I just got one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/BookEndz/BEMBP17AL/ on sale for about $250 - works very nicely. USB ports do require a DC adapter (included) to be powered. Maybe a bit of a premium price - but is also a full notebook stand which has helped my system run cooler and gets lots of wires behind instead of sticking out the side - not sure why they had the DC plug on the side instead of the rear though - looks like enough space back there to me.
Belkin's solution is more like this sort of product: and maybe slightly more sleek than many I have seen but at several times the price. Sure Thunderbolt is the latest and greatest thing - but 3 to 4 or 5 times the price of non-ThunderBolt products does seems bit high.
Geez, Belkin, do you think you could possibly botch the rollout of this product any more?
1) No USB-3. Every single blog and its comments calls out this deficiency. There are already numerous USB-3 thumb drives available, along with portable external drives.
2) September? Is CES so important that you have to pre-announce something nine months in advance? (That was a rhetorical question, with the answer of 'no'.)
3) Conflicting product enclosures. Which is it going to be? Or maybe something entirely different come September?
I can't believe people haven't learned the formula from Apple. Finish the damned product, and only announce it when it's ready for imminent sale. Otherwise keep quiet.
It's not as if Apple hasn't shown the world how it's done, over and over again, and also shown how successful that simple formula can be.
I can't believe people haven't learned the formula from Apple. Finish the damned product, and only announce it when it's ready for imminent sale. Otherwise keep quiet.
It's not as if Apple hasn't shown the world how it's done, over and over again, and also shown how successful that simple formula can be.
No audio, no HDMI, no apparent ports on the rear. You would think they would show what they're advertising at the very least.
The side with the ports is the rear. They photographed it that way so the ports would be visible. Here is a picture where you can see the top and the direction of the word "Belkin".
USB 3.0 would have been nice as would a PCI or esata port, now that would have been useful.
exactly. Most of the cost of this thing is likely to be the TB part. That being the case, adding USB3 and eSATA would (1) probably add little to the cost and (2) end up making the product much more appealing. At this price, it would make more sense for a person to just sell whatever monitor they have and buy Apple's Thunderbolt monitor instead.
USB 3.0 would have been nice as would a PCI or esata port, now that would have been useful.
ABSOLUTELY USELESS and IRRELEVANT without USB 3.0 or eSATA, which would constitute the PRIMARY reasons for buying a TB hub in the first place (considering the wider availability of faster USB 3.0 devices nowadays)...so why is this even news?
I just got one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/BookEndz/BEMBP17AL/ on sale for about $250 - works very nicely. USB ports do require a DC adapter (included) to be powered. Maybe a bit of a premium price - but is also a full notebook stand which has helped my system run cooler and gets lots of wires behind instead of sticking out the side - not sure why they had the DC plug on the side instead of the rear though - looks like enough space back there to me.
Belkin's solution is more like this sort of product: and maybe slightly more sleek than many I have seen but at several times the price. Sure Thunderbolt is the latest and greatest thing - but 3 to 4 or 5 times the price of non-ThunderBolt products does seems bit high.
thanks for the less foaming at the mouth negative BS posts like most all the rest. I think that by the time Sept. roles around there will be a lot of good Thunderbolt solutions we'll all like. Of course we can always rely on a few dozen people to NEVER like anything or have ANYTHING positive to say or offer ANY solution to what they don't like.
Price: Yes, it's expensive, but then again Apple charnges $50 just for a cable! As of now they are the only game in town so they can pretty much charge whatever they want. I'm sure if/when competition comes along and TB parts get cheaper the price will go down.
USB3: Sure, TB can support USB3, along with USB2 and Firewire; but as I understand, the operation system still requires drivers to actually use it. Does Mac OS include them? Would Belkin have to license them from someone? It'd be bad if they included a port that nobody could use because they don't have the drivers.
HDMI: Since there will essentially be an HDMI dongle attached all the time, is it reserving display bandwith even if it's not being used? Or will the other ports get the max bandwidth if the display port isn't being utilized? More importantly, are there even any HDMI to mini DisplayPort adaptors (I haven't tried searching yet)? I know there are adaptors going the other way, but doesn't putting an HDMI port instead of a DisplayPort limit what you can connect? Does the HDMI port support sound? (All answers that will come in time, I'm sure.)
2) It does seem to be missing some ports that are mentioned in the article and it makes no sense for them to be on the right side or back of this model.
3) That MagSafe cable in the mock up seems to have strung through for the sake of it. I'm sure they don't have rights to include that connector as Apple doesn't seem to license it (unfortunately).
4) I don't think the price is excessive for a multi-port dock. Over the years I've seen them go for a lot more doing a lot less, and this is Thunderbolt which is the latest-and-greatest and fast. In a year the prices will have dropped due to many factors working on the market.
5) I am surprised they didn't go for USB 3.0 but I'm also surprised people are asking for eSATA. If TB is the replacement for any port interface type it's eSATA.
6) I hope the headphone jack is also the mic and allow for data access like on iDevices, Macs and other vendors' devices.
7) I can see a PCIe box hitting the market but that would be a separate device than this type of dock. Would that even work out of the box for allowing much better graphics to a large monitor from a notebook without heavy focus on supplemental SW development?
Comments
It isn't on that model, apparently.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Belki...o-245380.shtml
No audio, no HDMI, no apparent ports on the rear. You would think they would show what they're advertising at the very least.
Belkin's solution is more like this sort of product:
1) No USB-3. Every single blog and its comments calls out this deficiency. There are already numerous USB-3 thumb drives available, along with portable external drives.
2) September? Is CES so important that you have to pre-announce something nine months in advance? (That was a rhetorical question, with the answer of 'no'.)
3) Conflicting product enclosures. Which is it going to be? Or maybe something entirely different come September?
I can't believe people haven't learned the formula from Apple. Finish the damned product, and only announce it when it's ready for imminent sale. Otherwise keep quiet.
It's not as if Apple hasn't shown the world how it's done, over and over again, and also shown how successful that simple formula can be.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/ces-un...2-so-far/66484
I can't believe people haven't learned the formula from Apple. Finish the damned product, and only announce it when it's ready for imminent sale. Otherwise keep quiet.
It's not as if Apple hasn't shown the world how it's done, over and over again, and also shown how successful that simple formula can be.
Right? Jeez ...
Do they make "external PCI" or were you seriously suggesting a standard size 16x PCIe slot?
Why not? A thin box with a single PCIe slot would give a huge boost to non-mac pro models, and would take no more room than an external hard drive.
No audio, no HDMI, no apparent ports on the rear. You would think they would show what they're advertising at the very least.
The side with the ports is the rear. They photographed it that way so the ports would be visible. Here is a picture where you can see the top and the direction of the word "Belkin".
http://www.losgranos.com/wp-content/..._1-439x340.jpg
-kpluck
USB 3.0 would have been nice as would a PCI or esata port, now that would have been useful.
exactly. Most of the cost of this thing is likely to be the TB part. That being the case, adding USB3 and eSATA would (1) probably add little to the cost and (2) end up making the product much more appealing. At this price, it would make more sense for a person to just sell whatever monitor they have and buy Apple's Thunderbolt monitor instead.
USB 3.0 would have been nice as would a PCI or esata port, now that would have been useful.
ABSOLUTELY USELESS and IRRELEVANT without USB 3.0 or eSATA, which would constitute the PRIMARY reasons for buying a TB hub in the first place (considering the wider availability of faster USB 3.0 devices nowadays)...so why is this even news?
ABSOLUTELY USELESS and IRRELEVANT without USB 3.0 or eSATA,
You realize, of course, that neither of those will matter by the end of this year.
I just got one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/BookEndz/BEMBP17AL/
Belkin's solution is more like this sort of product:
thanks for the less foaming at the mouth negative BS posts like most all the rest. I think that by the time Sept. roles around there will be a lot of good Thunderbolt solutions we'll all like. Of course we can always rely on a few dozen people to NEVER like anything or have ANYTHING positive to say or offer ANY solution to what they don't like.
Have a wonderful day, think different, stay crazy
USB3: Sure, TB can support USB3, along with USB2 and Firewire; but as I understand, the operation system still requires drivers to actually use it. Does Mac OS include them? Would Belkin have to license them from someone? It'd be bad if they included a port that nobody could use because they don't have the drivers.
HDMI: Since there will essentially be an HDMI dongle attached all the time, is it reserving display bandwith even if it's not being used? Or will the other ports get the max bandwidth if the display port isn't being utilized? More importantly, are there even any HDMI to mini DisplayPort adaptors (I haven't tried searching yet)? I know there are adaptors going the other way, but doesn't putting an HDMI port instead of a DisplayPort limit what you can connect? Does the HDMI port support sound? (All answers that will come in time, I'm sure.)
I'd rather buy a Thunderbolt Display with all the ports included for $999
You realize, of course, that neither of those will matter by the end of this year.
And USB 2.0 will?
And USB 2.0 will?
No, but at least that's included in devices now. We'll see Thunderbolt flash drives before we see very many more USB 3 ones.
2) It does seem to be missing some ports that are mentioned in the article and it makes no sense for them to be on the right side or back of this model.
3) That MagSafe cable in the mock up seems to have strung through for the sake of it. I'm sure they don't have rights to include that connector as Apple doesn't seem to license it (unfortunately).
4) I don't think the price is excessive for a multi-port dock. Over the years I've seen them go for a lot more doing a lot less, and this is Thunderbolt which is the latest-and-greatest and fast. In a year the prices will have dropped due to many factors working on the market.
5) I am surprised they didn't go for USB 3.0 but I'm also surprised people are asking for eSATA. If TB is the replacement for any port interface type it's eSATA.
6) I hope the headphone jack is also the mic and allow for data access like on iDevices, Macs and other vendors' devices.
7) I can see a PCIe box hitting the market but that would be a separate device than this type of dock. Would that even work out of the box for allowing much better graphics to a large monitor from a notebook without heavy focus on supplemental SW development?