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USB drive sized Thunderbolt Drive & Thunderbolt docking stations

M

mac26

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2011
387
0
I have a MacBook Air and I was reading threads and tech. sites but I cant seem to find out if it is possible to have a small thunderbolt drive the size of a little USB drive, if this is possible I would have more breathing room storage wise.

If it is possible for this what do you think they would start at price wise and how much storage would we get?

P.S. when can we expect 3rd party Apple Thunderbolt Display like docking stations?
and what might be the price for those?

Thanks!
 
Both items (a small thunderbolt drive and a thunderbolt display) are certainly going to come out sooner or later.

And when they come out, they are going to cost an arm and a leg for some time. All the other Thunderbolt drives that are out cost considerably more than firewire drives of similar capacity.

It's new tech and there are limited products available right now, so all Thunderbolt products are going to be a premium for a bit yet.

It wasn't that long ago (May 2011) that you couldn't even buy a Thunderbolt cable.
 
btbrossard said:
Both items (a small thunderbolt drive and a thunderbolt display) are certainly going to come out sooner or later.

And when they come out, they are going to cost an arm and a leg for some time. All the other Thunderbolt drives that are out cost considerably more than firewire drives of similar capacity.

It's new tech and there are limited products available right now, so all Thunderbolt products are going to be a premium for a bit yet.

It wasn't that long ago (May 2011) that you couldn't even buy a Thunderbolt cable.
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:D And that's all I've got.....the cable! As you say it's new tech, £899.00 for a TB cinema display? crazy price. Give it 6 months or so and we should see more devices and lower prices.
 
Macman45 said:
:D And that's all I've got.....the cable! As you say it's new tech, £899.00 for a TB cinema display? crazy price. Give it 6 months or so and we should see more devices and lower prices.
Click to expand...

The TB display is not a bad deal for around 800 if you know where to look. Its worth it over the dell/hp offerings assuming you have other mac stuff, which I assume you do since you're here.

As far as the devices..I'm starting to understand why Lacie's are priced where they are. Just the add-on accessories for seagate are priced at 100 for the portable drives and 190 for the desktop drives. Since their drives require external power anyways I don't understand why they chose to go with 2 slower 2.5" drives vs 1 quicker 3.5". I'm dreaming of a quality TB enclosure for $100 but realistically it'll probably be around $200. TB only should really just replace all the FW800/Mac versions of the external drives.

I'm wondering if its the controller or licensing fees that are making it impossible to be reasonable which explains why say WD still hasn't released one yet.
 
Thanks for your input guys, would love to hear opinions from other people as well though, it sucks that Thunderbolt only has about 15 peripherals I really want to be able to take advantage of my thunderbolt port, the only times is it is ever used is to use the MDP function to watch a movie on my LCD TV

I WANT MORE THUNDERBOLT! You here me Apple/Intel/3rd Party developers!
 
mac26 said:
Thanks for your input guys, would love to hear opinions from other people as well though, it sucks that Thunderbolt only has about 15 peripherals I really want to be able to take advantage of my thunderbolt port, the only times is it is ever used is to use the MDP function to watch a movie on my LCD TV

I WANT MORE THUNDERBOLT! You here me Apple/Intel/3rd Party developers!
Click to expand...

hopefully we see $100per terabyte with TB for desktop this year and maybe $150/tb for portable...I'm being awfully optimistic though.
 
A small thunderbolt drive doesn't make too much sense right now. The speed will be limited by the hard disc, not by the port, so it does not justify a premium of $50 - $100 just for connecting to thunderbolt.

The things that make sense are already available or have at least been announced: Large storage raids and external SSDs. Those devices can be faster than internal SATA III storage.

The thunderbolt display isn't overpriced - the only other 27'' display with 2560x1440 resolution is in a similar price range. It would be nice if Apple would add a 21'' or 24'' TB display in the $400-$500 price range. But I guess that is where 3rd party vendors will come into play eventually.

The dock that Belkin announced seems a bit disappointing... $300, and only USB 2.0.
 
Frankly, from the dual perspectives of speed and price, a USB3-based flash drive makes much more sense.

We should see USB3 ports become standard on Macs in 2012.

A Thunderbolt-based flash drive would be "overkill" both in terms of speed and particularly in price. A great "Mac status symbol", and that's about it...
 
Fishrrman said:
Frankly, from the dual perspectives of speed and price, a USB3-based flash drive makes much more sense.

We should see USB3 ports become standard on Macs in 2012.

A Thunderbolt-based flash drive would be "overkill" both in terms of speed and particularly in price. A great "Mac status symbol", and that's about it...
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Thing is I'll have to upgrade to a 2012 MBA then, I really want to keep my 2011 MBA that I got a week ago for more than 6 months, planning on keeping it till 2013 or 2014 models come out
 
thundersteele said:
A small thunderbolt drive doesn't make too much sense right now. The speed will be limited by the hard disc, not by the port, so it does not justify a premium of $50 - $100 just for connecting to thunderbolt.

The things that make sense are already available or have at least been announced: Large storage raids and external SSDs. Those devices can be faster than internal SATA III storage.

The thunderbolt display isn't overpriced - the only other 27'' display with 2560x1440 resolution is in a similar price range. It would be nice if Apple would add a 21'' or 24'' TB display in the $400-$500 price range. But I guess that is where 3rd party vendors will come into play eventually.

The dock that Belkin announced seems a bit disappointing... $300, and only USB 2.0.
Click to expand...

Very true. Like adding racing tires on to a Ford Focus and expecting it to drive faster than a Ferrari. Adding any HDD to the TB interface would be a waste of money.
 
The thunderbolt controller is much too large and expensive to warrant integrating with a cheap commodity item like a flash thumbdrive. As previous poster said, USB3 makes a lot more sense from that perspective, it'll be just as fast (5GBit/s is a huge upgrade vs. USB2), and much cheaper too.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
The thunderbolt controller is much too large and expensive to warrant integrating with a cheap commodity item like a flash thumbdrive. As previous poster said, USB3 makes a lot more sense from that perspective, it'll be just as fast (5GBit/s is a huge upgrade vs. USB2), and much cheaper too.
Click to expand...

again, I really don't want to sell my MBA that I just bought and get a 2012 one, I like to upgrade every 2-3 years not every year, looks like i'll have to buy a belkin dock in sept., a 24" dell monitor and a tb HDD when they are cheaper

that'll be a good cheaper alternative to TBD for an ultimate docking station although if I had the $$$ i'd love a TBD

P.S. what is the cheapest TB HDD (including ones that were announced at CES)

P.P.S. I think I might just buy an iPad 2 and a Dell monitor (don't really care about iPad 3, I think 2 is plenty fine) do you guys think i should do this, get TB HDD + Dell monitor + Belkin express dock, or with all the money buy a 2012 MBA in appx. 9 months for black friday (and sell my 2011 MBA)
 
The seagate GoFlex Adapter will be priced at $99... add a small GoFlex HDD for $100 and you have your $200 thunderbolt external HD.

Lacie has a 1 TB external HDD for $500 I think. It has two 7200 rpm HDDs in a raid setup, so it reaches up to 190 MB/s - almost as fast as an internal SATA II SSD.

A few thunderbolt SSDs were announced at CES - pricing is unclear.
 
jterp7 said:
I'm wondering if its the controller or licensing fees that are making it impossible to be reasonable which explains why say WD still hasn't released one yet.
Click to expand...

It's both, and it's INTEL's fault, since they have yet to loosen up on either.....it was only in the last 2 weeks (mostly at CES) that there have been any announcements from various vendors about new TB devices being produced/rtm'd............

Once the windblows peece folks start integrating TB into mobos, chipsets, peripherals etc, it WILL be rapidly adopted by everyone & the prices will drop like a rock, as with almost anything tech-wise

As for WD getting into the game, they will sooner or later, as they see fit. They will have to, since all their competitors will too.....
 
thundersteele said:
The seagate GoFlex Adapter will be priced at $99... add a small GoFlex HDD for $100 and you have your $200 thunderbolt external HD.

Lacie has a 1 TB external HDD for $500 I think. It has two 7200 rpm HDDs in a raid setup, so it reaches up to 190 MB/s - almost as fast as an internal SATA II SSD.

A few thunderbolt SSDs were announced at CES - pricing is unclear.
Click to expand...

I wonder how the 3TB seagate would stand up against it with the TB adapter. If we use current pricing its 199 @ amazon + 190 = 3TB TB external for less than $400
 
Ok sorry to change the subject on my thread

I have decided on leaving TB until next fall, I think by then many PCs will have it and the market will expand; any who I have decided I still want a docking station though and so here is my plan:

get a Dell monitor; i'd like a few recommendations (19" - 24") (i'll get a used , going to spend up-to $250)
get an Apple wired keyboard ($57 with tax)
get a MDP to HDMI (for $20)

then get an iPad 2 in July once iPad 3 is released (my birthday is in July so i'll ask for this as a present)

then in fall I will add a WD TB drive ($250)

Do you think this is a good plan? can you guys recommend a good monitor from Dell (or any manufacturer as long as it's 19-24")
As you can see money doesn't grow on trees for me and I have a pretty tight budget as I am a student

Thanks; would love to hear your feedback!
 
mac26 said:
Do you think this is a good plan? can you guys recommend a good monitor from Dell (or any manufacturer as long as it's 19-24")
As you can see money doesn't grow on trees for me and I have a pretty tight budget as I am a student

Thanks; would love to hear your feedback!
Click to expand...

What are you studying and what are the main uses of the monitor?
 
theSeb said:
What are you studying and what are the main uses of the monitor?
Click to expand...

Here's what I usually have open: Safari, iTunes, Pages OR keynote, occasionally I have Aperture 3 or Photoshop open (only once in a while)

I mainly want a monitor that looks aesthetically good and has good quality (I do not need top notch quality something at around 5MS response and around 1600 x 900 pixels) I also prefer HDMI input (speakers in a monitor are not necessary though) I don't mind DVI or VGA though

Since my monitor's back will be facing my bed I don't want a cluttered mess or an ugly monitor, that being said I don't need a ferrari looking monitor like an Apple thunderbolt display (if I had the cash I would love it though)

What are your recommendations?

P.S. I am in high school not uni. or college so i am not studying any specific subject

Thanks! :)
 
I would go with a dell p2212h. It's on sale for $169 via the dell website. It's DVI-D only though but you can get an adaptor.
 
theSeb said:
I would go with a dell p2212h. It's on sale for $169 via the dell website. It's DVI-D only though but you can get an adaptor.
Click to expand...

which do you think is better the Dell p2212h or the LG E2060T-PN?

I can get the LG for only $149, it looks much better, the resolution is also exactly 1600 X 900 and it has a 5MS response so it meets my criteria (the dell has more pixels and USB ports, although that is just a bonus USB ports aren't really necessary since I have a good hub right now)
I will not be buying the Dell until late feb. to early April so the sales is kind of useless

What do you think?
 
theSeb said:
I am not sure why you prefer a monitor limited to 1600x900.
Click to expand...

I don't really prefer it, but the LG is cheaper and better aesthetically, anyways that doesn't matter anymore because I have decided to save up for an open-box or used ATD or one of the unibody apple cinema displays (the 24" or the 27")

I really have to start saving now though :D
 
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