If you want the $999 Apple Thunderbolt Display but only have $600-650 to spend then this dock (or the Belkin) plus this display using the exact same display panel as Apple's ATD may fit your needs well.
It does have USB3.0 which the Belkin doesn't have, although MR notes that USB3.0 may not be supported by Apple at this time.
This and the Belkin lack some features and are ultra expensive. For the price you think they could include a couple of esata ports and have display port.
This and the Belkin lack some features and are ultra expensive. For the price you think they could include a couple of esata ports and have display port.
Then design your own. The fact that the Belkin and Matrox units are within $50 of each other suggests that it's not 'ultra expensive' and is right in line with market price.
And then you've have complained about the extra $20. You're not happy unless you're complaining about Mac products.
What?? Are you high? When have I ever complained about the price of Mac products? Seriously, what a weird attack... Wouldn't my point suggest a willingness to pay for both form and function? Something I'm going to look at every day for five years should be beautiful and bring joy to my life. I'm willing to pay for that as its a real benefit.
Not really, this thing is a joke. If it had a pass through TB port and cost something like $125 it might be worth a discussion. Or if it had an internal drive or other redeeming value it might be worth considering. This doesn't even take into account the other shortcomings already pointed out.
I'm trying to resist yet another computer purchase this year and will try to milk my 2008 MBP for a bit longer. Crap like this hitting the market just means that it is much easier to put off the purchase. I want to see TB offer up some real value for the laptop owner.
Isn't it funny how the Apple haters claim that Mac users only buy Macs because of the appearance and that they're no different than PCs, but yet they're the first to jump on a product that doesn't meet their standards of beauty. Can you say 'hypocrite'?
Another bizarre comment... Why are you commenting on Apple haters when that's clearly not the population reading here? I'm not even sure you made the point you think you did. Who are the hypocrites in this scenario?
And then you've have complained about the extra $20. You're not happy unless you're complaining about Mac products.
People are complaining about this product, not Macs. The complaints are justified too.
By the way I'm not bothered by the looks. The price and feature set though are a problem.
Then design your own. The fact that the Belkin and Matrox units are within $50 of each other suggests that it's not 'ultra expensive' and is right in line with market price.
Baloney. The market for TB products has not been established yet. However we have real hardware we can reference for pricing comparisons. AppleTV provides on price point reference, whole i86 laptops another reference and then we have PCI Express cards supporting similar features. Digest the pricing of such hardware and it becomes clear that the term ripoff fits this discussion.
Not really, this thing is a joke. If it had a pass through TB port and cost something like $125 it might be worth a discussion. Or if it had an internal drive or other redeeming value it might be worth considering. This doesn't even take into account the other shortcomings already pointed out.
Then don't buy one. Feel free to buy another device with equivalent functionality which costs less.
Baloney. The market for TB products has not been established yet. However we have real hardware we can reference for pricing comparisons. AppleTV provides on price point reference, whole i86 laptops another reference and then we have PCI Express cards supporting similar features. Digest the pricing of such hardware and it becomes clear that the term ripoff fits this discussion.
Maybe you should learn about pricing for cutting edge products.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Problem solved.
HDMI and DVI are the same except DVI doesn't carry audio. (and of course the connectors look different). A simple DVI to HDMI adapter is all that's needed to connect this box to an HDMI display.
So what you are saying is that they aren't the same ... but you can daisy chain some adapters and kinda sorta make up for it, provided you don't want audio as well?
The definition of "same" gets broken the second you add a qualifying "except" in there, at that point they are no longer "the same".
Would you prefer the design and aesthetics of a PowerBook Duo? Function before form, right? Price may be another issue, though. I've never used something like this, so I don't know what's reasonable.
@Jragosta: Everyone is allowed their opinion, so stop telling people what to do and let them speak their mind. I see nothing wrong with comments and to be frank your comments sounds like you had a bad day maybe week and going off on people for valid comments. Consumers buy products and allowed to comment if their feel the product is not right!
I was going to say myself that those comments felt a little overly defensive. I understand that Thunderbolt stuff is going to be more expensive than people are accustomed to seeing (and more expensive than alternatives based on lesser/earlier tech), but there's no need to be as forceful about it. If anything, this is a good sign. We're seeing Thunderbolt products start to garnish attention from the consumer market, who are used to paying bargain bin prices for molasses-slow USB 2 accessories.
And I agree with them in some respects. What was Matrox thinking not putting a Thunderbolt throughput on this thing?! I could have sworn that was REQUIRED as part of the use of the spec.
If you want the $999 Apple Thunderbolt Display but only have $600-650 to spend then this dock (or the Belkin) plus this display using the exact same display panel as Apple's ATD may fit your needs well.
Possibly, I can't confirm whether the device supports dual-link DVI or not. I suspect they would say they had it if they did, so probably not.
I think some people are misreading the article. The Matrox device pictured has a DVI port, while the Belkin device will have a HDMI port. I think some people misread that and were wondering why the picture of the Matrox device doesn't show a HDMI port.
I'd much rather go for the Belkin device, primarily because of the FW800 port, and secondarily because of the thunderbolt passthrough port. I'd rather have a DVI port than a HDMI port just because of the particular gear I already have, but that's easily worked around with the right adapter. The audio in and out ports on the Matrox device seem pointless, since any system that's going to use this will already have audio ports. I suppose the small macbook air models have no audio input built in, but still, doesn't seem like an important selling point for most people.
While I love the idea of a breakout box, I really wonder how fast the gigabit ethernet would be. Especially with a display sharing the Thunderbolt bandwidth.
Uh, what were they thinking when they put the USB ports that close to each other when there's plenty of space on the front (among other layout issues)?
There's nothing wrong with that. If you check motherboard designs they all feature the same. This thing have circuit boards in it too. It was designed to be use with USB cables hence the ports are at the back. This is also meant to stay in one place at all times. Besides, this is a docking station. If you want to use fat flash drives, use the port that's on your laptop. Simples!
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
If you want the $999 Apple Thunderbolt Display but only have $600-650 to spend then this dock (or the Belkin) plus this display using the exact same display panel as Apple's ATD may fit your needs well.
It does have USB3.0 which the Belkin doesn't have, although MR notes that USB3.0 may not be supported by Apple at this time.
This and the Belkin lack some features and are ultra expensive. For the price you think they could include a couple of esata ports and have display port.
And then you've have complained about the extra $20. You're not happy unless you're complaining about Mac products.
Then design your own. The fact that the Belkin and Matrox units are within $50 of each other suggests that it's not 'ultra expensive' and is right in line with market price.
What?? Are you high? When have I ever complained about the price of Mac products? Seriously, what a weird attack... Wouldn't my point suggest a willingness to pay for both form and function? Something I'm going to look at every day for five years should be beautiful and bring joy to my life. I'm willing to pay for that as its a real benefit.
Not really, this thing is a joke. If it had a pass through TB port and cost something like $125 it might be worth a discussion. Or if it had an internal drive or other redeeming value it might be worth considering. This doesn't even take into account the other shortcomings already pointed out.
I'm trying to resist yet another computer purchase this year and will try to milk my 2008 MBP for a bit longer. Crap like this hitting the market just means that it is much easier to put off the purchase. I want to see TB offer up some real value for the laptop owner.
Another bizarre comment... Why are you commenting on Apple haters when that's clearly not the population reading here? I'm not even sure you made the point you think you did. Who are the hypocrites in this scenario?
By the way I'm not bothered by the looks. The price and feature set though are a problem.
Baloney. The market for TB products has not been established yet. However we have real hardware we can reference for pricing comparisons. AppleTV provides on price point reference, whole i86 laptops another reference and then we have PCI Express cards supporting similar features. Digest the pricing of such hardware and it becomes clear that the term ripoff fits this discussion.
Then don't buy one. Feel free to buy another device with equivalent functionality which costs less.
Oh, wait. There are none.
Maybe you should learn about pricing for cutting edge products.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Problem solved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dubston
HDMI and DVI are the same except DVI doesn't carry audio. (and of course the connectors look different). A simple DVI to HDMI adapter is all that's needed to connect this box to an HDMI display.
So what you are saying is that they aren't the same ... but you can daisy chain some adapters and kinda sorta make up for it, provided you don't want audio as well?
The definition of "same" gets broken the second you add a qualifying "except" in there, at that point they are no longer "the same".
Would you prefer the design and aesthetics of a PowerBook Duo? Function before form, right? Price may be another issue, though. I've never used something like this, so I don't know what's reasonable.
@Jragosta: Everyone is allowed their opinion, so stop telling people what to do and let them speak their mind. I see nothing wrong with comments and to be frank your comments sounds like you had a bad day maybe week and going off on people for valid comments. Consumers buy products and allowed to comment if their feel the product is not right!
I was going to say myself that those comments felt a little overly defensive. I understand that Thunderbolt stuff is going to be more expensive than people are accustomed to seeing (and more expensive than alternatives based on lesser/earlier tech), but there's no need to be as forceful about it. If anything, this is a good sign. We're seeing Thunderbolt products start to garnish attention from the consumer market, who are used to paying bargain bin prices for molasses-slow USB 2 accessories.
And I agree with them in some respects. What was Matrox thinking not putting a Thunderbolt throughput on this thing?! I could have sworn that was REQUIRED as part of the use of the spec.
http://www.frontierpc.com/networking/kvm-switchboxes/kvm-switch/startech/startech-com-2-port-usb-dvi-kvm-switch-kit-w-cables-sv211kdvi-1011615655.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
If you want the $999 Apple Thunderbolt Display but only have $600-650 to spend then this dock (or the Belkin) plus this display using the exact same display panel as Apple's ATD may fit your needs well.
Possibly, I can't confirm whether the device supports dual-link DVI or not. I suspect they would say they had it if they did, so probably not.
What a wonderful economic addition! Does the Photoshopping come with it?
I think some people are misreading the article. The Matrox device pictured has a DVI port, while the Belkin device will have a HDMI port. I think some people misread that and were wondering why the picture of the Matrox device doesn't show a HDMI port.
I'd much rather go for the Belkin device, primarily because of the FW800 port, and secondarily because of the thunderbolt passthrough port. I'd rather have a DVI port than a HDMI port just because of the particular gear I already have, but that's easily worked around with the right adapter. The audio in and out ports on the Matrox device seem pointless, since any system that's going to use this will already have audio ports. I suppose the small macbook air models have no audio input built in, but still, doesn't seem like an important selling point for most people.
While I love the idea of a breakout box, I really wonder how fast the gigabit ethernet would be. Especially with a display sharing the Thunderbolt bandwidth.
I remember a time when a box like this would come out and only work on non-Mac products. THEN you'd have something to really whine about!
Be thankful Macs are on par with things these days.
Uh, what were they thinking when they put the USB ports that close to each other when there's plenty of space on the front (among other layout issues)?
There's nothing wrong with that. If you check motherboard designs they all feature the same. This thing have circuit boards in it too. It was designed to be use with USB cables hence the ports are at the back. This is also meant to stay in one place at all times. Besides, this is a docking station. If you want to use fat flash drives, use the port that's on your laptop. Simples!Ok but at any price point a thunderbolt dock should have a Thunderbolt port,
and a fire wire too.