CES 2013: Belkin Drops eSATA Support for Upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock, Cuts Price Back to $299

[dktsang]

Originally Posted by canucksfan88

does this mean I can dual display out hooking up an adapter to both thunderbolt ports?

That depends... where will you connect your computer?

(there's really one upstream and one downstream thunderbolt port. So unless one of those monitors is a Thunderbolt Display... no.)

[GermanyChris]

Originally Posted by dazey

I know that, I was hoping someone could explain who the target market was!? I am sure I must be missing it but after so many years in the planning Belkin must thing there is one.

It brings people like me back if you will. I don't have a need for many of the things that apple left off the new Mac's but I'm not always out and about. There are a lot of folks leaving desktops behind (obviously) this offers desktop connectivity with the ability to run two non apple displays and still leave unused capacity meaning more room for expansion.

[mrr]

Overpriced. Thunderbolt roll out has been quite a bust.

[jonnysods]

Gosh it will be Thunderbolt 3.0 soon.

[D.T.]

Originally Posted by willcapellaro

You answered my question. I thought the weird little port thingy in front was TB input and the back was two TB outputs.

Oh yeah, that's like a little chunnel for your cables

Run one of the TB back through for the computer connection, even your power cord, this page shows it in use:

http://www.belkin.com/us/Belkin-Thun...ock/p/P-F4U055

[LimeiBook86]

Also, I read someone said Belkin's dock with USB 3.0 is only going up to 2.5gbps speeds instead of the full 5.0gbps, is there any truth to this?

I mean if I'm going to go out and buy an expensive TB to USB 3 adapter it may as well be full-speed. (hopefully)

[Val-kyrie]

This would be a better sell if it actually had a video out (e.g., DVI, DP) in addition TB out.

Personally, I think it is problematic if it is true that this device lacks a full 5 Gb/s thoughput for USB 3. Why use a dock that reduces your speed?

[Laco]

I would not pay more than $29.95 for it.

[manu chao]

Originally Posted by cambox

They almost got it right but without eSATA its a no go for most professional users who use eSATA as we all have that pretty much.

Do USB 3 to eSATA adapters exist?

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by Blomkvist

So I'm not a power user/professional by any stretch...and I simply don't "get it". Is this device to be used as a docking station for a Macbook? If so, how do you configure your workspace? I went to the Belkin site and was surprised to see that the only photos they display are of various angles of the dock itself, but none showing anyone using it in a workstation config. The idea seems sound, but I am picturing the need for some sort of stand or shelf for the dock/Macbook to sit out of the way of keyboard and display.

How do others envision using this?

Thunderbolt supports multiple protocols, so a single Thunderbolt cable connects to your Mac and you get all of these other ports available to you magically. Pretty sweet.

[canucksfan88]

Originally Posted by dktsang

That depends... where will you connect your computer?

(there's really one upstream and one downstream thunderbolt port. So unless one of those monitors is a Thunderbolt Display... no.)

lame... thats really all i want. dual display.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by dagamer34

FW800 is 0.8gbs. I'll let you figure that one out.

Yes and no. Firewire is known to have better sustained data transfer speeds. USB 3.0 may *claim* 2.5Gbps, but does it achieve that in the real world for sustained periods?

[rmwebs]

You know, when this was first anounced I slated it as an overpriced, useless pile of crap (or words to the effect). But actual. It's a brilliant product, and a pretty fair price IMO.

I moved from a MacPro (late 2009 model) to a 15" rMBP a couple of months ago. I second guessed myself a LOT before taking the plunge. My main requirement was thw ability to hookup 2 displays in addition to the laptop display, and to be able to plug in some fast external drives for usable storage (I.E not USB 2.0 speeds!)

A few months in, it's worked great. I've got 4 USB 3.0 drives which have great speed. I've got the 2 screens hooked up individually to the 2 thunderbolt ports (running in display port mode).

The biggest issue has been the drives however. With only 2 usb sockets, I've had to use 1 for USB 2.0 stuff (keyboard, iphone, ipad, android, speakers and ethernet (shockingly USB 2.0 ethernet is pretty reliable!!). This means having to rely on 1 usb 3.0 port for those 4 drives.

I've tried USB 3.0 hubs and the end result is that they all suck big time.

With this new dock, people in my situation (I.E people who got fed up waiting for a new Mac Pro) can plug the displays, hard drives, etc into the dock, then just have the 1 cable going to the laptop.

If this bad boy ever gets released, I'll be grabbing one

[manu chao]

Originally Posted by unplugme71

This same dock could be had for $59 if

1) It wasn't made by Belkin, and
2) It did not have Thunderbolt

Sorry but I don't see myself paying $300 for this device.

I can get a MBP with USB 3.0 ports and buy thunderbolt to GbE for $49 or whatever it costs on Apple.com

I don't think you can get FW over USB, if you need FW, you have to use a TB port for it. But the rest could possibly be done with a USB 3 dock + USB 3 to GbE and USB to audio in/out adapters (but again I don't know whether such adapters work past a USB hub).

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by coolfactor

Yes and no. Firewire is known to have better sustained data transfer speeds. USB 3.0 may *claim* 2.5Gbps, but does it achieve that in the real world for sustained periods?

Cant comment on benchmarks, but I've found USB 3.0 drives on my rMBP to be faster than the Firewire 800 drivers were on my MacPro. Both were standard 7200 drives, and I've found the USB 3.0 ones to handle transfers noticeably quicker. Could be down to drive/hub/cable/etc setup however.

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Originally Posted by cambox

They almost got it right but without eSATA its a no go for most professional users who use eSATA as we all have that pretty much.

Surely any 'professional' who needs eSATA will be going for a proper solution, like this one: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/ec...taadapter.html

[needfx]

jeez, thats an expensive hub

[cambox]

Originally Posted by rmwebs

Cant comment on benchmarks, but I've found USB 3.0 drives on my rMBP to be faster than the Firewire 800 drivers were on my MacPro. Both were standard 7200 drives, and I've found the USB 3.0 ones to handle transfers noticeably quicker. Could be down to drive/hub/cable/etc setup however.

----------



Surely any 'professional' who needs eSATA will be going for a proper solution, like this one: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/ec...taadapter.html

You are probably right but then you assume everyone has new Macs and when I say Macs I mean some of us have many for our work and need a solution that is backward compatible. I only wish I needed one I really do!

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Originally Posted by cambox

You are probably right but then you assume everyone has new Macs and when I say Macs I mean some of us have many for our work and need a solution that is backward compatible. I only wish I needed one I really do!

Ahh sorry I didn't see the link, wow yes I would love one!

[rmwebs]

Originally Posted by cambox

You are probably right but then you assume everyone has new Macs and when I say Macs I mean some of us have many for our work and need a solution that is backward compatible. I only wish I needed one I really do!

I didn't assume anything. Obviously any thunderbolt product, weather its this dock or the eSata one I linked to, they will both work on the same type of machines. Old hardware or backwards compatibility doesn't really come into it.

Edit: Ahh - gotcha - seen the link now?

[fitzpatpaul]

This thing doesn't come with a true display output, so you will need to buy an additional MiniDP to DVI or HDMI adaptor. This means another 30$ on top of the already too expensive 300$.

The Matrox unit is 249$, and for that price you don't need to buy the extra display adaptor.

That's why I'm getting the Matrox, when taking the adaptor into consideration, this Belkin dock is 80$ more expensive than the Matrox.

[aloshka]

People want dual displays with these docks. Why would I pay 300 and more money for a monitor when the thunderbolt display will suffice. I just dont want to pay 2000 for dual displays. Would be nice if they just would do dual dvi. A lot of people are with me, I don't understand why no one is listening. It's not that hard.

[iGrip]

If this is designed to be a laptop docking station, I don't think it has enough ports.

- 3 USB 3.0 ports
- 1 FireWire 800 port
- 1 Gigabit Ethernet port
- 1 3.5mm-out port
- 1 3.5mm-in port
- 2 Thunderbolt ports (1 upstream, 1 downstream for daisy-chaining up to 5 additional Thunderbolt devices)

The 2 TBs should be used to connect the laptop to the dock, and the dock to the (one) monitor. I'm not sure why they didn't allow for multiple monitors with multiple downstream ports?

The 3 USB ports could be used for a keyboard, mouse and a printer. So where do you hook up your external hard drive?

I dunno. This thing seems to be limited and expensive. Meh.

[willcapellaro]

Originally Posted by Laco

I would not pay more than $29.95 for it.

The thunderbolt controller itself costs Belkin $25 from Intel, and each usb 3.0 costs $5. Do you expect Belkin to take a loss?

With typical margins, you won't see anything thunderbolt for USB hub cheap. And you get what you pay for.

I'd say if this works for someone's needs it's a good purchase. Quibbling over a few hundred bucks over what it "should" cost is fine for people who don't actually need it, but that's just moralizing.

[JulesK]

Originally Posted by dagamer34

There were plenty of 2011 Macs sold with Thunderbolt but no USB 3.0. That's the entire point of this product. So is that foolish?

I have one of those 2011 Macs (a 11" MBA that I use with a 24" ACD). Something like this would give me a lot more flexibility, although I could probably deal with my biggest constraint (fast storage) with a TB drive with two TB ports, so I could still hook up the ACD. But if the Belkin hub were $150 or cheaper, I might consider it a reasonable way to get more flexibility and life out of the 2011 MBA. At $300, I'd probably just put the purchase price towards a TB drive (even a SSD) and live with the USB 2.0 ports.

[knuro]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Image


Way back in September 2011, Belkin quietly showed off a prototype of its Thunderbolt Express Dock, a desktop docking station offering users a broad array of connectivity options through a single Thunderbolt cable. By CES 2012, the product had evolved in design and received a September 2012 launch date with a $299 price tag.

By June of last year, Belkin had decided to add USB 3.0 and eSATA capabilities, at the cost of $100 price increase to $399.99. But as the September launch window came and went, Belkin pushed back the launch date to the first quarter of 2013.

Image

With CES 2013 now underway, Belkin has officially announced further changes to the Thunderbolt Express Dock, removing eSATA compatibility and dropping the price back to $299.99. Belkin is still quoting a "Q1 2013" launch, and Belkin representatives have told us that it should be closer to the early part of the quarter.

Image

Belkin's Thunderbolt Express Dock can be compared to the DS1 from Matrox, which launched last month for $249. For an additional $50 compared to the DS1, the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock offers three USB 3.0 ports as opposed to a single USB 3.0 port and two USB 2.0 ports on the DS1.

Perhaps more importantly for some users, the Belkin dock also includes two Thunderbolt ports, allowing the device to support Thunderbolt passthrough for peripherals further down the chain. Matrox's DS1 offers only a single Thunderbolt port, meaning that it must be placed at the end of a chain.

Article Link: CES 2013: Belkin Drops eSATA Support for Upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock, Cuts Price Back to $299

Just what I'd like to have with my July 2011 updated 13" Mac Air with 4GB RAM but too expensive at this time.

[iGrip]

Originally Posted by aloshka

People want dual displays with these docks. Why would I pay 300 and more money for a monitor when the thunderbolt display will suffice. I just dont want to pay 2000 for dual displays. Would be nice if they just would do dual dvi. A lot of people are with me, I don't understand why no one is listening. It's not that hard.

I don't think that many people would want to use dvi.