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I'm buying a Thunderbolt 2 dock. I do lots of film editing. Any advice?
- Thread starter oxband
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The only thing I know is ....
We just purchased the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 for one of our systems where I work. It was pretty much a "plug and play" experience, as far as no special drivers required for any of it.
In our case, we have a videoconferencing system set up on a 2012 Mac Mini, and needed a second display on it. Unlike the 2014 models, it only provides one Mini Displayport/Thunderbolt port on the back of it, which was occupied by a BlackMagic video capture device. (That lets people plug a cable in to their laptop to instantly present video or slide-shows on the conference calls.) It has only one HDMI video output, which drives the main display in our conference room. So the Thunderbolt dock provides a second video output while letting the BlackMagic plug into the back of it.
As far as I've been able to tell, it drives the second display just like you'd expect OS X to handle additional displays on any other Mac with multiple video output ports. Pretty sure all of the Thunderbolt 2 dock offerings are going to work the same way, so you're probably safe to purchase one based on price or design preference.....
We just purchased the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2 for one of our systems where I work. It was pretty much a "plug and play" experience, as far as no special drivers required for any of it.
In our case, we have a videoconferencing system set up on a 2012 Mac Mini, and needed a second display on it. Unlike the 2014 models, it only provides one Mini Displayport/Thunderbolt port on the back of it, which was occupied by a BlackMagic video capture device. (That lets people plug a cable in to their laptop to instantly present video or slide-shows on the conference calls.) It has only one HDMI video output, which drives the main display in our conference room. So the Thunderbolt dock provides a second video output while letting the BlackMagic plug into the back of it.
As far as I've been able to tell, it drives the second display just like you'd expect OS X to handle additional displays on any other Mac with multiple video output ports. Pretty sure all of the Thunderbolt 2 dock offerings are going to work the same way, so you're probably safe to purchase one based on price or design preference.....
I'm a little bit concerned that Apple might be phasing out Thunderbolt in favor of USB-C soon. The new Macbook is evidence of that; it's Apple's first machine in years that doesn't have a Thunderbolt port.
Not saying not to buy anything, but on the other hand just be wary that you may be investing in a soon-to-be-dead platform.
Not saying not to buy anything, but on the other hand just be wary that you may be investing in a soon-to-be-dead platform.
I support the recommendation for the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 2.
I've reviewed every offering over the past few years: this one stands out because of the eSATA ports. It provides USB3 to my older MBP17, but doesn't have FireWire.
I haven't used a second display (HDMI/Thunderbolt options), but for Network and Storage I'm happy with this device.
I've reviewed every offering over the past few years: this one stands out because of the eSATA ports. It provides USB3 to my older MBP17, but doesn't have FireWire.
I haven't used a second display (HDMI/Thunderbolt options), but for Network and Storage I'm happy with this device.