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Belkin drops price for upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock
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MacNN Staff
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Belkin's upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock has returned to a $300 pricetag, the company now says. The product has been in development since 2011, and was originally assigned the $300 price -- along with a September 2012 launch date -- at last year's CES. In June, however, the company made some modifications to the peripheral and raised the price to $400. The September release date came and went, forcing Belkin to push the launch to the first quarter of 2013.
The company is still aiming for a first-quarter debut, and in fact suggests that the dock should ship sooner rather than later. The unit connects to a single Thunderbolt port, but adds several new connections in the process. These include three USB 3.0 ports and an extra Thunderbolt input, plus FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, and 3.5mm in/out connections. As a part of today's changes, Belkin is dropping an eSATA port.
(Last edited by NewsPoster; Jan 7, 2013 at 05:29 PM.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2008
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It seems strange to take so long to introduce the dock. Clearly, Belkin made the right choice in eliminating the eSATA port. Thunderbolt drives out-perform eSATA drives and the only legacy disk interfaces used by Mac users not included by default with the MacBook Air is Firewire 800. Bringing the retail price down is another win. However, given the increased competition for Thunderbolt accessories, Belkin should have come in even lower just to dominate the dock market. With a retail price of $199, these docks would be flying off the shelves.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2002
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...I was actually looking forward to a 'universal' solution eg with esata, however at $399 I might never have bought one... I more likely won't now at $299, looking to a thunderbolt display or $30 cables instead...
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2008
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I want one. I'll buy one when it comes out.
I wish Belkin could have designed it a little better. But they did a good overall job.
1. Two Thunderbolt Ports - fantastic! Allows daisy chaining more Thunderbolt Peripherals.
2. Ethernet Port - great for Retina Display MacBooks and MacBook Air, redundant on Macs which already have Ethernet. Could have left it out since an Ethernet to USB 3.0 adapter could have been used instead.
3. Three USB 3.0 ports - fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
4. Firewire800 port - fantastic.
5. Audio ports - wasted space. Should have been left out or converted to two more USB 3.0 ports.
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