Help me setup a "dock" for the MBA

As far as a dock I do not have a recommendation, and based on your usage mentioned, I'm not sure why you would need one.

Mouse/Keyboard. I always recommend Apples keyboard and mouse. Besides, looking good it's just an overall better experience with the OS.

I have only ever bought Western Digital and Seagate hard drives. Seagate bought WD so now they are one in the same. USB 3 will be best for you.

 

He has a 2011, no USB 3.0 for him

As far as docks are concerned, there's Belkin, Matrox, CalDigit, and....?

 

Apple Thunderbolt display does exactly what you want. It will work great with your Mac Mini when you decide to buy it.

There is no better elegant solution. It is not the cheapest, but it works great.

/Jim

 

The concept of physical docking is outdated, by the advent of high speed wireless networking.

I understand if you want to move to a desktop anyways.

But if your main reason moving to a desktop is that you find yourself limited to resources by a laptop...

You don't have to physically hook up a laptop to access terabytes of data, fast enough. Todays' WIFI typically runs at 150 mbit/sec minimum and if you want to spend more, double, or triple that.

Wireless printing is common.

Wireless speaker system is common.

You can even use wireless mice but I personally prefer the wired kind.

In a pinch, you can even wireless send the screen to an HDTV, although some people say the quality not as good as wired. Depends how often you do this.

 

+1! If you're wedded to the notion of a single machine serving a number of different needs, the TBD is an excellent investment.

 

I got one of these on clearance for $140 at Best Buy last summer: http://www.seagate.com/external-har...backup-plus-desk-mac-thunderbolt/?sku=STAE129

Their "Backup Plus" e-SATA drives pop into the dock, a 3TB drive is about $100. I have my ancient 23" Apple Cinema Display (1920x1200) plugged into this dock with a minidisplayport > DVI adapter and it works fine.

I use a wired USB keyboard and mouse separately. I would love one of the Thunderbolt displays, but since I already had the old screen (that still looks great after all these years), this was a much cheaper solution.

 

A dock will down convert to USB 2.0 speeds anyways.

 

You'll still probably want a power cable.

 

Not true at all, ESPECIALLY for an ultralight with limited ports. With a dock you can access additional USB ports, get firewire back, and still be able to attach a larger external display. And in an environment where the spectrum for Wifi is crowded, ethernet can be much more reliable. And you get all of this by plugging in a single Thunderbolt cable.

There are people (like myself) who want the amenities of a full desktop when we're at home or in the office, AND still be able to take that same computer with us somewhere. A thunderbolt dock makes that possible.

Or, for much cheaper, you can get gigabit ethernet.

One thing I've observed through actual use: wireless speakers and mice typically use , and bluetooth bandwidth is extremely limited. If you've got a wireless mouse, speaker, and keyboard all going at once, you start to have problems. Audio will cut out or clip, or the mouse will freeze on occasion, or other devices will stop responding. Bluetooth is great for one or two low-bandwidth devices, but it overloads easily.

Also: bluetooth audio just isn't that great. It works if you got wireless headphones and need to to listen quietly to spoken word or get a feel for certain music, but it's just not the same as a goo set of wired headphones or a wired sound system.

As for airplay: It's decent if you're playing audio or video from your local storage. But if you're streaming, there are still lots of apps where airplay isn't optimized, and bandwidth usage is really inefficient (you're streaming to your computer and then streaming again to the AirPlay device). The effects are noticeable if you're sharing that wifi network with anyone else in the house.

Actually, most (mine included) work at USB 3.0 speeds.

 

What's wrong with just saving all your photos to an external hard disk drive? I believe a 3tb drive can be had at around $200?

Likewise, if you are going to leave your MacBook Air at home and don't plan on bringing it out much, I don't think you really need a Thunderbolt Display. At least, I can't really justify spending $1k on one.

Here's my setup as a reference, which is working quite well for me.



Monitor is a 23" samsung display, keyboard and trackpad were swapped from my iMac in another room, but there's no reason why you can use any cheap Logitech mouse and keyboard (which incidentally, I am using with my iMac).

MacBook is resting on a mStand. Get a USB hub if you need more ports. I am running purely off wifi. It can feel a bit cramped at times, but otherwise, should meet your needs pretty well.

 

Wow - Seagate buying WD would be news to the stock market - perhaps you need to check our facts in this area. Both companies have good products.

I don't know why you haven't purchased a Toshiba 1 TB USB 3.0 portable drive by now. Inexpensive and runs fast with 3.0.