“More than a year after the debut of the Apple Thunderbolt Display, which incorporates a docking station function offering three USB ports, one Firewire 800 port, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and a second Thunderbolt port to enable daisy chaining, consumers are still looking for a similar product in a cheaper, standalone format that forgoes the expensive display included in the Apple product,” Eric Slivka reports for MacRumors.
“Belkin seemed to be the first third-party company to be preparing a standalone Thunderbolt docking station, showing off its prototype in September 2011 and soon after noting that it planned to launch the product in ‘spring 2012,'” Slivka reports. “In January of this year, Belkin revealed a redesigned docking station prototype, announcing that it would ship in September and be priced at $299. And by June, Belkin had revised its docking station again, adding HDMI and eSATA capabilities as well as upgrading to USB 3.0 ports, but also bumping the price to $399.99.”
Slivka reports, “At the time, Belkin was sticking to its launch timeframe of September 2012, but the company has since quietly updated its site and revised its June press release to quote a launch in the first quarter of 2013. The reasons for the delays are unclear… Belkin is not the only peripheral manufacturer looking to launch[and delaying] a Thunderbolt docking station…”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Belkin upgrades unreleased Thunderbolt Express Dock with USB 3.0, eSATA; ups price to $399.99 – June 5, 2012
Belkin previews new Thunderbolt Express Dock at CES 2012 – January 9, 2012
The SCSI interface is creating manufacturing problems for Belkin. Also, the design committee has yet to choose what side of the device to place the ADB port.
Where is MDN’s rant?
Forget about map issues (which I can’t find any) where’s the push to get Thunderbolt working?
My laptop is getting old and will be retired before I can find a use for my Thunderbolt port.
You’ll be a grandfather before they find a use for the Thunderbolt port.
I don’t know you are talking about I use my thunderbolt port all the time. 2 extra Monitors and a promise thunderbolt RAID. Works great everyday. I have a dock also with no issues for video editing and that works great as well. Just because Belgian can’t get there shit together does not mean there is something wrong with thunderbolt.
There are some great 3rd party thunderbolt docks out there for fibre channel etc. as far as extra USB ports that’s easy enough with a powered hub.
You are wrong (and Apple is right). About 12 years ago, I purchased an external Firewire CD-writer for my iMac DV. When I connected it, both Firewire ports got damaged and I had to replace the whole motherboard. This is the price I paid for using an inadequately tested device…
Thunderbolt is fast approaching Vapor Product status to me. Over a year on the market and you can buy ONE WHOLE RAID for it (the Promise is the only one, to my knowledge, even though the folks at Other World told me months ago they were working on TB support for the Qx2).
What the hell gives? By the time a critical mass of peripherals are available, there will be a new interface to replace it. I’ve given up waiting at this point.
I just want it so I don’t have to unplug 7 cables every time I want to use my laptop as a laptop and not be chained to my peripherals:
Power
Network
Thunderbolt-AVI Monitor Cable
Firewire
2 USB
Audio Out