Yet another "this device doesn't give a geek wet dreams so it must be garbage" comment.
Let's take a very common usage pattern. An executive who is traveling, but wants to use his same laptop in the office with a separate keyboard and monitor. S/he can leave the desktop keyboard and mouse, ethernet port, and monitor attached to the TB device. When s/he leaves the office, s/he removes one cable. When s/he returns, s/he plugs in one cable. It fulfills the function that docks used to do (and still do for some laptops).
So where does the 'zero function' and 'zero usable features' crap come from?
Yet another idiot that can't see past the end of his nose. I didn't realize that I must find value in everything you do. What does this "dock" get you that isn't on any MacBook? A single USB3 port, and an ethernet jack for the Air. It off almost nothing else useful that you couldn't get with a monitor cable adapter. This has so much more potential yet Matrox decided to waste time and effort designing a dock that has the USB ports too close together, a shitload of wasted space that could be taken up with FW ports and a display port that is useful but could be complimented with an HDMI port. Yeah, it IS garbage because they are selling you an overpriced box with one useful port. Where does your sense of usefullness come from? A box of crackerjacks? This is worthless because adds almost nothing of value while having the potential to be a must have accessory. As it sits it's pretty much worthless for it's pricepoint because it doesn't add anything but a USB3 port that is waaay too close to it's neighbors. This is a $99 accessory, maybe $150. But that's pushing. At $250 it offers nothing that is of that high a value. It's 1/4 the way to a used Thunderbolt ACD and that has 3 times as many ports as this POS.
Yet another idiot that can't see past the end of his nose. What does this "dock" get you that isn't on any MacBook?
Please don't call people idiots. I don't care if you think it's justified, it's still a personal attack.
I don't think you read his comment at all. The point of a dock or port replicator is to provide one easy connection that fans out to lots of other ports. You make one connection and it plugs in a lot of other devices vs. manually plugging in six cables. The basic concept is still good, just the implementation might be a bit wanting. The point of a dock isn't to provide connectors that aren't already on the computer, it's to replicate most of those connections so it can be done in one shot.
Please don't call people idiots. I don't care if you think it's justified, it's still a personal attack.
I don't think you read his comment at all. The point of a dock or port replicator is to provide one easy connection that fans out to lots of other ports. You make one connection and it plugs in a lot of other devices vs. manually plugging in six cables. The basic concept is still good, just the implementation might be a bit wanting. The point of a dock isn't to provide connectors that aren't already on the computer, it's to replicate most of those connections so it can be done in one shot.
Sorry, won't happen again. Yes, I did read his comment. This is still a worthless box because everything that is on Macbooks is not replicated here and having a Thunderbolt port is supposed to allow you to use faster devices without cable clutter. You get a single USB3 port and nothing else of value. The only thing it has going for it is that one USB3 port and even then it's still jammed up next to the other 2 USB ports which are USB2. They are backwards compatible so why only have one? Why have DVI and not include HDMI? The amount of money they want for this device doesn't add up to the features it has. Simple as that. It's completely pointless to buy this because it's overpriced with lame features. If it was $99 I'd be all about it, THAT would be a great deal. For $250 it at minimum needs FW ports and every USB port on it should be USB3. It's simply too much money for what it offers. Like I said, this is 1/4 the cost of a used Thunderbolt ACD and it's not lacking for anything. It's a waste of $250 as it sits. If they sold it for $99 it would be a very attractive product.
Your point about no solution being perfect for everybody is well taken.
It's difficult to give any validity to his statement about it not being perfect for everybody given that this dock doesn't have firewire yet he's challenging everyone's opinion as to why we don't feel it's worth purchasing.
It also doesn't have two display ports or the capability to daisy chain thunderbolt devices making it functionally no different than the MDP cable I use (in regards to video).
So at best it's a hypocritical point and at worst it's simply trolling.
Sorry, won't happen again. Yes, I did read his comment. This is still a worthless box because everything that is on Macbooks is not replicated here and having a Thunderbolt port is supposed to allow you to use faster devices without cable clutter. You get a single USB3 port and nothing else of value. The only thing it has going for it is that one USB3 port and even then it's still jammed up next to the other 2 USB ports which are USB2. They are backwards compatible so why only have one? Why have DVI and not include HDMI? The amount of money they want for this device doesn't add up to the features it has. Simple as that. It's completely pointless to buy this because it's overpriced with lame features. If it was $99 I'd be all about it, THAT would be a great deal. For $250 it at minimum needs FW ports and every USB port on it should be USB3. It's simply too much money for what it offers. Like I said, this is 1/4 the cost of a used Thunderbolt ACD and it's not lacking for anything. It's a waste of $250 as it sits. If they sold it for $99 it would be a very attractive product.
I don't get is how you're determining the value for everyone based on the specs that are given. If a product doesn't suit your needs then don't buy it. It's really that simple. Are you against a company wanting to make a profit or do you have some secret list of component and manufacturing costs that you aren't sharing?
The Belkin dock for $50 more has FW800, USB ports spaced out slightly farther (as far as I can tell), and offers the TB passthrough for daisy-chaining. Considering what is needed for the additional features of the Belkin dock I think the Matrox price inline.
That said, neither one of these products are of no use to me so I won't buy either of them. It's that simple.
As always, you seem to be confused about the difference between "I don't like it' and "no one could possibly like it"
As always, you end up attacking the person as confused or not understand Apple or whatever when it ends up being you that is wrong.
I and others expressed an opinion that this device sucks in comparison to the Belkin device despite not being all that much cheaper. Frankly, this device as the feel of something designed for Windows. DVI and colored coded audio ports? They're designing for the next set of Windows 8 Ultrabooks that require either USB3 or TB to meet Intel specs IMHO.
Something actually interesting would be something along the lines of the Sony Power Media Dock for $499: AMD Radeon 6650M, BluRay, HDMI, VGA, USB2, USB3, GigE.
It's difficult to give any validity to his statement about it not being perfect for everybody given that this dock doesn't have firewire yet he's challenging everyone's opinion as to why we don't feel it's worth purchasing.
It also doesn't have two display ports or the capability to daisy chain thunderbolt devices making it functionally no different than the MDP cable I use (in regards to video).
So at best it's a hypocritical point and at worst it's simply trolling.
Is it a "dock" I would buy? No ...
But for those that want to connect a monitor (DVI), set of external speakers (speaker port), keyboard (USB2), mouse (USB2), external drive (meh - maybe USB3), perhaps a mic (mic port). It does all that.
As @nht said, this feels like a windows Ultrabook product. I suspect it would be primarily marketed to that audience. But that doesnt mean it wont (or shouldnt) be used on a Mac. It is an option - not an especially good one, but if you have a budget, and cant quite go the extra to a Belkin (or an Apple display), then it fits the purpose. Since switching to the OSX world full time I sorely miss the docking stations of Dell, HP, and IBM/Lenovo - this is filling that gap ... but thats all it does.
I agree in a sense, but I don't think there's enough competition or volume to help push the prices down. The Thunderbolt bridge chip probably still costs $80 each.
Encryption is not an absolute requirement to pass a legit HDMI signal, but it's necessary to have if you want to play any copy protected content because the entire chain needs to be encrypted before certain players will play copy protect flagged content. Otherwise a Blackmagic Intensity wouldn't be a legal product.
I don't know if it's possible to have a $3 Thunderbolt cable.
If you have external speakers, a docked drive and hook up a wired network, then this can be beneficial. This could be more useful, being a Matrox product, I'm surprised they don't have a Firewire connection, given a major part of Matrox's business is video encoding and such.
The Eagle/Light Ridge chips are supposedly in the $20-$30 range. Cactus Ridge I assume to be cheaper.
Sorry, won't happen again. Yes, I did read his comment. This is still a worthless box because everything that is on Macbooks is not replicated here and having a Thunderbolt port is supposed to allow you to use faster devices without cable clutter. You get a single USB3 port and nothing else of value. The only thing it has going for it is that one USB3 port and even then it's still jammed up next to the other 2 USB ports which are USB2. They are backwards compatible so why only have one? Why have DVI and not include HDMI? The amount of money they want for this device doesn't add up to the features it has. Simple as that. It's completely pointless to buy this because it's overpriced with lame features. If it was $99 I'd be all about it, THAT would be a great deal. For $250 it at minimum needs FW ports and every USB port on it should be USB3. It's simply too much money for what it offers. Like I said, this is 1/4 the cost of a used Thunderbolt ACD and it's not lacking for anything. It's a waste of $250 as it sits. If they sold it for $99 it would be a very attractive product.
Yet another one.
The fact that it doesn't meet your needs doesn't make it worthless. Does your swelled head keep you from walking through doorways?
I've already highlighted (several times) a perfectly useful application for this device. It replaces a docking station - and is not that different than the price of other docking stations I've purchased in the past.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Feel free to look for something else for $99 that meets your needs.
Oh, and btw, your logic fails. First, you say it's totally worthless. Then you say that it would be a very attractive product at $99. Obviously, you can't even keep track of your own views on the product through a single paragraph.
The fact that it doesn't meet your needs doesn't make it worthless. Does your swelled head keep you from walking through doorways?
I've already highlighted (several times) a perfectly useful application for this device. It replaces a docking station - and is not that different than the price of other docking stations I've purchased in the past.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Feel free to look for something else for $99 that meets your needs.
Oh, and btw, your logic fails. First, you say it's totally worthless. Then you say that it would be a very attractive product at $99. Obviously, you can't even keep track of your own views on the product through a single paragraph.
Yet another reading comprehension fail on your part. At $250 it IS worthless. It's too much money for not enough product, I've said that more than once. Should I go back and point them out to you or are you going to ignore what I wrote to suit your own needs. At $99 it is an attractive product. Get the difference now? It's really not that hard to read. Does your swelled head keep you from being able to read? Someone with the logic you claim to have would see that if you're commenting on the fact that people don't like what's offered, then maybe the offerings aren't good enough for what Matrox wants for it. Did that ever occur to you or are you too busy being high and mighty? If you have to counter-argue with people that because they don't like something they should just not buy it, that may mean that the product isn't a good one. But you obviously knew that right?
If Apple released this, or something with the same port setup, would anyone buy it?No. Because it doesn't offer enough value for money. At $99 it would be a steal. At close to $300 after tax it's not worth it, by any stretch. I'm not going to buy it due to its design and offerings, and for the money I doubt it will sell enough to break even and that isn't going to give other hardware companies the confidence to enter this market and make better and cheaper alternatives. It simply is the wrong product for the wrong price in a very young market and I think offerings this poor will hurt the market overall and discourage others from entering it. Anyone that would pay close to $300 for this deserves to get ripped off. There is no reason this "dock" should cost what it does for what it offers. You'd effectively pay almost $300 for a single USB port. Sure it's convenient to have one cable, but what is the point of duplicating half the available ports on a MacBook and none of the good ones? It takes me literally 8 seconds to plug in everything I need to have plugged in. Acting as though this is some great time saver is laughable. IF this had all the avaiable ports that I use on my MacBook now, then it would be worth it. As it stands having one USB3 port and an ethernet jack isn't enough to justify almost $300. You still don't get TB pass through, you get no advantage of having FW go through the cable (which it was designed to do for cripes sake) and you have all the ports jammed up close to one another. Having this lead the way on TB external docks is a piss poor effort and doesn't help the market mature. Selling crap only hurts markets. Especially at this price because if they sell anything like a significant number of them, that tells the competition that they too can sell something that takes absolutely ZERO advantage of TB as it was designed and charge a ridiculous price for it. How they hell can anyone be okay with this dock not even taking half the advantage that the TB spec makes possible at an almost $300 price point? It's crap at this price.
I'll continue to voice my opinion and I'll continue to ignore you telling me what I should do. I have just as much freedom to voice my displeasure at this device as you have being the person that thinks they should go around policing the internet. I'll ignore what you have to say from here on out because frankly, I don't care that you think I shouldn't buy it and that I should just shut up about it. You have no place telling me what to do here.
Yet another reading comprehension fail on your part. At $250 it IS worthless. It's too much money for not enough product, I've said that more than once.
OK, so your point is that you don't understand the English language?
'Worthless':
"without worth; of no use, importance, or value; good-for-nothing:"
If it's worthless, it can't be a good deal at $99.
I'd suggest that you pay attention in your 3rd grade English class.
Add me to the "this product is a loser" category. Since USB 3.0 is backwards compatible to 2.0, why not give the user three USB 3.0 ports instead of one 3.0 and two 2.0? Also, the article says HDMI and it's a DVI connector. Why a DVI? That's old technology. Yes, you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter - but at additional cost and additional hardware. Why not add a Firewire? There are lots of Firewire drives that Apple sold their customers on and not that Thunderbolt is out, Apple is abandoning Firewire. That's okay, but I would like a nice Thunderbolt to Firewire at a reasonable cost. $249 for the Matrox device is way too much money for this product. Apple still has USB ports and the rumors indicate that USB will still be a part of the future Macs. A hub is cheaper and easier. A Thunderbolt to HDMI or DVI is way cheap compared to this product. The Ethernet is fine. Matrox will have a very limited market with this product. Belkin still has the features advantage even at $50 more.
Oh, and btw, your logic fails. First, you say it's totally worthless. Then you say that it would be a very attractive product at $99. Obviously, you can't even keep track of your own views on the product through a single paragraph.
Really? Do you actually not understand his point? The only one around here with a swelled head is you. Who made you forum nanny to repeatedly tell everyone else what opinions not to have?
The consensus is that the product is a piece of crap for the price. Get over yourself.
Really? Do you actually not understand his point? The only one around here with a swelled head is you. Who made you forum nanny to repeatedly tell everyone else what opinions not to have?
The consensus is that the product is a piece of crap for the price. Get over yourself.
No, the opinion of a few loud-mouthed individuals is that the product is crap.
First, you don't speak for everyone.
Second, even if you don't think it's a good value, that's not what I was objecting to. I was objecting to people saying that there was no use for it and NO ONE could ever possibly use it.
Add me to the "this product is a loser" category. Since USB 3.0 is backwards compatible to 2.0, why not give the user three USB 3.0 ports instead of one 3.0 and two 2.0? Also, the article says HDMI and it's a DVI connector. Why a DVI? That's old technology. Yes, you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter - but at additional cost and additional hardware. Why not add a Firewire? There are lots of Firewire drives that Apple sold their customers on and not that Thunderbolt is out, Apple is abandoning Firewire. That's okay, but I would like a nice Thunderbolt to Firewire at a reasonable cost. $249 for the Matrox device is way too much money for this product. Apple still has USB ports and the rumors indicate that USB will still be a part of the future Macs. A hub is cheaper and easier. A Thunderbolt to HDMI or DVI is way cheap compared to this product. The Ethernet is fine. Matrox will have a very limited market with this product. Belkin still has the features advantage even at $50 more.
I suppose the main reason for not including 3 usb ports is that 3 x usb 3.0 would be too much bandwidth at 15GB whereas the Thunderbolt port is rated at 10GB.
Since the specs state it's HDMI one might suspect the box will include an adapter at no extra cost.
I read elsewhere that the DVI port appears to be dual link, which is actually much more expensive than single and may account for the relatively high price tag.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nht
Really? Do you actually not understand his point? The only one around here with a swelled head is you. Who made you forum nanny to repeatedly tell everyone else what opinions not to have?
The consensus is that the product is a piece of crap for the price. Get over yourself.
Please don't feed that troll. He's already dragging the thread all over the place with his pointless and rude commentary and it only serves to lend more importance to his posts than warranted.
Comments
Technically, that's not a Thunderbolt adapter. It's a mini-display port adapter.
Of course, since Apple used the mini display port connector for TB, it's hard to tell the difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Yet another "this device doesn't give a geek wet dreams so it must be garbage" comment.
Let's take a very common usage pattern. An executive who is traveling, but wants to use his same laptop in the office with a separate keyboard and monitor. S/he can leave the desktop keyboard and mouse, ethernet port, and monitor attached to the TB device. When s/he leaves the office, s/he removes one cable. When s/he returns, s/he plugs in one cable. It fulfills the function that docks used to do (and still do for some laptops).
So where does the 'zero function' and 'zero usable features' crap come from?
Yet another idiot that can't see past the end of his nose. I didn't realize that I must find value in everything you do. What does this "dock" get you that isn't on any MacBook? A single USB3 port, and an ethernet jack for the Air. It off almost nothing else useful that you couldn't get with a monitor cable adapter. This has so much more potential yet Matrox decided to waste time and effort designing a dock that has the USB ports too close together, a shitload of wasted space that could be taken up with FW ports and a display port that is useful but could be complimented with an HDMI port. Yeah, it IS garbage because they are selling you an overpriced box with one useful port. Where does your sense of usefullness come from? A box of crackerjacks? This is worthless because adds almost nothing of value while having the potential to be a must have accessory. As it sits it's pretty much worthless for it's pricepoint because it doesn't add anything but a USB3 port that is waaay too close to it's neighbors. This is a $99 accessory, maybe $150. But that's pushing. At $250 it offers nothing that is of that high a value. It's 1/4 the way to a used Thunderbolt ACD and that has 3 times as many ports as this POS.
Please don't call people idiots. I don't care if you think it's justified, it's still a personal attack.
I don't think you read his comment at all. The point of a dock or port replicator is to provide one easy connection that fans out to lots of other ports. You make one connection and it plugs in a lot of other devices vs. manually plugging in six cables. The basic concept is still good, just the implementation might be a bit wanting. The point of a dock isn't to provide connectors that aren't already on the computer, it's to replicate most of those connections so it can be done in one shot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
Please don't call people idiots. I don't care if you think it's justified, it's still a personal attack.
I don't think you read his comment at all. The point of a dock or port replicator is to provide one easy connection that fans out to lots of other ports. You make one connection and it plugs in a lot of other devices vs. manually plugging in six cables. The basic concept is still good, just the implementation might be a bit wanting. The point of a dock isn't to provide connectors that aren't already on the computer, it's to replicate most of those connections so it can be done in one shot.
Sorry, won't happen again. Yes, I did read his comment. This is still a worthless box because everything that is on Macbooks is not replicated here and having a Thunderbolt port is supposed to allow you to use faster devices without cable clutter. You get a single USB3 port and nothing else of value. The only thing it has going for it is that one USB3 port and even then it's still jammed up next to the other 2 USB ports which are USB2. They are backwards compatible so why only have one? Why have DVI and not include HDMI? The amount of money they want for this device doesn't add up to the features it has. Simple as that. It's completely pointless to buy this because it's overpriced with lame features. If it was $99 I'd be all about it, THAT would be a great deal. For $250 it at minimum needs FW ports and every USB port on it should be USB3. It's simply too much money for what it offers. Like I said, this is 1/4 the cost of a used Thunderbolt ACD and it's not lacking for anything. It's a waste of $250 as it sits. If they sold it for $99 it would be a very attractive product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tokenuser
Your point about no solution being perfect for everybody is well taken.
It's difficult to give any validity to his statement about it not being perfect for everybody given that this dock doesn't have firewire yet he's challenging everyone's opinion as to why we don't feel it's worth purchasing.
It also doesn't have two display ports or the capability to daisy chain thunderbolt devices making it functionally no different than the MDP cable I use (in regards to video).
So at best it's a hypocritical point and at worst it's simply trolling.
The Belkin dock for $50 more has FW800, USB ports spaced out slightly farther (as far as I can tell), and offers the TB passthrough for daisy-chaining. Considering what is needed for the additional features of the Belkin dock I think the Matrox price inline.
That said, neither one of these products are of no use to me so I won't buy either of them. It's that simple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
As always, you seem to be confused about the difference between "I don't like it' and "no one could possibly like it"
As always, you end up attacking the person as confused or not understand Apple or whatever when it ends up being you that is wrong.
I and others expressed an opinion that this device sucks in comparison to the Belkin device despite not being all that much cheaper. Frankly, this device as the feel of something designed for Windows. DVI and colored coded audio ports? They're designing for the next set of Windows 8 Ultrabooks that require either USB3 or TB to meet Intel specs IMHO.
Something actually interesting would be something along the lines of the Sony Power Media Dock for $499: AMD Radeon 6650M, BluRay, HDMI, VGA, USB2, USB3, GigE.
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&partNumber=VGPPRZ20A/B#specifications
So for MBA users a compelling dock for $499 would be:
AMD Radeon 6750M, TB/DisplayPort passthough, HDMI, 1xUSB3, 1xFW800, GigE, DVD burner (Blu-Ray would be too much to hope for).
Quote:
"... and their small screens and keyboards make them uncomfortable to use in the office all day".
Hmmm...
iMac 21.5" doesn't see small screen and you can optionally choose a full size numeric keyboard. Also, the little bluetooth keyboard is also full size.
iMac 27" certainly isn't a small screen at all, and you have the same option for a numeric keyboard.
MacBook 15" is an average laptop with full keyboard.
MacBook 17" have the largest screen offered in laptops by any manufacturer.
MacBook 13" is an average small laptop with full keyboard.
MacBook Air 11" is an average mini laptop but with full keyboard. So, better than average.
I think this guy is liying....
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Considering what is needed for the additional features of the Belkin dock I think the Matrox price inline.
That's a lot to give up for $50.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizzle
It's difficult to give any validity to his statement about it not being perfect for everybody given that this dock doesn't have firewire yet he's challenging everyone's opinion as to why we don't feel it's worth purchasing.
It also doesn't have two display ports or the capability to daisy chain thunderbolt devices making it functionally no different than the MDP cable I use (in regards to video).
So at best it's a hypocritical point and at worst it's simply trolling.
Is it a "dock" I would buy? No ...
But for those that want to connect a monitor (DVI), set of external speakers (speaker port), keyboard (USB2), mouse (USB2), external drive (meh - maybe USB3), perhaps a mic (mic port). It does all that.
As @nht said, this feels like a windows Ultrabook product. I suspect it would be primarily marketed to that audience. But that doesnt mean it wont (or shouldnt) be used on a Mac. It is an option - not an especially good one, but if you have a budget, and cant quite go the extra to a Belkin (or an Apple display), then it fits the purpose. Since switching to the OSX world full time I sorely miss the docking stations of Dell, HP, and IBM/Lenovo - this is filling that gap ... but thats all it does.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
I agree in a sense, but I don't think there's enough competition or volume to help push the prices down. The Thunderbolt bridge chip probably still costs $80 each.
Encryption is not an absolute requirement to pass a legit HDMI signal, but it's necessary to have if you want to play any copy protected content because the entire chain needs to be encrypted before certain players will play copy protect flagged content. Otherwise a Blackmagic Intensity wouldn't be a legal product.
I don't know if it's possible to have a $3 Thunderbolt cable.
If you have external speakers, a docked drive and hook up a wired network, then this can be beneficial. This could be more useful, being a Matrox product, I'm surprised they don't have a Firewire connection, given a major part of Matrox's business is video encoding and such.
The Eagle/Light Ridge chips are supposedly in the $20-$30 range. Cactus Ridge I assume to be cheaper.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5403/cactus-ridge-understanding-the-new-more-affordable-thunderbolt-controller
Based on the specs I'd guess the Belkin is using the Cactus Ridge 4C and the Matrox the 2C or possibly older Eagle Ridge.
Yet another one.
The fact that it doesn't meet your needs doesn't make it worthless. Does your swelled head keep you from walking through doorways?
I've already highlighted (several times) a perfectly useful application for this device. It replaces a docking station - and is not that different than the price of other docking stations I've purchased in the past.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Feel free to look for something else for $99 that meets your needs.
Oh, and btw, your logic fails. First, you say it's totally worthless. Then you say that it would be a very attractive product at $99. Obviously, you can't even keep track of your own views on the product through a single paragraph.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Yet another one.
The fact that it doesn't meet your needs doesn't make it worthless. Does your swelled head keep you from walking through doorways?
I've already highlighted (several times) a perfectly useful application for this device. It replaces a docking station - and is not that different than the price of other docking stations I've purchased in the past.
If you don't like it, don't buy it. Feel free to look for something else for $99 that meets your needs.
Oh, and btw, your logic fails. First, you say it's totally worthless. Then you say that it would be a very attractive product at $99. Obviously, you can't even keep track of your own views on the product through a single paragraph.
Yet another reading comprehension fail on your part. At $250 it IS worthless. It's too much money for not enough product, I've said that more than once. Should I go back and point them out to you or are you going to ignore what I wrote to suit your own needs. At $99 it is an attractive product. Get the difference now? It's really not that hard to read. Does your swelled head keep you from being able to read? Someone with the logic you claim to have would see that if you're commenting on the fact that people don't like what's offered, then maybe the offerings aren't good enough for what Matrox wants for it. Did that ever occur to you or are you too busy being high and mighty? If you have to counter-argue with people that because they don't like something they should just not buy it, that may mean that the product isn't a good one. But you obviously knew that right?
If Apple released this, or something with the same port setup, would anyone buy it? No. Because it doesn't offer enough value for money. At $99 it would be a steal. At close to $300 after tax it's not worth it, by any stretch. I'm not going to buy it due to its design and offerings, and for the money I doubt it will sell enough to break even and that isn't going to give other hardware companies the confidence to enter this market and make better and cheaper alternatives. It simply is the wrong product for the wrong price in a very young market and I think offerings this poor will hurt the market overall and discourage others from entering it. Anyone that would pay close to $300 for this deserves to get ripped off. There is no reason this "dock" should cost what it does for what it offers. You'd effectively pay almost $300 for a single USB port. Sure it's convenient to have one cable, but what is the point of duplicating half the available ports on a MacBook and none of the good ones? It takes me literally 8 seconds to plug in everything I need to have plugged in. Acting as though this is some great time saver is laughable. IF this had all the avaiable ports that I use on my MacBook now, then it would be worth it. As it stands having one USB3 port and an ethernet jack isn't enough to justify almost $300. You still don't get TB pass through, you get no advantage of having FW go through the cable (which it was designed to do for cripes sake) and you have all the ports jammed up close to one another. Having this lead the way on TB external docks is a piss poor effort and doesn't help the market mature. Selling crap only hurts markets. Especially at this price because if they sell anything like a significant number of them, that tells the competition that they too can sell something that takes absolutely ZERO advantage of TB as it was designed and charge a ridiculous price for it. How they hell can anyone be okay with this dock not even taking half the advantage that the TB spec makes possible at an almost $300 price point? It's crap at this price.
I'll continue to voice my opinion and I'll continue to ignore you telling me what I should do. I have just as much freedom to voice my displeasure at this device as you have being the person that thinks they should go around policing the internet. I'll ignore what you have to say from here on out because frankly, I don't care that you think I shouldn't buy it and that I should just shut up about it. You have no place telling me what to do here.
OK, so your point is that you don't understand the English language?
'Worthless':
"without worth; of no use, importance, or value; good-for-nothing:"
If it's worthless, it can't be a good deal at $99.
I'd suggest that you pay attention in your 3rd grade English class.
Add me to the "this product is a loser" category. Since USB 3.0 is backwards compatible to 2.0, why not give the user three USB 3.0 ports instead of one 3.0 and two 2.0? Also, the article says HDMI and it's a DVI connector. Why a DVI? That's old technology. Yes, you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter - but at additional cost and additional hardware. Why not add a Firewire? There are lots of Firewire drives that Apple sold their customers on and not that Thunderbolt is out, Apple is abandoning Firewire. That's okay, but I would like a nice Thunderbolt to Firewire at a reasonable cost. $249 for the Matrox device is way too much money for this product. Apple still has USB ports and the rumors indicate that USB will still be a part of the future Macs. A hub is cheaper and easier. A Thunderbolt to HDMI or DVI is way cheap compared to this product. The Ethernet is fine. Matrox will have a very limited market with this product. Belkin still has the features advantage even at $50 more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
Please don't call people idiots. I don't care if you think it's justified, it's still a personal attack.
Maybe you need to repeat this to jargosta.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Oh, and btw, your logic fails. First, you say it's totally worthless. Then you say that it would be a very attractive product at $99. Obviously, you can't even keep track of your own views on the product through a single paragraph.
Really? Do you actually not understand his point? The only one around here with a swelled head is you. Who made you forum nanny to repeatedly tell everyone else what opinions not to have?
The consensus is that the product is a piece of crap for the price. Get over yourself.
No, the opinion of a few loud-mouthed individuals is that the product is crap.
First, you don't speak for everyone.
Second, even if you don't think it's a good value, that's not what I was objecting to. I was objecting to people saying that there was no use for it and NO ONE could ever possibly use it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinemagic
Add me to the "this product is a loser" category. Since USB 3.0 is backwards compatible to 2.0, why not give the user three USB 3.0 ports instead of one 3.0 and two 2.0? Also, the article says HDMI and it's a DVI connector. Why a DVI? That's old technology. Yes, you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter - but at additional cost and additional hardware. Why not add a Firewire? There are lots of Firewire drives that Apple sold their customers on and not that Thunderbolt is out, Apple is abandoning Firewire. That's okay, but I would like a nice Thunderbolt to Firewire at a reasonable cost. $249 for the Matrox device is way too much money for this product. Apple still has USB ports and the rumors indicate that USB will still be a part of the future Macs. A hub is cheaper and easier. A Thunderbolt to HDMI or DVI is way cheap compared to this product. The Ethernet is fine. Matrox will have a very limited market with this product. Belkin still has the features advantage even at $50 more.
I suppose the main reason for not including 3 usb ports is that 3 x usb 3.0 would be too much bandwidth at 15GB whereas the Thunderbolt port is rated at 10GB.
Since the specs state it's HDMI one might suspect the box will include an adapter at no extra cost.
I read elsewhere that the DVI port appears to be dual link, which is actually much more expensive than single and may account for the relatively high price tag.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nht
Really? Do you actually not understand his point? The only one around here with a swelled head is you. Who made you forum nanny to repeatedly tell everyone else what opinions not to have?
The consensus is that the product is a piece of crap for the price. Get over yourself.
Please don't feed that troll. He's already dragging the thread all over the place with his pointless and rude commentary and it only serves to lend more importance to his posts than warranted.
EDIT: Replied to the wrong person.