Matrox Thunderbolt dock turns MacBooks into desktops for $249
Matrox on Sunday unveiled its new DS1 Thunderbolt docking station, which allows users to add multiple peripherals like an HDMI display, a full-size keyboard and a mouse to a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac or PC for $249.
The DS1 also includes a gigabit Ethernet port that provides connectivity to wired corporate networks at data transfers 18 times faster than Wi-Fi. In addition, it has a high-speed USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, a microphone input, and a speaker/headphone output, all of which can connect to a Thunderbolt MacBook or Ultrabook with just one cable.
The Matrox DS1 has a solid aluminum construction that the company said is ideal for office, home or dorm use. It will be available at authorized dealers in September for $249 U.S.
"Today?s MacBooks and Ultrabooks are powerful enough for most corporate users but their limited connectivity makes them inconvenient, and their small screens and keyboards make them uncomfortable to use in the office all day," said Alberto Cieri, senior director of sales and marketing at Matrox.
"The new Matrox DS1 docking station easily enables the creation of an ergonomic workspace and brings much-needed expandability for printers, scanners, storage, smartphones, optical drives, cameras, flash drives, and other peripherals."
The Matrox DS1 will be showcased at the Computex Taipei 2012 event at Intel's official booth, located at M0410 in the NanGang Exhibition Hall.
"Thunderbolt delivers unparalleled performance, flexibility, and simplicity to personal computing," said Jason Ziller, Intel?s director of Thunderbolt Marketing. "Products like the Matrox DS1 docking station help highlight what Thunderbolt makes possible."
Also set to arrive in September is Belkin's Thunderbolt Express Dock, which was announced earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show. It will also turn a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac into a full-fledged desktop workstation with an HDMI port, FireWire 800 port, three USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5-millimeter audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port, and two Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining to another Thunderbolt device.
Apple also offers the Thunderbolt Display, which lets users plug in one 10Gbps Thunderbolt cable to drive a monitor, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining up to five additional Thunderbolt devices.
The DS1 also includes a gigabit Ethernet port that provides connectivity to wired corporate networks at data transfers 18 times faster than Wi-Fi. In addition, it has a high-speed USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, a microphone input, and a speaker/headphone output, all of which can connect to a Thunderbolt MacBook or Ultrabook with just one cable.
The Matrox DS1 has a solid aluminum construction that the company said is ideal for office, home or dorm use. It will be available at authorized dealers in September for $249 U.S.
"Today?s MacBooks and Ultrabooks are powerful enough for most corporate users but their limited connectivity makes them inconvenient, and their small screens and keyboards make them uncomfortable to use in the office all day," said Alberto Cieri, senior director of sales and marketing at Matrox.
"The new Matrox DS1 docking station easily enables the creation of an ergonomic workspace and brings much-needed expandability for printers, scanners, storage, smartphones, optical drives, cameras, flash drives, and other peripherals."
The Matrox DS1 will be showcased at the Computex Taipei 2012 event at Intel's official booth, located at M0410 in the NanGang Exhibition Hall.
"Thunderbolt delivers unparalleled performance, flexibility, and simplicity to personal computing," said Jason Ziller, Intel?s director of Thunderbolt Marketing. "Products like the Matrox DS1 docking station help highlight what Thunderbolt makes possible."
Also set to arrive in September is Belkin's Thunderbolt Express Dock, which was announced earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show. It will also turn a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac into a full-fledged desktop workstation with an HDMI port, FireWire 800 port, three USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5-millimeter audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port, and two Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining to another Thunderbolt device.
Apple also offers the Thunderbolt Display, which lets users plug in one 10Gbps Thunderbolt cable to drive a monitor, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining up to five additional Thunderbolt devices.
Comments
What a piece of junk. Why would anyone buy this rather than dropping an extra $50 for the Belkin?
Both the Matrox and the Belkin ports are ridiculously overpriced for what you get.
DualHead2Go is still the best thing out there. I wonder when, if ever, we'll get a Thunderbolt multi-monitor solulion..?
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)?
I see a DVI port but where is the HDMI?
Super, thunderbolt to everything I already have…
It gives your laptop a few extra ports. That does not make a laptop into a desktop.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tasslehawf
DualHead2Go is still the best thing out there. I wonder when, if ever, we'll get a Thunderbolt multi-monitor solulion..?
Serious question. Can't you just daisy chain two Apple Thunderbolt Displays together?
You can but that's a $2000 solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zandros
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)?
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why they cram USB ports so close together. I dare them to plug two flash drives into the thing. Same with multi-outlet power strips. The common ones you see at Costco come with the plugs so close together it halves the utility of the product.
I'd also like to see others do stuff like Apple with their magnetic power connector on their laptops. That cheap little circular plug in needs to go.
See, we solve problems on this board. The universe hears the bitching.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
You can but that's a $2000 solution.
Oh, if they are that cheap can I daisy chain three or more together? At what point will I see performance issues?
It all depends on the GPU you have. Taken from the first hit on the Google search of "how many thunderbolt monitors can you daisy chain?"...
I expect one day we'll see displays with their own GPUs in the displays or an external box that has a GPU or a box with PCIe clots for GPU(s) that can support many more. The real bottleneck right now is the GPU in your Mac/PC with the next bottleneck being the bandwidth of the interface, which is likely to be updated in 2014.
As already mentioned - where is the HDMI? and more importantly, what about Thunderbolt pass-through?
The picture does not match the specs...
You guys are harsh.
OK, maybe they're not going to win a beauty contest, but maybe the target audience is more interested in function than form.
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'?