Indeed, the summary should have been written:
"Matrox's unit lacks a couple of ports (additional Thunderbolt, and Firewire) that will make Belkin's dock actually useful, if overpriced, if it ever hits the shelves"
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Matrox Announces DS-1 Thunderbolt Docking Station for $249
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Indeed, the summary should have been written:
"Matrox's unit lacks a couple of ports (additional Thunderbolt, and Firewire) that will make Belkin's dock actually useful, if overpriced, if it ever hits the shelves"
Yup. This hub sucks ass. You could do the same thing for like $50.
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The lack of a Thunderbolt passthrough = FAIL. It completely marginalizes Thunderbolt. What an absolutely ridiculously stupid product. $250? This isn't worth $2.50. Dear Matrox: fire your designers, engineers, or whatever. lol.
Is this worth 250? Probably not.
But what out there right now allows you to plug only one wire into your MacBook Pro if you use a external monitor besides a TBD?
Do you like plunging in multiple cables into your Mac Laptop? What other solution is out there besides a TBD? Let me answer that for you. There isn't any.
People who are hating on this, how do you plug your MacBook Pro into a external display without using a TBD? I cannot use a TBD. I am need of a better display, but a better display doesn't have all the ports that I need. So what is the solution?
This or the Belkin dock would be quite useful for me. To my knowledge there isn't another solution without using a TBD. So the price isnt' that bad if there isn't another solution avail.
Think about it.
But what out there right now allows you to plug only one wire into your MacBook Pro if you use a external monitor besides a TBD?
Do you like plunging in multiple cables into your Mac Laptop? What other solution is out there besides a TBD? Let me answer that for you. There isn't any.
People who are hating on this, how do you plug your MacBook Pro into a external display without using a TBD? I cannot use a TBD. I am need of a better display, but a better display doesn't have all the ports that I need. So what is the solution?
This or the Belkin dock would be quite useful for me. To my knowledge there isn't another solution without using a TBD. So the price isnt' that bad if there isn't another solution avail.
Think about it.
It would be nice if apple came out with something like the Sony Z series power media dock, ideally for an air.
It has blue-ray, AMD Radeon HD 6650M graphics card with 1GB VRAM, USB 3.0 port, HDMI® -out and VGA and additional USB and goes for about $350.
It has blue-ray, AMD Radeon HD 6650M graphics card with 1GB VRAM, USB 3.0 port, HDMI® -out and VGA and additional USB and goes for about $350.
That would be great, but Apple wants us to buy only their TBD for a docking solution. Which isn't quite what all of us want who buy a MacBook Pro or Air.
It's all Apple or nothing with them. Don't like it but that is the way it is. It is amazing that they are pushing thier laptops, and touting the benefits of Thunderbolt but don't provide a solution other than their TBD for docking their product.
What is more amazing that Apple doesn't have a better solution in over a year which can allow you to dock your Mac Laptop with only one cable.
It's all Apple or nothing with them. Don't like it but that is the way it is. It is amazing that they are pushing thier laptops, and touting the benefits of Thunderbolt but don't provide a solution other than their TBD for docking their product.
What is more amazing that Apple doesn't have a better solution in over a year which can allow you to dock your Mac Laptop with only one cable.
I've been looking around for a bit, and docking stations aren't that cheap. I tried to find some with similar specs (USBs, DVI, Ethernet, etc) and they weren't a whole lot cheaper than the $299 Belkin box.
So why complain that these things are a bit expensive?
So why complain that these things are a bit expensive?
Half the time these boards are bitching about Apple being too much of a walled garden. The other half the time these boards are bitching about Apple not producing some generic bit of gear.
It appears Apple has decided that hubs are too dependent on user preferences for Apple to make a one size fits all stand alone solution. So they're letting the free market provide all the unique solutions that everybody claims they will buy.
Seems all good to me....
It appears Apple has decided that hubs are too dependent on user preferences for Apple to make a one size fits all stand alone solution. So they're letting the free market provide all the unique solutions that everybody claims they will buy.
Seems all good to me....
Remember when Monster was selling HDMI cables for $100?
They still are. There were $10 cables available almost from the first day of HDMI availability.
thunderbolt prices better collapse soon, or it's going to be another ADC debacle.
There are alternatives.... such as this dock and the Belkin dock.
Sadly... both of them fall short in some way.
If there was a dock that had the dual Thunderbolt ports, HDMI, and Firewire of the Belkin dock... plus the USB 3.0 of this Matrox dock... we might be onto something.
But no.
Maybe a 3rd company will finally get it right...
OMG this news is awesome!
You guys! Seriously!
THIS is the big news here! "ULTRABOOKS!"
These Matrox people are making a Thunderbolt device for Macbooks AND Ultrabooks!!!
Translation: Soon, we're going to see PCs getting Thunderbolt ports! If that happens, then Thunderbolt ports will go mainstream! And if Thunderbolt ports go mainstream...
...WE GET EXTERNAL GPUs AND A BROADER VARIETY OF FANCY THUNDERBOLT PERIPHERALS AT LAST!!!
GUYS!
You guys! Seriously!
THIS is the big news here! "ULTRABOOKS!"
These Matrox people are making a Thunderbolt device for Macbooks AND Ultrabooks!!!
Translation: Soon, we're going to see PCs getting Thunderbolt ports! If that happens, then Thunderbolt ports will go mainstream! And if Thunderbolt ports go mainstream...
...WE GET EXTERNAL GPUs AND A BROADER VARIETY OF FANCY THUNDERBOLT PERIPHERALS AT LAST!!!
Are you forgetting what a "dock" is? So you like unplugging all those cables from your Mac when you take it with you and when you bring it back?
That's the point of a dock.
It's great
Look at all the capacity there is in a single, 10 gigabit Thunderbolt port! Monitor, gigabit ethernet, keyboard, etc.
It does cost a lot, so far. The main difficulty is that it's mostly Apple still. To be fair, I remember a lot of people getting very grumpy about USB 1.0. What about ADB? Where's my SCSI! All that stuff.
When Thunderbolt goes to optical cables, it will get crazy fast. The kinds of speeds you get when your connection goes straight the Intel processor.
It requires that accessory manufacturers do some engineering, not just put USB 3.0 on a box instead of 2.0. A different connector means only a new chip. Ooh, ooh. So the prices you're getting are the kind you get when only high-end customers are buying it. When the first big hit in Thunderbolt accessories happens, and we see what happens when you start selling five million of this or that, the prices go down fast.
And no, since Apple gave their research to Intel, and Intel really wants you to use it, there's little or no royalty. Firewire was only a dollar a port licensing. USB was free. Guess who won. USB 2.0 was slower than Firewire, and more prone to overworking the CPU which handled all the work. USB 3.0 came out after Apple got Firewire 1600 approved as a standard, but by then nobody cared.
Look at all the capacity there is in a single, 10 gigabit Thunderbolt port! Monitor, gigabit ethernet, keyboard, etc.
It does cost a lot, so far. The main difficulty is that it's mostly Apple still. To be fair, I remember a lot of people getting very grumpy about USB 1.0. What about ADB? Where's my SCSI! All that stuff.
When Thunderbolt goes to optical cables, it will get crazy fast. The kinds of speeds you get when your connection goes straight the Intel processor.
It requires that accessory manufacturers do some engineering, not just put USB 3.0 on a box instead of 2.0. A different connector means only a new chip. Ooh, ooh. So the prices you're getting are the kind you get when only high-end customers are buying it. When the first big hit in Thunderbolt accessories happens, and we see what happens when you start selling five million of this or that, the prices go down fast.
And no, since Apple gave their research to Intel, and Intel really wants you to use it, there's little or no royalty. Firewire was only a dollar a port licensing. USB was free. Guess who won. USB 2.0 was slower than Firewire, and more prone to overworking the CPU which handled all the work. USB 3.0 came out after Apple got Firewire 1600 approved as a standard, but by then nobody cared.
Oh, and...
Thunderbolt support is in the Ivy Bridge chip itself. So Intel is rolling this out just like USB. Apple isn't charging a thing, nor is Intel.
This also explains why Firewire isn't here. It could run "inside" Thunderbolt, but it would still require chipsets of their own to run these independent, serial firewire ports. This way, lots of Windows machines will have these capabilities soon. Buy IvyBridge, get Thunderbolt. I think when Windows machines get these ports, suddenly it will get very popular. Mac people may forget firewire, which will eventually disappear. When you're getting something 10,000 times faster, why complain? "But I'll have to buy a new hard drive"! Well, maybe, eventually, but it will be a super-fast flash drive.
Thunderbolt support is in the Ivy Bridge chip itself. So Intel is rolling this out just like USB. Apple isn't charging a thing, nor is Intel.
This also explains why Firewire isn't here. It could run "inside" Thunderbolt, but it would still require chipsets of their own to run these independent, serial firewire ports. This way, lots of Windows machines will have these capabilities soon. Buy IvyBridge, get Thunderbolt. I think when Windows machines get these ports, suddenly it will get very popular. Mac people may forget firewire, which will eventually disappear. When you're getting something 10,000 times faster, why complain? "But I'll have to buy a new hard drive"! Well, maybe, eventually, but it will be a super-fast flash drive.
I miss the days when you could plug anything into your computer, and when the most you had to spend on an adapter would be like £1.
Now you have to spend 20% of your computer's price on a box with plugs in it! How fantastic! Just spend the extra money on a MacBook Pro or something that has the ports that you need.
As if ports were that expensive to manufacture. It's just a bunch of cables!
Now you have to spend 20% of your computer's price on a box with plugs in it! How fantastic! Just spend the extra money on a MacBook Pro or something that has the ports that you need.
As if ports were that expensive to manufacture. It's just a bunch of cables!
I guess that they've gone the cheapskate route and, effectively, put a Mini Display Port-to-DVI converter, which has to be the last device in the chain, in the box. Not sure how (or if) Belkin propose to solve this - maybe you won't be able to use HDMI and the Thunderbolt out port, or maybe they've done something more sophisticated.
If you're going to connect an external, non-TB, monitor, then this isnt the end of the world, since the monitor has to be the last thing in the chain anyway, but it would be nice to have more flexibility.
However, this dock still seems abysmally economical with the ports. 1xUSB 3 and 2xUSB 2? Seriously? If I have a dock, I'd want to plug all my desktop USB devices into it and bin my USB hub.
Given the apparent overhead of building a box with a Thunderbolt-to-PCIe chip, plus the cost of the cable, surely economics would suggest throwing everything plus the kitchen sink into that box. Add more USB ports, Firewire, and maybe eSATA, then we're talking. How about a front mounted SD slot, or even an ExpressCard port?
Thunderbolt is such a ripoff. The original USB and FW devices didn't have this vast premium.
Anyway... no FW on this thing? Well, that sucks... my 6 LaCie d2s and my Drobo is in a big FW800 chain. Would have been nice to put some of that onto the TB channel.
May as well get even more ripped off and get the more flexible Belkin.
Anyway... no FW on this thing? Well, that sucks... my 6 LaCie d2s and my Drobo is in a big FW800 chain. Would have been nice to put some of that onto the TB channel.
May as well get even more ripped off and get the more flexible Belkin.
One problem is that Thunderbolt needs an active cable with an Intel interface chip in each connector. That's going to make it harder to churn them out cheaply.
No digital audio IO and no FW?
That count's out many pro users. There is no USB soundcards for pro use and only one that uses TB. Sure in the future we will see more TB soundcards, but there is tens of thousands PRO FW soundcards that more than perfect for years to come.
Really not looking forward for the next MBP specs
That count's out many pro users. There is no USB soundcards for pro use and only one that uses TB. Sure in the future we will see more TB soundcards, but there is tens of thousands PRO FW soundcards that more than perfect for years to come.
Really not looking forward for the next MBP specs
$249, not good enough. Its a glorified hub.
I'll pay attention to thunderbolt when I can get a hub in the $99-$120 range.
When a hub costs twice the price of a Monitor, I can keep waiting.
On another note, why does it take 2 years to get thunderbolt to any reasonable price?
AND, $49 saved for losing FW and additional Thunderbolt, not very impressed.
Forcomparison, think about the hardware that a raspberry pi can cram in for just $35, this thing costs ~8x more and technically isnt much more complex
I'll pay attention to thunderbolt when I can get a hub in the $99-$120 range.
When a hub costs twice the price of a Monitor, I can keep waiting.
On another note, why does it take 2 years to get thunderbolt to any reasonable price?
AND, $49 saved for losing FW and additional Thunderbolt, not very impressed.
Forcomparison, think about the hardware that a raspberry pi can cram in for just $35, this thing costs ~8x more and technically isnt much more complex
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There is no need for this to be so expensive, talk about keeping an inflated pricing structure. Cost - maybe $60 to manufacture with overheads? :roll eyes:
Before some of you jump on Apple producing and selling machines with large margins lets remember that this is a perephiral a poor one at that.
$50 for a damn cable!!!!
Before some of you jump on Apple producing and selling machines with large margins lets remember that this is a perephiral a poor one at that.
$50 for a damn cable!!!!