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Belkin Shows Off Upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock

Tuesday September 13, 2011 12:45 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Ever since Apple introduced its new Apple Thunderbolt Display, which should begin shipping in the very near future, users have been hoping for a product that offers the same docking station capabilities without the integrated monitor and $999 price tag.


Belkin may soon have an answer for those users, as DailyTech notes that the company is using this week's Intel Developer Forum to show off a new docking station offering essentially the exact same connectivity as found on the back of Apple's new display.
The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock features three USB ports, a Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining, a Firewire port, and a GbE port. This is basically the same port setup that’s found on the new 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display.

For Apple users looking for expanded port offerings via the Thunderbolt port and don’t want to pay $999 for the functionality, the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock will come in handy.

Unfortunately, there is no word yet on pricing or a launch date for the docking station, so users will have to wait for Belkin to release more details.
[ 169 comments ]

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brainzilla
22 months ago
Will it have USB3?
Also: Will it be avaliable in block-form instead of taco-form?
Rating: 22 Positives
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LimeiBook86
22 months ago
I'd be far more interested in this if it had an SATA or eSATA port on the dock. :(

Still it is nice to see adapters finally start to come out. Let's hope it's not too pricey!
Rating: 16 Positives
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rickdollar
22 months ago
Is it big and ugly enough? Sheesh.
Rating: 11 Positives
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Frobozz
22 months ago
I have a need for this. Apple decided to pack their external ports too close together on the MB Pro. I'd love to get one cable and port to handle all the persistently plugged in peripherals I'd have: my displayport LED monitor, my Wacom Tablet, my FW800 external RAID, and a thumb drive.
Rating: 9 Positives
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ConnYoungy
22 months ago
Bit annoying to have the power lead on the front though, poking out all the time where you can see it/ where it gets in the way
Rating: 9 Positives
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troop231
22 months ago
Looks great! I wonder if they'll make the USB ports USB 3.0? :confused:
Rating: 8 Positives
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aaaaaaron
22 months ago
when they make part 2 of this dock with esata, usb3, and another TB port, i will be interested.
Rating: 8 Positives
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Analog Kid
22 months ago
Putting the DC in jack right in the middle of all the other connectors was an interesting choice... Seems it would have been a little more functional to put the power jack where that cable wouldn't interfere...
Rating: 6 Positives
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sennekuyl
22 months ago

well the basics are

USB 2.0: 480Mb/s
BUT due to overhead of the protocol and other general shittyness (as it was initially designed for peripherals (keyboard & mouse) and not data transfer) it NEVER achieves this in the real world, and has trouble sustaining high data throughput. it also is quite high latency

FW400 (now mostly) outdated: 400Mb/s
on paper it is slower but it is actually capable of achieving and sustaining the speeds it claims as it was designed for data transfer and is also low latency which is why it is used for high end pro Audio gear like the M-Box Pro

FW800 800Mb/s (this is the more current standard)
all the same as 400 but faster

USB 3.0 5Gb/s
while it was redesigned to be better (less overhead and general shittyness) it is still just an evolution to fill a need from USB trying to do something it had no business doing.

ThunderBolt 10Gb/s 2 ways (20Gb/s total)
minimal overhead and for all intensive purposes it's just PCI-E on an external cable, capable of supporting multiple protocols at once across a single cable, it WILL achieve the speeds it says it will and maintain them, but everything else becomes a bottle neck when things are this fast. it is also low latency (from what I understand even lower then FW)


NO! you are not allowed to be so obviously intelligent, yet make such moronic mistakes! Intents and purposes!
Rating: 6 Positives
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basesloaded190
22 months ago

An adapter being a regular miniDisplay port to HDMI cable, correct? (I use an Asus PA246Q monitor).

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Most, if not all. Regardless, the bottleneck will be USB 2.0 on the laptop itself, it wouldnt make a difference to have USB 3.0 on the hub.


1. Yup
2. Not if it's going through the TB port
Rating: 5 Positives

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