As far as both the Sonnet and Caldigit boxes, I'd be willing to bet that against the actual production set up for either even existing yet. Since their physical innards isn't all that complicated or exacting (nothing like a laptop) and they're still announced as waiting listed summer shipping birds in the bush, that's my hunch.
That particular Caldigit doesn't do enough for me to warrant a purchase. The Sonnet has stuff I don't need, but I won't even think about it until a confirmed ship date, which could be four months away.
I hate to tallestskil, but I'm inclined to think this is objectively not worth it. As a couple people have pointed out upthread, you can get all the functionality of this for ~$50 by combining stuff from other vendors.
But I do kind of wonder what people would be saying if it had an Apple logo on it rather than a Belkin one.
BTW: It's not a "Lightning" cable that you connect to your Mac, It's a "Thunderbolt" cable. You guys have had so many typos lately. Anyone proofreading these posts?
I have a 2011 iMac, which only includes USB 2 ports, along with the Thunderbolt. I have no reason to upgrade to a newer iMac with USB 3 and thought the Express Dock might bring me faster speeds for my USB 3 portable drives via the Thunderbolt port. Many of you focus on connecting displays to your laptops. Since Thunderbolt drives are few and expensive, the $299 for this item may be worth it if I can use my USB 3 drives for my iMac. As many of the Thunderbolt drives still have 5400 rpm internals, some with 7209 rpm, the speed of Thunderbolt is wasted on these. I could buy a WD 10,000 rpm drive for $900, but already own several USB 3 drives. I would like to improve their throughput on my iMac.
Assuming said thunderbolt port can also pass thru video. Nothing on the product website states that it can. Even so, for those of us without thunderbolt-equipped monitors, this would require and additional adapter, bumping the price up an additional 30-40 dollars.
I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous.
The only useful aspect of this thing is the addition of extra USB ports and an Ethernet port. Guess what? I can solve that with a 25 dollar USB hub and 30 dollar Ethernet dongle, and save myself a ton of money. True I'd be losing some speed with the hub, but really, are there any devices currently out that saturate a USB 3 connection at the moment aside from high speed external storage? People who need more than two USB ports mainly require them for external mice, keyboards, headsets, charging phones or tablets, etc etc. A pocket sized hub would take care of all that.
It's Thunderbolt of course it does video.
The lack of HDMI is nothing because you simply add a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable.
As to the USB hub losing speed it's a massive drop when you add extra USB devices. For instance, it will only ever run at the slowest device connected to it. If you plug in a USB 1.1 mouse because USB 2 seems overkill you've automatically killed the benefit of USB 3 for any USB 3 device. Add another device and you've halved the speed automatically. e.g Have a USB 3 HDD and you add another USB 3 HDD your drives are now running at half the speed of USB. Add another USB 3 HDD and you are now running at half of half the speed. This is why Firewire exists and is also why Thunderbolt is so beneficial and yet why this hub is needed.
USB sucks and is really only good for low speed devices or single high speed USB devices.
Does it need to be plugged into a power adapter at all times?
Yes. It powers USB devices, it powers Thunderbolt devices, and it can power some Firewire devices. The power has to come from somewhere and the Thunderbolt connection can't do it all.
What you meant to say, had you been thinking, is that it's totally not worth it to you.
And in our case we prefer to apply that $299 toward the $999 cost of a 27" Apple Thunderbolt display, which provides similar connectivity — plus of course a large screen for the extra money.
But people's needs and circumstances are different.
However the current 27" Apple Thunderbolt display has only usb 2.0 ports, sadly.
Comments
http://www.caldigit.com/ThunderboltStation/
As far as both the Sonnet and Caldigit boxes, I'd be willing to bet that against the actual production set up for either even existing yet. Since their physical innards isn't all that complicated or exacting (nothing like a laptop) and they're still announced as waiting listed summer shipping birds in the bush, that's my hunch.
That particular Caldigit doesn't do enough for me to warrant a purchase. The Sonnet has stuff I don't need, but I won't even think about it until a confirmed ship date, which could be four months away.
Every clone motherboard has FW on it. It's FW400 but it's on there.
I hate to tallestskil, but I'm inclined to think this is objectively not worth it. As a couple people have pointed out upthread, you can get all the functionality of this for ~$50 by combining stuff from other vendors.
But I do kind of wonder what people would be saying if it had an Apple logo on it rather than a Belkin one.
Dumb question, but if I purchase one of these TB hubs for a 2011 iMac, can I use the USB 3 ports?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cash907
Assuming said thunderbolt port can also pass thru video. Nothing on the product website states that it can. Even so, for those of us without thunderbolt-equipped monitors, this would require and additional adapter, bumping the price up an additional 30-40 dollars.
I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous.
The only useful aspect of this thing is the addition of extra USB ports and an Ethernet port. Guess what? I can solve that with a 25 dollar USB hub and 30 dollar Ethernet dongle, and save myself a ton of money. True I'd be losing some speed with the hub, but really, are there any devices currently out that saturate a USB 3 connection at the moment aside from high speed external storage? People who need more than two USB ports mainly require them for external mice, keyboards, headsets, charging phones or tablets, etc etc. A pocket sized hub would take care of all that.
It's Thunderbolt of course it does video.
The lack of HDMI is nothing because you simply add a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable.
As to the USB hub losing speed it's a massive drop when you add extra USB devices. For instance, it will only ever run at the slowest device connected to it. If you plug in a USB 1.1 mouse because USB 2 seems overkill you've automatically killed the benefit of USB 3 for any USB 3 device. Add another device and you've halved the speed automatically. e.g Have a USB 3 HDD and you add another USB 3 HDD your drives are now running at half the speed of USB. Add another USB 3 HDD and you are now running at half of half the speed. This is why Firewire exists and is also why Thunderbolt is so beneficial and yet why this hub is needed.
USB sucks and is really only good for low speed devices or single high speed USB devices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by appstate98
Dumb question, but if I purchase one of these TB hubs for a 2011 iMac, can I use the USB 3 ports?
Yes
Quote:
Originally Posted by palegolas
Does it need to be plugged into a power adapter at all times?
Yes. It powers USB devices, it powers Thunderbolt devices, and it can power some Firewire devices. The power has to come from somewhere and the Thunderbolt connection can't do it all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilM
What you meant to say, had you been thinking, is that it's totally not worth it to you.
And in our case we prefer to apply that $299 toward the $999 cost of a 27" Apple Thunderbolt display, which provides similar connectivity — plus of course a large screen for the extra money.
But people's needs and circumstances are different.
However the current 27" Apple Thunderbolt display has only usb 2.0 ports, sadly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darryn Lowe
Yes
Dumb question or yes, it will allow USB 3.0?