Thunderbolt Dock?

[wrinkster22]

I hace a macbook air and am usually fine with its limited connectivity. But there are times when i need connectivity. I stumbled upon this article: http://blogs.computerworld.com/the_usb_port_is_the_new_docking_station and have a few questions:
1) do you think we will ever see a thunderbolt version of this?
2) would thunderbolt provide any advantages
3) do any of you have this and have anything to say about it

This would be an ideal thunderbolt dock without the price of the TD

 

[Battlefield Fan]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/09/belkins-taco-shaped-thunderbolt-dock/

 

[Tagbert]

Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock

That dock looks sweet. Unfortunately, Belkin has, since, stated that it was an early prototype and they don't expect to ship anything until spring 2012.

 

[oneMadRssn]

yea... not only is it not going to ship anytime soon, it's probably going to cost too much. each day I think the 27" thunderbolt cinema display isn't such a bad deal for what it is.

 

[convergent]

A Thunderbolt dock will be significantly faster than what you linked to. I believe it will be early next year before they become readily available, unless you go with the TB Display, which is what I did.

 

[Aboo]

Im curious to get the prediction on the pricing of these thunderbolt docks; I am going to guess at least $150 and wouldn't be surprised if they go up to $250.

I have a 27" Apple Cinema display and was contemplating taking the 150-200$ loss and getting an Apple Thunderbolt Display, but if the Belkin thunderbolt dock does come into existence, I might as well wait and get that...

 

[convergent]

I think the price of the dock depends largely on whether the windows world adopts Thunderbolt as a standard. If they don't, then I fear TB devices will remain expensive and niche items for Mac users. All of that hinges on whether Intel makes it cheap to implement on the PC side. I'm going to guess that one of these docks will run around $300 when they first come out. I think the TB display is a good value, and I'm quite happy to have less clutter on my desk than if I also had a dock sitting there.

 

[Kadman]

Im curious to get the prediction on the pricing of these thunderbolt docks; I am going to guess at least $150 and wouldn't be surprised if they go up to $250.

I have a 27" Apple Cinema display and was contemplating taking the 150-200$ loss and getting an Apple Thunderbolt Display, but if the Belkin thunderbolt dock does come into existence, I might as well wait and get that...

I think docks in general have always been largely overpriced add-ons. That said, many of the PC docs come with a second power adapter. Will be interested to see who else puts out an option in this accessory segment and what sort of clever ideas come out of it.

 

[wrinkster22]

I think docks in general have always been largely overpriced add-ons. That said, many of the PC docs come with a second power adapter. Will be interested to see who else puts out an option in this accessory segment and what sort of clever ideas come out of it.

Be that as it may when do you expect we will see them?

 

[Nautilus007]

i complteley forgot

I had completely forgotten about this dock, now I am excited again. Would have made a great Christmas gift