CalDigit's $199 Thunderbolt Station Shipping November 4

wish my iMac had thunderbolt on it.
makes me want to get a new one! haha.

Should I buy this instead of Belkin's Thunderbolt Express dock? A quick comparison seems like for $100 more, you get just a FireWire port on the Belkin.

"Unlike other devices on the market..."

Great way to sell.

troop231 said:

Should I buy this instead of Belkin's Thunderbolt Express dock? A quick comparison seems like for $100 more, you get just a FireWire port on the Belkin.

Click to expand...

Considering you could get a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter for a lot less than $100, this does indeed seem like the much better deal.

What the hell is HachDMI?

RGPphotog said:

What the hell is HachDMI?

Click to expand...

English pronunciation of H

Not sure what Belkin and the other TB docks do, but this doesn't add any Thunderbolt. It acts as a USB, HDMI, and ethernet dock as part of a Thunderbolt daisy chain as it's 1 port in is 1 port out. Would have expected to see a 2nd TB port out, but maybe that doesn't matter with only 1 in?

I think unless you have a serious need for this already, video or photo pro, etc. and really need it for a portable to disconnect and reconnect all peripherals quickly, I would wait for TB2 and for these devices to mature another 12-24 months.

Honestly if you have a MBPr or Air, I would wait for the Henge Dock Horizontal and get the TB version.

http://hengedocks.com/order_horizontal_dock.php

http://www.electronista.com/articles/13/01/09/expands.port.options.thunderbolt.version.coming.in.q4/

I just preordered this for my 2011 iMac, here is my reasons.

1. The 2011 iMac has thunderbolt 1 only, so thunderbolt 2 dock (whenever they are developed) wouldn't help.
2. The 2011 iMac has USB 2, this will allow me to upgrade to USB 3.
3. The 21.5" 2011 iMac only has one thunderbolt port, so I didn't want something that would force the chain to end.

Basically I am using this to add usb3. The other ports with this device are not needed by me as the iMac already has sound. Ethernet, 2nd screen via Apple TV screen sharing, etc.

The belkin dock only goes 1/2 usb 3 speed, for $100 more, the matrix dock doesn't have 2 thunderbolt, which would end the chain. Both are deal breakers for me.

There are 2 other unreleased products, a kanex thunderbolt to usb 3 (ends chain) and a Sonnet dock that looks very capable but very expensive (although it does have DVD/bluray & internal hard drive support., so the cost is justified for those who truly need all the expansion offered.)

Anyway, although I would prefer a cheaper ($224 with cable) usb 3 upgrade, I went ahead and decided it was worth it.

Finally a thunderbolt dock with the ports and a price-point I can get behind.

I wonder if the HDMI port is acting like a passive adapter off the video channel, or if it actually got its own video card? I'm hoping for the former, but I'm not sure how they'd support HDMI and also MDP->DVI adapters on the thunderbolt output.

It is great to see more Thunderbolt docks finally shipping. This unit looks pretty good, especially compared to the price of the competition. I was looking forward to the Sonnet Echo15 dock because of the optical drive though. Wondering if they are still planning on shipping it since we are long past their Summer 2013 ship date that is still on the website. Has there been any news on a revised date?

omvs said:

Finally a thunderbolt dock with the ports and a price-point I can get behind.

I wonder if the HDMI port is acting like a passive adapter off the video channel, or if it actually got its own video card? I'm hoping for the former, but I'm not sure how they'd support HDMI and also MDP->DVI adapters on the thunderbolt output.

Click to expand...

Looking at their material, they always mention a thunderbolt monitor in addition to using the hdmi. There is an older thread where someone said they were told by Caldiget that if you use the hub's hdmi it has to be a thunderbolt monitor, an adapter will blank the hdmi port.

Post 147 by wshamp:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1568512/

Does this support Mini-DisplayPort to VGA adapters on the pass-through port?

Reason I ask is I've got a 13" MBP with only one Thunderbolt port and I use a Mini-DP to VGA adapter, along with a USB to VGA adapter to drive 2 external screens, but Mavericks has broken the USB adapter (screen glitches and ~3-4FPS refresh rates).

It would be good to have one HDMI and one VGA display alongside the MBP in-built display.

I feel like the market this is going after must be ridiculously small... most people either need to maximize performance and will jump for the MacPro in a few weeks, or they don't need it and so can sit tight with whatever they have.

----------

Richdmoore said:

I just preordered this for my 2011 iMac, here is my reasons.

1. The 2011 iMac has thunderbolt 1 only, so thunderbolt 2 dock (whenever they are developed) wouldn't help.
2. The 2011 iMac has USB 2, this will allow me to upgrade to USB 3.
3. The 21.5" 2011 iMac only has one thunderbolt port, so I didn't want something that would force the chain to end.

Basically I am using this to add usb3. The other ports with this device are not needed by me as the iMac already has sound. Ethernet, 2nd screen via Apple TV screen sharing, etc.

The belkin dock only goes 1/2 usb 3 speed, for $100 more, the matrix dock doesn't have 2 thunderbolt, which would end the chain. Both are deal breakers for me.

There are 2 other unreleased products, a kanex thunderbolt to usb 3 (ends chain) and a Sonnet dock that looks very capable but very expensive (although it does have DVD/bluray & internal hard drive support., so the cost is justified for those who truly need all the expansion offered.)

Anyway, although I would prefer a cheaper ($224 with cable) usb 3 upgrade, I went ahead and decided it was worth it.

Click to expand...

So all you'd actually need is some kind of splitter that plugs into your thunderbolt port and offers up a second thunderbolt port and a USB 3. I wonder how many people like you exist. I guess it doesn't matter since I'm not an EE kind of guy and I swear circuits hate me, so I couldn't make the product for you.

Looks nice, and better price than the rest, though I would prefer it with maybe 3 or 4 USB 2.0 ports to plug in other stuff like keyboard, mouse, graphics pad etc.

That way I could connect everything to my laptop with a single plug. Not everyone has or likes wireless mouse / networked printer etc. As it is, I could plug in a USB 2.0 hub into one of the dock's USB 3.0 ports. Docking a dock to my dock ...

I know of a lot of people (mostly programmers) that would jump on this if it allowed dual regular monitors. But since the hdmi is passthrough that means the outgoing TB port cannot be used for a second monitor unless it's a TB monitor.

troop231 said:

English pronunciation of H

Click to expand...

yeah, I was starting to wonder what "funderbolt" was

Ordered! I was skeptical about the Belkin one. I'm excited about using this to add more USB 3 and reduce the number of connections when I plunk my laptop down at my desk...from six down to two. Hard to say that's really worth $200 but there you go.

ElderBrE said:

"Unlike other devices on the market..."

Great way to sell.

Click to expand...

Just because there's a short phrase doesn't mean that's their "way to sell". But please enlighten us with your pro marketing experience.

So does this device effectively move the USB CPU overhead from the computer to a chip
in the device?

ArtOfWarfare said:

So all you'd actually need is some kind of splitter that plugs into your thunderbolt port and offers up a second thunderbolt port and a USB 3. I wonder how many people like you exist. I guess it doesn't matter since I'm not an EE kind of guy and I swear circuits hate me, so I couldn't make the product for you.

Click to expand...

Thunderbolt is a daisy chain only interface. It can not be split.

looks like it does it all!

ArtOfWarfare said:

I feel like the market this is going after must be ridiculously small... most people either need to maximize performance and will jump for the MacPro in a few weeks, or they don't need it and so can sit tight with whatever they have.

----------



So all you'd actually need is some kind of splitter that plugs into your thunderbolt port and offers up a second thunderbolt port and a USB 3. I wonder how many people like you exist. I guess it doesn't matter since I'm not an EE kind of guy and I swear circuits hate me, so I couldn't make the product for you.

Click to expand...

I'll agree I fall into a niche category.

For most people, if they have USB 3, they don't need thunderbolt at all. For those that have USB 2, very few people have thunderbolt at all.

The "real" intent of this is as a docking station for a portable computer. Let's say you have a retna macbook pro or mac air. Simply plug your external monitor (hdmi or thunderbolt), all usb disc & hard drives, external sound, and ethernet into the hub. Then when you get home, simply plug 2 wires into the mac, 1 power & 1 thunderbolt, and you have a desktop computer. This even adds ports for the air (ethernet for example) that are not native to that computer.

Another consideration is the cost. This cost $200 (not including the thunderbolt cable.) If someone developed a thunderbolt to USB 3 only, how much cheaper would it be?

Kanex has a poll on their web site where you can vote for a thunderbolt to USB/Ethernet or Thunderbolt to USB 3/SATA, no price listed & no pass thru mentioned. How much cheaper would that be than this one, considering the "thunderbolt premium" all devices to date have had.

A seagate to thunderbolt adapter for a portable hard drive is $100, and a desktop adapter (2 thunderbolt ports) is $190 on their company web site. It is hard to imagine a thunderbolt to USB 3 only adaptor would retail for less.

Doesn't the Belkin one have issues? Such as kernal panicks when actually plugging and unplugging the dock on the fly? Hope this is better.

Anyone know if this supports optical audio out like the rMBP's have?

Would I see any performance lost on games with this? I would have 2x 24" monitors plugged into the dock (1x HDMI and the other DVI-MiniDisplay), plus ethernet and all the USB ports. Seems like a lot for 1 TB cable and this device.

Also, would the laptop know to switch between the Intel graphics and the dedicated nvidia still?

Nevermind, saw on the website that the audio is analogue only. Sucks.

Thunderbolt and Lightning have really taken the market by storm, bringing all sorts of advantages over other ports. Well done, Apple.