How are 99% of people supposed to compete with the rich moving data so fast?
This thing is clearly marketed toward the 1%
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Belkin Upgrades Thunderbolt Express Dock with USB 3.0 and eSATA, Bumps Price to $399.99
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
This thing is clearly marketed toward the 1%
Reading this all the posts here is like watching lots of babies throwing lots of toys out of lots of prams! Ultimately the cost of this technology will come down and make it more accessible to the masses, but for now it's a cutting edge solution targetted at a select few users.
Yes you can almost buy an iPad for the same money, or pay twice as much and get a Thunderbolt Display but how does that help you if you want to attach a USB 3 or eSATA device to your Thunderbolt equipt Mac?
I have a pair of OWC external drives connected to my 2008 iMac via FW800 (much better than USB 2). When I upgrade to a new iMac with Thunderbolt I can buy a device like this (I'd actually go for the LaCie with 2 eSATA ports) to connect my existing drives to my new computer at the fastest speed possible.
If the $450 is more than you want to pay for this device then you don't need it. Are digital medium format cameras and 4K video cameras and Ferraris and Rolexes "dead in the water" or a "bag of hurt" because the vast majority can't afford them?
Yes you can almost buy an iPad for the same money, or pay twice as much and get a Thunderbolt Display but how does that help you if you want to attach a USB 3 or eSATA device to your Thunderbolt equipt Mac?
I have a pair of OWC external drives connected to my 2008 iMac via FW800 (much better than USB 2). When I upgrade to a new iMac with Thunderbolt I can buy a device like this (I'd actually go for the LaCie with 2 eSATA ports) to connect my existing drives to my new computer at the fastest speed possible.
If the $450 is more than you want to pay for this device then you don't need it. Are digital medium format cameras and 4K video cameras and Ferraris and Rolexes "dead in the water" or a "bag of hurt" because the vast majority can't afford them?
While I agree with you, I'd rather save $400 and just have a few extra cables to plug in when I get home...
You understand that most dock users are Win users, yes? So, your normal anti-Apple diatribes are backfiring.
Your posts are far too sensible and logical for this place. Just a couple of weeks ago we had the pros complaining about the possible loss of FireWire and Ethernet. Now there is a solution that will solve that problem and more, yet that is still not good enough.Considering that FireWire is almost 20 years old and still relevant I'd say give TBolt another 3 years before it becomes mainstream.
It's pretty much the norm around here. $2500 for a 15" laptop, $349 for the warranty, $145 a month for the cell phone plan (for one person), and go stark raving mad at a $400 dock that gives you four connection options via one cable.
Oh, forgot to mention, complain about the price, then suggest getting something 2.5x more expensive as an alternative.
They aren't tough, people are just getting a bit carried away. I'd spit out that, "Don't like it don't buy it," suggestion at this point. Personally, I'd grab it if I was an Air owner that didn't want a glossy display attached to my hub/dock.
Or even an iMac owner looking for more expansion without taking up more desk space with a 27" monitor.
----------
Wow. Another sensible post. Thank you.
They are doing massive volume. Maybe not for that individual part, but with the supplier and manufacturer.
The Belkin hub is a expensive, but not unreasonable. It's a low volume product. After Thunderbolt has been in channel for 3-4 years and every Mac has a Thunderbolt part they'll be able to consider volume and bring the price down if Apple doesn't come out with their own solution for cheaper.
It's risky for anyone to even go down the path of creating one of these in the first place. It may never even reach retail. Next week Apple could release a new SuperDrive that comes with all these ports for $249, and the Belkin product becomes obsolete before it even reaches final production.
I don't wanna be rude but why are people still mentioning Mac Mini in context of this hub? Why? Mac Mini is not hub, it's a computer, you cannot use it as a hub.
As others have already mentioned: this is solution for that VERY small number of people and Pro's that rely on Ethernet and Firewire.
Apple will maybe drop Ethernet and Firewire on new MBP to allow it to be more powerful and smaller. MOST people won't mind - those who do will buy box such as this.
In the late 90s, when everything was more expensive.
The dock for my HP work laptop is around $150 and has a bunch of USB ports, DVI, VGA and Mini Display port, gigabit ethernet, audio in/out, and it charges my laptop too.
Amen!
While it is annoying, I can plug in a lot of cables for $ 400 plus.
Did anybody notice it doesn't have DVI like the Matrox?
"Thunderbolt's going to fail like Firewire"
LOL
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5884/...s-part-2-intels-dz77rek75-asus-p8z77v-premium
Difference is Intel controls the motherboard market.
----------
Good thing. mDP to DVI adapter is easy.
LOL
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5884/...s-part-2-intels-dz77rek75-asus-p8z77v-premium
Difference is Intel controls the motherboard market.
----------
Good thing. mDP to DVI adapter is easy.
Seagate makes one which includes a Thunderbolt cable, but it's $275.
You can get just the TB adapter (no cable, no drive) for $99.
They also have a desktop-sized 3TB kit which includes a 2-port TB adapter (portable version is just 1-port) for $410.
chiefsilverback - you bet it is a bag of hurt. A year and a half ago I got my 17" MBP with Thunderbolt - magnificent bandwidth - GB speeds - yada yada.
Now, a year and a half later there is still soooooo little to connect to it.
I'm not even addressing price as the main issue - it is a connection with very little to connect to it.
Now, a year and a half later there is still soooooo little to connect to it.
I'm not even addressing price as the main issue - it is a connection with very little to connect to it.
Did you really just say that last line? Where the hell have you been for the last 10 years? The economy went to **** a long time ago and this dock is way overpriced and the Matrox one is utter **** for $250. You're willing to get completely ripped off because you want to be the first to own something? You really get a giddy feeling from being overcharged for a product? Are you that self absorbed? Having something first and paying way too much for it is utter stupidity.
ThunderBolt WILL die in the consumer market. The killer? USB 3. ThunderBolt is simply too expensive and no one is making anything worth buying at the price they can pay. I can get USB 3 drives and accessories all day long at reasonable prices. Same with eSata. Can I plug all those into my MacBook at once with one cable? No. But I can buy those devices and plug them all in for way less than this stupidly overpriced dock. This is absolutely ridiculous for what it is. At $150 it's a decent deal. $400 and a $50 cable it's laugh worthy. They will not make enough sales on this to keep it going and they'll never break into the market of vast majority of newer Mac owners. You know who will make a ton of money? The ones with USB 3 connectors on their products. Why? It's very fast and is backwards compatible with USB 2 products with number in the hundreds of millions. Sure they're slow, but they work.
ThunderBolt is a terrible waste if the only accessories that mainstream buyers will see is a $400 dock or a way overpriced and size restricted SSD as an external drive. Those with media libraries and the need to transfer large amounts of data aren't the average Mac and PC buyer. This appeals to them and is probably a decent deal. To me? Junk. Overpriced junk. If Apple doesn't start using USB 3 in their computer offerings and use it to sync iOS devices they are going to be way behind for future devices. FireWire is pretty good but it too is overpriced and rare. Pushig ThunderBolt will be a massive mistake if they continue to cripple themselves with older port specs. People still buy Macs in the millions, but I'm willing to bet every single one would like to have, or be pleasantly surprised to have USB 3 ports on their new Macs. I know I would. There's simply no excuse to keep using Thunderbolt if everything that uses it is massively overpriced and rare and alternatives like USB 3 are left out while they establish good market foothold and prices.
If this next generation of iOS devices and Mac don't support USB 3 they are really going to suffer. Maybe not financially but they will suffer from user disappointment. I won't buy another Mac or another iOS device until they do. ThunderBolt is a complete waste for me because nothing supports it, everything that does is way overpriced and alternatives for what I do use everyday have quickly surpassed what Apple offers. ThunderBolt is completely useless if you don't have anything to plug into it.
(DISCLAIMER: I love my MacBook Pro and would never buy another PC. Ever. I won't buy another Mac either unless they really stop using legacy or dead ports. Them time to leave USB2 and FW behind was at least 2 years ago. Apple NEEDS USB 3 and or eSata. What they offer now just isn't good enough anymore.)
USB 3 ports will most likely be present on new Macs. I think you shouldn't compare USB3 to Thunderbolt. They're different things aimed at different users - and with different prices.
Think of it as USB2 and FireWire that was present on Macs before introduction of TB. Majority of people used USB2 - FireWire was used when the bandwith of USB wasn't enough, it was WIDELY used with DV Camcorders and decks in video industry. You can do specialized tasks with Firewire such as target disk mode.
And the situation will be similar now with TB. You'll have USB3 for plugging thumbsticks and drives for average joe and then you'll have TB for the Pro stuff, much like Firewire used to be/is.
If $400 seems like too much to you, then it isn't probably worth to you. Then you'll keep plugging video cables and data cables. For pro crowd and power users the high bandwith, flexibility and added expandability will justify the price easily.
3-4 years from now on these will probably cost $100 or so.
Think of it as USB2 and FireWire that was present on Macs before introduction of TB. Majority of people used USB2 - FireWire was used when the bandwith of USB wasn't enough, it was WIDELY used with DV Camcorders and decks in video industry. You can do specialized tasks with Firewire such as target disk mode.
And the situation will be similar now with TB. You'll have USB3 for plugging thumbsticks and drives for average joe and then you'll have TB for the Pro stuff, much like Firewire used to be/is.
If $400 seems like too much to you, then it isn't probably worth to you. Then you'll keep plugging video cables and data cables. For pro crowd and power users the high bandwith, flexibility and added expandability will justify the price easily.
3-4 years from now on these will probably cost $100 or so.
Agreed, I think a better use than a thunderbolt to USB 2 (which is already in every thunderbolt mac) is to add USB 3.
I do disagree that there would not need to be a pass thru thunderbolt port, as end of the chain only devices exclude second monitor use (unless you own the pricy apple thunderbolt display.)
My ideal device, 2 thunderbolt ports, USB 3, eSATA as a bonus feature.
If the new macs have usb 3, it may hurt the sales of a USB 3 adapter, but with USB 3 drivers made by apple, it shouldn't be very much R&D for the manufacturers to produce vs the extra steps of writing compatible drivers.
USB is not multi-protocol
It's simply not suitable for some of the things that Thunderbolt can do. Thunderbolt is PCI-Express and that comes with it some significant advantages. Intel will most likely add this to the mainboard as soon as Haswell and the chipsets will continue to integrate and get cheaper.
USB 3.0 has been out a few years now and it's just now getting integrated on the motherboard.
Folks...relax and enjoy the ride.
It's simply not suitable for some of the things that Thunderbolt can do. Thunderbolt is PCI-Express and that comes with it some significant advantages. Intel will most likely add this to the mainboard as soon as Haswell and the chipsets will continue to integrate and get cheaper.
USB 3.0 has been out a few years now and it's just now getting integrated on the motherboard.
Folks...relax and enjoy the ride.
That would make sense if it applied to this situation at all. Which it doesn't. 4K cameras aren't common and don't matter to people buying Macs, only video professionals with tools that are already available to them. You do realize that there are other alternatives to Ferraris and Rolexs right? On any new Mac you have the ancient and slow USB2 and the overpriced and rare FireWire. No alternatives but this overpriced crap from Belkin. Nothing else on the Mac is faster than 10-15 year old tech, there are cars and watches just as nice and just as fast as Ferraris and Rolexs on the market. Exception with Apple is that you have a port that has nothing valuable for 99% of the user base and the alternatives are outright ancient in the computer world.
Apple didn't give anyone a choice. You want a Mac you get 1 really fast but basically useless port and you get glacially slow USB and rare and expensive FireWire. eSata and USB 3 are very well fleshed out and prices are falling by the day. I have an alternative to the Ferrari and the Rolex, I don't have an alternative to Thunderbolt on a Mac and it's a shame because very good alternatives exist but Apple hasn't allowed them. Probably because it'll eat into Thunderbolt accessory sales and the push for their displays (though I really really want a 27" ACD but can't realistically justify buying). If and when they release Macs with USB 3, Firewire and Thunderbolt accessory sales will almost certainly take a serious nosedive. There's no use for Thunderbolt for 90% of the user base, everything is going USB 3 because it's cheaper, really fast and backwards compatible. eSata is smoking fast and just as cheap.
I love my MacBook Pro, but if Apple still refuses to replace USB 2 and FireWire with what are much better alternatives it'll be the last Mac I buy. Same goes for iOS devices. If they don't drop USB 2 for USB 3, like next week and across the entire Mac and iOS lineup, I'm gone there too. It's becoming too little too late for expansion ports on the Mac. It may be that I'm overreacting but Apple usually leads by years in areas like this and they are falling way behind. Way behind.
I understand that completely and I agree with you. I meant my comparison in that the ratio of USB 3 users to Thunderbolt users is likely 5000 to 1 and hence much more important in the bigger scheme of things. Thunderbolt for 99% of Mac users is simply pointless. USB 3 is much faster and more useful than USB 2 yet is backwards compatible.
The next MBP will have USB 3.0, Thunderbolt and whatever else is important. You have nothing to fear. No Apple is ahead of the game. They've been shipping Thunderbolt for a year now. Just because you don't use it doesn't make it valuable.
Exactly, this isn't something for everyone, it's for people who need it. As half of the people have been saying here, like all technology, first adopters will pay extra, kinks will be worked out, and then it'll cost less as time passes.
Haha me too.
Yeah a superior product that professionals used for over a decade daily, not everything is for everyone, it's not complicated. Just because you don't use something doesn't mean thousands if not millions of other consumers and/or prosumers don't as well.
Hahahah.
My friends/fam/colleagues' GoFlex drives from Seagate have been working great so far and have the absolute most versatility.
Yeah if you don't want it just don't get it, complaining here is not going to make the price lower. Take it easy and we'll all see in a couple years where everything is headed.