The air is the most popular MacBook being sold, the 11" 64 gb being the hottest seller. I think if they sold this between 100$ and 150$ cable included it would be a hot seller. Make 125$ on a million sales rather than 425$ on 10 sales. With products like this thunderbolt will be dead soon, wake up make make something usefull already.
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Belkin Upgrades Thunderbolt Express Dock with USB 3.0 and eSATA, Bumps Price to $399.99
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USB 3.0 is 5GBps per port, and all Macbooks have at least 2 ports. You're not losing any speed.
Still can't daisy chain, which is actually valuable in the Pro market. And 2 USB 3.0 ports? Not yet. And rumors suggest 2 Thunderbolt ports per 15/17" MBP. So that trumps that...thanks for playing the rumor game though.
This is the ultimate docking solution for my MacBook Pro. And there's really only one obvious question why is it so expensive?
$299 was already too much. $399 is borderline lunacy.
$299 was already too much. $399 is borderline lunacy.
Since when did that stop any company from selling things that cost well over $2k, never mind $100k?
No, it won't.
Converting USB3 to TB is like using a USB2-to-GigE adapter: just because you can... doesn't mean you should.
Overpriced because of low adoption, Intel pricing, and Intel's TB certification requirements, not a lot to do with Apple, but junk it is not.
Consider that, even in the PC space, many laptops don't come with eSATA. Why does Apple need that port? There are no uses for eSATA besides mass storage!
Feel free to switch back to PC, you won't be missed.
Actually, the ports are all on the front. The back side simply has the Thunderbolt port used to connect it to the computer.
jW
Are you sure about this? I'm not saying you are wrong as you sound like you know more about it than me, but if TB doesn't allow the connection of multiple displays, including a 'legacy' (really? - I'm not sure HDMI is legacy yet) display, even of it has to be at the end of the chain, TB becomes pretty useless to me.
I was under the impression that the MBP15 and 17 could power two external displays and the onboard one..
You can just get massive 7-port hubs and yes, you can daisy chain those. (and they're $49). Why are you stuck on the daisy-chaining? There are obvious drawbacks over a hub.
Also, you shoot down my mentioning USB 3.0 ports because it's only a rumor, with another rumor of 2 thunderbolt ports? Ok....
In any case, the whole point is moot, because the next generation of MBPs will already have a TB port - who in their right mind wouldn't want USB 3.0 ports in addition? Do you really prefer a MBP with TB/USB 2.0 over one with TB/USB 3.0?
That has what to do with the consumer PC market again? $400 for a dock is massively overpriced and just from reading this thread, that's way overpriced even for people with the money.
At these prices it most definitely will. You can get USB 3 hubs for pennies compared to TB devices.
I will if it'll save me $300. Which it will.
If it sits on a shelf because it's massively overpriced it is junk. Unsold junk at that. And this is as much Apples fault as it is Intels. They collaborated and Apple pushed this instead of the cheaper and more plentiful USB 3 in favor of a spec that the vast majority of their users can't afford to use. USB 3 is ubiquitous and cheap at the moment. TB? Not even close. Who sold the only TB cable for quite awhile? Apple. How is this not partly their fault again?
I never said there was. Would be nice to save up to $100 on an equal enclosure with eSata rather than FireWire. The products are out there and cheap for eSata. Neither are true about TB and TB isn't useful to the vast majority of Apple MacBook buyers. It's early in the TB life cycle, but if USB 3 can be cheap, plentiful and backwards compatible then it rings alarm bells about TB.
I never said I would switch back and you can keep your "club" BS to yourself. I don't give a **** that I won't be missed in your cult. I use Apple products because they are superior. The second they stop being superior I'll look for something better and if none exists I'll stay where I am. People like you that don't know how to intelligently shop and instead adhere to some cult like crap for Apple make me laugh. You'll get what you take and like it! It would be hilarious if it weren't so sad.
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You don't. Those of us that can't write off purchases like this do care. Talk about elitist. Being an Apple user and elitist like that, how in the hell do you keep your swelled head upright?
First, as a professional, daisy chaining plays a large role in my workflow when it comes to transferring data while still using an external monitor and other external TB devices.
2nd, I have no problem with USB 3.0. We should have had it a year ago, but it can't do what TB does. I make my living as a professional video producer/editor/motion graphics artist. The FASTEST possible interface I can get my hands on is Thunderbolt. The more options I have with it, the more efficient I am, the more money I can make. I make up the cost of the Belkin dock in a matter of hours, so the cost is insignificant to me, but it's usefulness isn't.
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You don't. Those of us that can't write off purchases like this do care. Talk about elitist. Being an Apple user and elitist like that, how in the hell do you keep your swelled head upright?
Seems like those complaining are complaining about price...not function. Just because I can afford it doesn't make me an elitist. If you aren't writing off purchases like this, you aren't the target market, so stop bitching and wait for the prices to come down to where you can afford it when these companies decide to target it to consumers. Pros are the ones who subsidize the products for people like you.
EDIT: Forgot the
Seems like those complaining are complaining about price...not function. Just because I can afford it doesn't make me an elitist. If you aren't writing off purchases like this, you aren't the target market, so stop bitching and wait for the prices to come down to where you can afford it when these companies decide to target it to consumers. Pros are the ones who subsidize the products for people like you.
EDIT: Forgot the
If you write it off on your taxes, then you don't subsidize it do you?
Sure as hell I do, YOU'RE not buying it obviously, so SOMEONE has to in order to demonstrate demand for the product so they lower the price later for people like you. I pass the costs on to my clients anyway...not that they care. It's less than the cost of renting a deck for a day, so it's pennies to the clients I deal with.
Okay, tell you what then. When you start paying my bills and making my money for me, then, and only then, can you tell me to stop bitching about a product that I would like to have being to expensive for me when it has no reason to be. I'll bet you $50 that in 18 months this dock and others exactly like it won't have dropped 1 penny in price. There has been plenty of time and plenty of TB Macs sold for this kind of stuff to have come to market much sooner than it has. Last I checked you weren't in any position to tell me what I should do and what I should say. This dock is massively overpriced. Simple as that. Because you can afford to pass the cost along to someone else doesn't mean that I have no reason to bitch seeing the only high speed port on my MacBook essentially go to waste when other port specs have entered the market after TB and not only released good products to go along with it, but are very cheap and plentiful too. I could give two ***** that you can afford it same as you give two ***** I can't afford it. Because you can gives you no right to tell me to sit down and shut up. I bought the same computer you did, why should you get to tell me when I can be happy or unhappy with what it can do and what is offered for it? You can GTFO with your attitude that you're somehow doing me a huge favor by ripping off your clients buying overpriced crap like this because they can afford for you to charge them for it. Remember when I called you elitist? There's your proof right there.
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so you paid an inflated price, just for the status of the device? seems fair enough. i mean, because there is actually a tremendous difference between say, a portable TB HDD and a portable FW HDD.
^ sarcasm. :sarcasm:
look, i understand the ease of use - i mean firewire was the same! i do love TB, i love the idea of having "one cable to rule them all" (even for power!), and i WILL be upgrading to TB (when it is faster than 10gbps each pipe, as my requirements are more than that). my gripe with it, is the price right now, and it's still a very early iteratino of the technology. i mean, it's still copper! give it 1-2 years, and all my products will be TB. i will curse those that don't use it, but RIGHT NOW it is not worth the investment for me, and i cannot see massive benefits for portable drives in particular.
so...
you remind me of FW prices.
Why the hell would I make your money for you? You are complaing about a technology beyond your reach. I'm a pro. I pay for products that help me make money. My clients pay me to be efficient as I'm one of the fastest and most accurate and efficient editors in my market according to them. They are happy to offset my costs to make me MORE efficient. I'm sorry your consumer-based mentality (who likely doesn't really NEED a $400 docking device) can't grasp that.
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I haven't paid *****. The product is not available yet. But you can be damn sure I'll buy it when it is. I have very carefully designed and researched the workflow that works best for me and my clients. And that consists of RAIDs, TB interfaces and backup storage protocols that secure my clients' data and make me more efficient.
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that's a very good point, and i appreciate you mentioning that. but let's be fair, apple doesn't exactly make very "pro-sumer" products these days
i'm aware of it's availability, but it's a sure thing that you are going to buy it. the tense is irrelevant.
i'm not doubting your workflow (though all workflows could do with another opinion, in my opinion), but as a consumer based company, i cannot see this device being of particular interest to those except for yourself - a MASSIVELY small market these days.
make sure you backup!
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that's a very good point, and i appreciate you mentioning that. but let's be fair, apple doesn't exactly make very "pro-sumer" products these days
"These days" sure. But I've been working on documentaries and Cinema4D and AE comps for the last year on Hex-Core Mac Pros and my 17" 2011 MBP without much issue. If a new Mac Pro comes out next week, I'll be the first in line to buy it to help my efficiency because it'll definitely be worth the investment. I have to look at everything as a business and an independent contractor/freelancer.
nice post. without doubt i agree. but you can see my concern. for example, why don't you use Final Cut Pro X? (rhetorical)
can i pose this question to you though:
- if TB is now available on Windows motherboards (and apparently supported!),
- the software you use is workflow compatible with Windows,
- and the components are cheaper (a high end Dell workstation will cost less, and perform better than this new Mac Pro [assuming it is released at WWDC])
why are you still utilising an inferior product? computation times would increase, reliabiltiy (Lion is pretty crippled, especially in terms of stability/etc), capacity or RAM/storage/graphics performance/price/etc are all much better.
the only thing that i can think of, is that you LOVE Apple so much - and are blind to this fact. in all honesty, i am too!
You don't get it, do you?
Monster Cable has already proven you can dupe people into buying overpriced crap that works half as good as dollar-mart specials.
It won't.
USB3 is limited to 4.8Gbps max, in most cases you can't even get 4.8Gbps actual speeds due to the same overhead issues that plagued USB2 at 480Mbps. Meanwhile TB - itself an external version of the PCIe bus - can get upgrades to its current 10Gbps speeds.
You cannot convert USB3 to FW800, never mind PCIe x4 for hooking up external GPUs and whatnot. You can with TB.
You cannot daisy-chain USB3 and eSATA devices. FW and TB can be daisy'ed.
How do you think PC desktops and laptops got USB3 before Ivy Bridge? They have to use separate chips for those ports, just like how all the first-generation LTE smartphones require two-chip setups. Apple wants everything under one chip whenever possible.
eSATA can only be used for storage. Firewire? From camcorders of yesteryear to pro audio interfaces. Which is more useless, huh? Cheap and useless, yup that sums up eSATA nicely.
You do realize, a TB port without a TB cable is really a mini-DisplayPort?
Great *cough*feeble*cough* attempt at character association, kid. A cult? HA HA.
My current computer is a PC. The last Mac I used was a first-generation iBook G4 (with USB2 ports appearing on that line for the first time!) a decade ago. I went from a lowish Moto E1 a.k.a. "first iTunes-enabled phone" to a Nokia 5800XM, before moving to a 64GB 4S on launch day. Oh, and I should mention: I'm buying a MBP this year as my primary computer.
What cult? In your dreams, perhaps. I certainly do not subscribe to said 'cult', but I can pretend to be in one. This is an Apple-centric forum, surprised?
Please tell us more, we're interested.
Hows firewire going?
Please, show me the hook up with macbook and external GPU
Yet TB is currently suffering teh same fate as FW... failing against the onslaught of USB3.
99.9% of the world do not care about daisy chaining, external GPUs, or firewire.
But at least the TB port is useful. As a display port.
is anybody even working on FW anymore? moot point, imo...
we all know how slow apple is to adopt things it cant see useful (this is CERTAINLY not one of those things). and 10Gb/s of bandwidth? ick.
i think it's pretty handy - albeit expensive. i can't see the desktop computer staying alive without a technology such as TB to make it useful for the everyday user to move around, especially as laptops become more powerful!
Be careful asking stuff like this on an Apple forum
But I completely agree with your post by the way. USB 3.0 will kill TB if prices remain this high. For an external drive USB 3.0 is only like a $10 premium now. It'll be standard on every external drive on the shelf in a few months.
Thunderbolt is a lot more than just a connector for external hard drives.