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Belkin Debuts New Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD

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Belkin today announced the launch of its Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD, which is designed to work with the USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports on Apple's new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro machines.

Created to be a "complete single-cable docking solution," the Express Dock HD features 40Gb/s data transfer speeds, 85 watts of power delivery for charging, and support for a single 5K monitor or two 4K monitors.

belkindock2-800x236.jpg
"Belkin has a long-standing history of designing complementary peripherals and accessories for the industry's most innovative hardware products, such as the all-new MacBook Pro," said Steve Malony, vice president and general manager, Belkin. "The new Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD and its exceptional single-cable docking solution for notebooks was developed with a deep understanding of consumers' needs for ideal connectivity solutions."
Click to expand...
The Express Dock includes Two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, one DisplayPort, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an Audio In/Out port, and a second Audio Out port. Up to five Thunderbolt devices can be daisy-chained from the dock and it includes a 170W power adapter to supply power to attached peripherals while also charging a MacBook Pro.

belkindock.jpg

Belkin is also introducing a USB-C to HDMI adapter and two Thunderbolt 3 cables in 0.5 ($29.95) and 2m ($69.95) sizes. Pricing on the Express Dock and the adapter has not yet been announced.

Belkin's Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock and USB-C to HDMI Adapter will be available soon from the Belkin website and from Apple.com. The Thunderbolt 3 cables are already available from both Belkin and Apple.

Article Link: Belkin Debuts New Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock HD
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/27/belkin-debuts-thunderbolt-3-express-dock-hd/
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Pretty annoying that all my Thunderbolt 1 & 2 peripherals are now obsolete, or require a pricey Thunderbolt 3 -> 2 adapter.
 
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Judging from other TB3 dock prices, I'll be it's like $300. I paid $350 for my Dell p2415q monitor. All of a sudden we'll be in the territory of that $700 LG 4K monitor with the built in thunderbolt dock...

I wish someone would make a TB3 dock that is *just* 2x displayport (4K @ 60) + laptop power. My monitors already have USB hubs.

Edit: Their Thunderbolt 2 dock is $300, so it's likely it'll cost the same.

Also keeping an eye on this one: http://plugable.com/thunderbolt-3
 
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This is looking like a better solution than buying a bunch of Apple Adapters. I'm frustrated at how much I'll have to blow on all new adapters in addition to the higher price on the MacBook Pro. It would have ben nice to have at least one regular USB port left behind or even a display port.
 
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Display Port? Not Mini-Display port? That's not very "Apple" like. Where's the HDMI port? The 3.5mm jack should be a combination analog/optical port (more flexible, especially since there's no HDMI here which most TVs still use). They probably should have included an SD card reader since the new Macbook ditched it and many found that useful.

Personally, I want to see a dock with a Thunderbolt III gaming level graphics card in it plus every old port you might possibly need for older hardware (e.g. Firewire and even an express card slot so I can keep using my hardware I have for my older 2008 Macbook Pro without more adapters or having to get new equipment). I mean why not offer ports for everything one could possibly need on a hub that's designed for a desktop docking?
 
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Hahahahahah ahahahahahaha hahahahahahahaahahaha

Yo dawg I heard you like overpriced widgets that don't do much

So here's an overpriced widget that lets you use the overpriced widget that doesn't come with basic functionality from the factory.

BECAUSE IT CAN'T DO THINGS NOW THAT IT'S BEEN ABLE TO DO SINCE THE 90'S
[doublepost=1477612359][/doublepost]
Pimp-My-Ride-619-386.jpg


Yo dawg I heard you bought a laptop that forgot how to laptop

So here's a mini laptop that does the things that laptops do but your laptop doesn't

Carry around both laptops and put them together and you will have one laptop

7 pounds of the lightest portable computing equipment money can buy
 
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MacRumors said:
Belkin is also introducing a USB-C to HDMI adapter and two Thunderbolt 3 cables in 0.5 ($29.95) and 2m ($69.95) sizes. Pricing on the Express Dock and the adapter has not yet been announced.
Click to expand...

$30 for 1 USB-C connector, 1 HDMI Connector, 0.5M of cable
$70 for 1 USB-C connector, 1 HDMI Connector, 2.0M of cable

So 1.5M extra cable costs $40, meaning each 0.5M must cost $13.34.
 
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danmcq said:
Pretty annoying that all my Thunderbolt 1 & 2 peripherals are now obsolete, or require a pricey Thunderbolt 3 -> 2 adapter.
Click to expand...


$49 dollars for that adapter isn't pricey, This is a dock thats going to retail around $250. Which is the common price for docks.
[doublepost=1477613212][/doublepost]
BornAgainMac said:
I wonder how long this connector style will stick? I do like how Thunderbolt and USB are now friends.
Click to expand...

This style connector has a 10 year shelf life most likely. Thunderbolt had 6ish years. Seems reasonable.
 
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MagnusVonMagnum said:
Personally, I want to see a dock with a Thunderbolt III gaming level graphics card in it plus every old port you might possibly need for older hardware
Click to expand...

That would be cool, but I bet the "Apple Tax" (for it being a low volume item) would be astronomical. Since there are 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, we just need a cheap external GPU "bay" with a large power supply- then you could just provide any GPU you can get your hands on (that has Mac drivers, etc, for example GTX 980) at whatever the street price is.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
Display Port? Not Mini-Display port? That's not very "Apple" like. Where's the HDMI port? The 3.5mm jack should be a combination analog/optical port (more flexible, especially since there's no HDMI here which most TVs still use). They probably should have included an SD card reader since the new Macbook ditched it and many found that useful.

Personally, I want to see a dock with a Thunderbolt III gaming level graphics card in it plus every old port you might possibly need for older hardware (e.g. Firewire and even an express card slot so I can keep using my hardware I have for my older 2008 Macbook Pro without more adapters or having to get new equipment). I mean why not offer ports for everything one could possibly need on a hub that's designed for a desktop docking?
Click to expand...

I'm with you on the GPU card but, this dock isn't meant for everybody. I have my own wishlist and this doesn't come close but, its Belkin, tired old design and they swapped some innards. These docks are the worst rated ones on amazon if I remember correctly. I'm waiting to see what CalDigit comes up with.
 
I've got the OWC dock with Thunderbolt 2 and I can say that I'm not excited about external docks anymore. The cable clutter alone makes me want to just forget about the entire thing and get an iMac.
 
grayskyz said:
I'm with you on the GPU card but, this dock isn't meant for everybody. I have my own wishlist and this doesn't come close but, its Belkin, tired old design and they swapped some innards. These docks are the worst rated ones on amazon if I remember correctly. I'm waiting to see what CalDigit comes up with.
Click to expand...

CalDigit already started shipping their USB-C dock a while back, and it's less than 150 dollars. It has HDMI and DisplayPort. I am using it and love it. My setup is the type-c Macbook but not new thunderbolt 3 Macs yet. you can see someone's setup pictures here
http://crazydiamondstar.blogspot.com/2016/08/usb-c-dock-best-baymax-for-macbook.html
what's even better is that Caldigit includes a free Thundebolt 3 cable in this USB-C dock. Belkin is selling same cable for 30 bucks. lol.

Apple also released 49 dollars converter to turn Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 traffic, if you have Thunderbolt 2 docks, all you need is an Apple converter.

If you want to go up to 5K and daisy chain Thunderbolt devies, you then must wait for Belkin's Thunderbolt 3 dock or I believe CalDigit will come up with some nice one too, and of course, it will be cheaper and better quality according to their long-standing history. OWC will have one too.
 
Besides Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps), bring also USB 3.1 Type-C (Reversible) Generation 2 (10 Gbps) and SDXC with extra pins supporting maximum read/write speed (300 MB/s).
 
grayskyz said:
$49 dollars for that adapter isn't pricey, This is a dock thats going to retail around $250. Which is the common price for docks.
[doublepost=1477613212][/doublepost]

This style connector has a 10 year shelf life most likely. Thunderbolt had 6ish years. Seems reasonable.
Click to expand...

USB-c and thunderbolt now share the same connector.
The great thing about USB-C is that it can be up to 20 volts and 5 amps.
As a result of this, it might be that this 'standard' plug sticks around for a long long time.

I hope it does become a standard for not just laptops/phones/tablets, but for all devices that need low power.
Think battery rechargers, digital cameras, cordless vacuums, routers, wireless hubs, remotes controller cars and toys, Bluetooth speakers and any household thing which comes with a power brick. (They don't need to connect to a computer etc, just use the power brick of USB-c for charging)
USB has been ok, but with 5V and 3 amp max, you can only have 15 watts of power.
100 watts could change everything!
I hope so anyway, I have a box full of power adapters. I don't even know what half of them are for!

Having said all that, why the hell didn't Apple move away from the lightening cable for the iPhone 7.
How are you meant to plug your lightening port headphones into the new MacBook Pro?
They released a lightening to 3.5mm dongle, will the also release a 3.5mm to lightening dongle too?
 
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MagnusVonMagnum said:
Display Port? Not Mini-Display port? That's not very "Apple" like. Where's the HDMI port? The 3.5mm jack should be a combination analog/optical port (more flexible, especially since there's no HDMI here which most TVs still use). They probably should have included an SD card reader since the new Macbook ditched it and many found that useful.

Personally, I want to see a dock with a Thunderbolt III gaming level graphics card in it plus every old port you might possibly need for older hardware (e.g. Firewire and even an express card slot so I can keep using my hardware I have for my older 2008 Macbook Pro without more adapters or having to get new equipment). I mean why not offer ports for everything one could possibly need on a hub that's designed for a desktop docking?
Click to expand...
If you want HDMI I would pick this one up
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/TCDOCK11PSG/#owctabs
 
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