolt cable = $330.
El Gato dock is $229 and it comes with a Thunderbolt cable.

Gudi · Dec 2, 2014

I don't get it. Why not use the ports the MacBook already has?

ellsworth · Dec 2, 2014

Gudi said:
I don't get it. Why not use the ports the MacBook already has?

Only the latest Retina Macbook Pros come with dual Thunderbolt 2 ports. All others only came with a single Thunderbolt 1 port that acts as both a Thunderbolt port and a mini display port. If you connect your Macbook to an external display, kiss your Thunderbolt Devices bye-bye. If you have a single port Thunderbolt hard drive connected to your Macbook, good luck connecting that external display to your laptop. It's just a frustrating situation to be in when you have to pick in choose at a time when you just want to get working. These Thunderbolt docks help with not having to worry about these situations. You connect one cable from your Macbook Pro to the Thunderbolt dock and you're good to go. Thunderbolt is taking just as long as Firewire 400 did to take off and even when it thing, Apple canned it and created Firewite 800 to replace it.

Neodym · Dec 2, 2014

ellsworth said:
Only the latest Retina Macbook Pros come with dual Thunderbolt 2 ports. All others only came with a single Thunderbolt 1 port

Umm, no. The 15" rMBP came with two Thunderbolt (1) ports from day one.

calaverasgrande · Dec 3, 2014

H2SO4 said:
Why the bloody hell is a dock so expensive?

Docks normally cost north of $150.
This is only mildly more expensive than a Dell or Hp dock, and it's TB2.

H2SO4 · Dec 3, 2014

calaverasgrande said:
Docks normally cost north of $150.
This is only mildly more expensive than a Dell or Hp dock, and it's TB2.

Yes, but I still say. Why the hell is a dock so expensive?

weckart · Dec 3, 2014

H2SO4 said:
Yes, but I still say. Why the hell is a dock so expensive?

The last time I checked, a Thunderbolt chip cost $50 each in batches of 1000 to OEMs. Blame Intel. Not cheap to buy, design around and test.

blackcrayon · Dec 3, 2014

Gudi said:
I don't get it. Why not use the ports the MacBook already has?

One reason would be you want more USB 3 ports without sharing bandwidth between devices. Another might be you have a MacBook Air and don't have that many ports to begin with. Another might be you like the convenience of only plugging and unplugging a single cable to connect and detach all of your peripherals at work.

lowendlinux · Dec 3, 2014

Gudi said:
I don't get it. Why not use the ports the MacBook already has?

Docks are one of those things where if you have to ask the question why, you don't need one. They're to expensive to have just because and that applies to all docks for all PCs.

mdelvecchio · Dec 3, 2014

Gudi said:
I don't get it. Why not use the ports the MacBook already has?

you dont get the entire point of a dock? it's to avoid having to plug in a million cables when you sit down at a desktop work area. just one cable.

DLary · Dec 3, 2014

Any chance one of these will allow for a displayport input and output it to a thunderbolt display?

Elgato Launches Thunderbolt 2 Dock with 4K Resolution Support

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