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CES 2012: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock to Launch in September at $299
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They are coming out. The pro video world, for instance, already has a few thunderbolt items available, with more on the way. This is a new standard, and this kind of stuff always takes forever to get adopted. Do you think USB or Firewire were picked up lightning fast when they were debuted? And yes, it's going to be expensive at first.
...USB 3? Sheesh. Do you even know why you want USB 3?
I'm not sure your point. USB 3.0 has been available longer, is backwards compatible, is 10x faster than USB 2.0, and the USB3.0 devices are like $10 more than their USB 2.0 counterparts. If that's not enough reason for someone to choose USB3.0 over TB, I don't know what is.
Part of TB's mistake is trying to do everything. Apple and others seem to have never heard of the term "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The world adopted USB back in the mid-90s...it's a standard. It's been upgraded over time and the upgrades have been evolutionary.
TB is trying to be revolutionary. But TB is just far too expensive and far too scarce (there are like 10 TB devices). TB, I'm afraid, will fail miserably. It's really not an intentional war between USB3.0 and TB...it's more like a "hey, the world has USB and why do you want me to spend $1000 on TB?" for 90% of the consumers out there. USB3.0 isn't ubiquitous quite yet...but for $30 you can buy a card for your pc...or $50 for a Mac. My bet is that 2012 most newly-designed Wintels will have 1-2 USB 3.0 slots for free (currently about a $25 add-on at checkout).
I agree. TB is too expensive and I think it will die out if it's that expensive.
I think they priced it that high so people would be willing to pay $99 (like many of you are now commenting above).
It's silly hub, it's not worth more than $40
It's silly hub, it's not worth more than $40
A USB 3.0 controller ballparked about $10-15 at launch and now hovers around $5. You could easily ask for $20-30 more from a consumer just for a bit of PCB space and a logo on the box proclaiming USB 3.0 SUPPORT.
It only gets worse when there is no additional BOM for the Intel 7 Series or AMD's FCH's to have USB 3.0 support. Not that AMD's USB 3.0 support is anything to write home about, even against the original PCIe x1 controllers...yeah.
I think ill keep connecting my 6 wires every time I am at home and have my MacBook on my desk.
$299 is a little steep for a dock imo.
$299 is a little steep for a dock imo.
I prefer the real thing. Not a big a fan of tacos
Ok, but that was a pretty good looking one!
Expensive, yes. USB 3? Sheesh. Do you even know why you want USB 3?
You can connect an external drive through USB 2, USB 3, or eSATA. Each of them is reasonably cheap. USB 2 is available on every Mac, but slows down the drive significantly. USB 3 and eSATA or not available. A dock that has _either_ would allow to connect big external hard drives at their full speed. Being able to buy a 4 TB RAID drive that runs at full speed, that would add significant value to this dock. As it is now, it gives very little for an awful lot of money.
Keep in mind guys - Aside from apple's (frankly) overpriced thunderbolt display, this is the first adapter on the market to offer this kind of connectivity. As more manufacturers jump on the bandwagon and the market saturates, the price will go down. Right now it's top dollar for new tech
Overpriced? The Thunderbolt Display is within $100 of comparable displays. Which makes it expensive, but not overpriced. If I thought for one moment that this dock was worth $300, then the Thunderbolt Display would be a steal.
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It's not dead, it remains effectively unborn.
Yeah, 13 years after the delivery date all the bugs come out.
hahaha!
I'm hoping those marketing geniusses at Belkin get to read this thread.
This is so ridiculous!
If one thing they 'll get from this, is making apple happy for only selling more thunderbolt displays. if this piece of hub (rather then dock!!). is as highly priced, then why wouldn't you want that super display with it.
and for that to take a year....
ROFL, and I'm a satifsfied belkin user, who was looking foreward to this... nah, I would rather try to make it myself
I'm hoping those marketing geniusses at Belkin get to read this thread.
This is so ridiculous!
If one thing they 'll get from this, is making apple happy for only selling more thunderbolt displays. if this piece of hub (rather then dock!!). is as highly priced, then why wouldn't you want that super display with it.
and for that to take a year....
ROFL, and I'm a satifsfied belkin user, who was looking foreward to this... nah, I would rather try to make it myself
I seriously don't care about HOW a device connects to my computer. It's like the packaging of a product: it's necessary but I don't want to care about it, or pay for it. Yes, I do pay for the packaging, but only a small amount and it doesn't bother me. Why should I care about the kinds of cables and connectors and speeds of cables that connect this to that? Who cares? It's the device and data I care about, the rest should be automatically included with whatever device I have. That's the case with USB: just buy the device and plug it in. It works. Ta-dah. No buying expensive hubs and "cable connector stations" or ultra-expensive cables with micro computers built into each end. I don't want to care, and as far as I know, thanks to Moore's law, stuff gets faster without getting more expensive every year, so why is a freaking connector and related technology so expensive?
Marketing
A famous marketing person once said something along the lines of, "First you market to the stupid rich, then with economies of scale you get the price down and then market to the stupid poor."
Looks like this product is in phase one.
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You have the best signature. You win.
A famous marketing person once said something along the lines of, "First you market to the stupid rich, then with economies of scale you get the price down and then market to the stupid poor."
Looks like this product is in phase one.
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You have the best signature. You win.
Would be curious to learn why it takes until September to bring this to market?
Is there maybe an agreement between Intel and some early-adopters to give them a head-start of 12month or so?
Or is it a technical issue that is yet to be addressed?
But since Apple is shipping a built-in dock with their Cinema Display, it doesn't sound like technology is the limiting factor here?
Is there maybe an agreement between Intel and some early-adopters to give them a head-start of 12month or so?
Or is it a technical issue that is yet to be addressed?
But since Apple is shipping a built-in dock with their Cinema Display, it doesn't sound like technology is the limiting factor here?
Making babies is easy.... any idiot can do that! ;-)
As for the device itself.... I'll probably get one at work. I don't want a full on monitor but I do need firewire, gigabit, USB and sound... and it would be handy to have it all in one connection.
Yeah - it's a bit steep.... but I already paid $3000 for the laptop.... what's another $300??
This type of thing will be a niche product for a while... but it will eventually come down in price.
$300 for convenience is definitely overpriced. There is nothing it does that cannot be accomplished by plugging in multiple cables which I currently do every evening (in some cases, like HDMI, with a dongle priced < $10 if you don't buy Apple). If they had included some extra functionality like USB 3.0 or eSata (like the LaCie hub announced), a higher price might be justifiable, but I can't see many people paying over $100 to avoid 10 seconds of cable plugging.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB842G/A?fnode=MjUyODA4MTg&s=topSellers
This is the reason why thunderbolt is not taking off. It's too expensive and unnecessary for 99% of users out there.
Professionals already have fibre channel cards, they've used those for years. They won't switch that fast because this equipment is expensive.
Also, thunderbolt will take off when your average windows PC comes quipped with the technology - something that will still take a few years. For the next 5 years, I think USB 3 will dominate.
Thunderbolt will become the new firewire - i.e. overpriced accessories for the mac community.
This is the reason why thunderbolt is not taking off. It's too expensive and unnecessary for 99% of users out there.
Professionals already have fibre channel cards, they've used those for years. They won't switch that fast because this equipment is expensive.
Also, thunderbolt will take off when your average windows PC comes quipped with the technology - something that will still take a few years. For the next 5 years, I think USB 3 will dominate.
Thunderbolt will become the new firewire - i.e. overpriced accessories for the mac community.
When I go to download 12GB of video from Christmas morning off my iPhone it takes 90 minutes. How does this $300 gizmo make it any faster?
That is how I measure value. I see no value here; therefore, no purchase. Not at any price. Even if it were free, it is just more clutter and no value.
Bring Thunderbolt to the iPods and iPads - now THAT would be valuable.
That is how I measure value. I see no value here; therefore, no purchase. Not at any price. Even if it were free, it is just more clutter and no value.
Bring Thunderbolt to the iPods and iPads - now THAT would be valuable.