Belkin today unveiled new details about its upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock. The latest version of Belkin’s Thunderbolt Express Dock is currently on display in Belkin’s booth, LVCC South Hall #30651, at the 2012 International CES.
The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock (US$299) enables MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini users and Ultrabook sufferers to instantly access multiple desktop peripherals with one cable. The dock allows users to simultaneously connect to multiple USB devices, watch movies in Full HD 1080p, transfer volumes of data in seconds, and view online content at gigabit Ethernet speeds. The dock provides an easy transition from a desktop workstation to unrestricted mobile productivity.
“People purchase MacBook Airs and Ultrabooks for ultimate portability, but constantly plugging-in and unplugging numerous cable-connected peripherals is an annoying and time consuming ordeal,” said Martin Avilla, general manager of Belkin’s Core Business Unit, in the press release. “The Thunderbolt Express Dock provides a much-needed solution that creates a cleaner, faster, more productive workspace and reliable connectivity to desktop devices and the Internet.”
Features include:
• Quickly connects into a desktop workstation and instantly accesses multiple devices with a single cable
• Adds reliable, gigabit Ethernet connectivity to your laptop
• Includes three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800 port, one HDMI port, one 3.5mm Audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port and two Thunderbolt ports (one upstream and one downstream) for daisy-chaining to another Thunderbolt compatible device.
• Utilizes Thunderbolt Technology for data transfer rates of up to 10Gbps bi-directionally
The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock will be available in September 2012.
Best of show.
This needs to come out STAT!
The promise of Thunderbolt, and its ability to connect across a wide variety of TROUT is something many people have been waiting for.
Built in backwards compatibility could help sell computers too.
spoken like a true MicroShaft sufferer. Move up or move along.
$299 plus the price of a cable and no USB 3. Still I like the FireWire connectivity but at prices like these Thunderbolt will be a long time grabbing traction.
Yeah no USB 3 is really dumb and a non-starter, especially @ $299. How about just $99 Belkin, WITH USB 3? I agree about killing the Thunderbolt goose before it even starts cooking. Does anyone make a single Thunderbolt to USB 3 adapter? I’m running into various incompatibilites in general with USB 3 so the CalDigit USB 3 card in my Mac Pro does not work with every USB 3 device. Curious and frustrating! Dunno what’s up widdat.
Xactly.
Well said. I’ve been waiting for something like this ever since Thunderbolt was initially released. What a let down that they didn’t bother to include USB 3.0, which is technically trivial (although it will require some real engineering – the likes of which would be worth the $300 asking price). But this is just a glorified dock that is mostly redundant for all but Macbook Air users.
Include USB 3.0 and eSATA and then Belkin would have a customer here.
I already have Firewire 800 and USB 2 on my Thunderbolt MacBook Pro. What’s the point?
I’ll wait for a competitor to do it right.
Let me know when it’s $15.
You’ll be waiting a long time…
Now we are talking – been waiting for this for months and months…. Bring it out already!
MUSH! Sign me up for 2
Not until September …. I want one NOW!!!!!
They’re demoing a September product . . . now?
Is Nikon there as well demoing the D5?
Need some cheaper TB peripherals too. The firewire is nice for legacy, but if all Macs are going natively TB we need external drives that don’t cost an arm and a leg.
$300 for a dock is essentially DOA.
I would love an eSata to Thunderbolt adapter.
re-inventing the wheel. docking stations have been around for ages but I like a thunderbolt solution. price sucks tho.
$300 that you could put towards a Thunderbolt Display that pretty much has all the same ports built into the display, plus the TB display will charge your MBP.
USB 2.0??? No eSATA or expresscard slot??? It is a joke, especially for $300.
I think Apple will include USB3 in next generation of MB Air & Pro, but including outdated technology in TB Dock it’s just plain stupid.
Screw Belkin and the pos crapola they put out. Worst peripherals ever.
From my point of view, the main appeal of a TB dock would be to enable high-speed connections to storage with a Macbook Air or Pro. With no USB 3 or eSATA, this dock really doesn’t provide what I’m looking for. Looks like I’ll be hanging onto my 15″ pre-unibody MBP with an eSATA adapter in the ExpressCard slot. Already replaced the optical drive with an SSD, so I can wait. I just hope that in a year or two when I’m ready to upgrade, there will be lots of good TB storage options.
Man, for $300 there should be USB 3.0, two eSATA ports, two FireWire 800 ports and maybe a FireWire 400 port for kicks. For what it’s offering as it is, the price should be *at least* half, maybe $99.
WHY THE CRAP is Thunderbolt stuff taking SO FRACKIN’ LONG to proliferate? I guess it would have been nice for Apple and Intel to let peripheral makers in on the “secret” so they could get started developing Thunderbolt products as early as possible.