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Kickstarter Project Aims To Make MacBook Air Dock

Monday November 28, 2011 1:48 pm PST by Jordan Golson

The LandingZone is a docking station for the MacBook Air that hopes to become a reality via Kickstarter pledges. The dock circles the end of the MacBook Air, plugging into the ports on both sides of the device and including a full range of ports on the back -- including a 10/100 ethernet port and a Kensington-compatible lock, two things the MacBook Air lacks. The planned retail price of the LandingZone is around $200, but can be purchased with a $159 pledge.

LandingZone is a docking station for the MacBook Air. We love the MacBook Air for its beauty and functionality. The MacBook Air deserves a docking station that's just as beautiful and functional. So we designed one and we think it's pretty cool. We hope you agree.

- Total of 4 USB 2.0 ports; no need to attach a separate USB hub
- Built in 10/100T Ethernet port; no more dongles for the Ethernet or fumbling with the cable
- Built in Mini DisplayPort capable of driving resolution up to 2560x1440
- Built in locking port compatible with all the Kensington Locks; now you can secure your MacBook Air
- Two models to support either the 11" or 13" version of the MacBook Air (2010 or later)
- Beautifully designed and engineered for simplicity, elegance, reliability and functionality (patent pending)
- Comes with US power adapter which accepts wide range of input voltage (100~240 Vac)

The project is looking to raise $50,000 by January 1st, 2012 to begin production of the LandingZone. 111 backers have pledged more than $17,000.
[ 58 comments ]

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arbitraryUser
25 weeks ago
So, there's a Kensington lock on the dock - great. How does that protect the laptop, unless the dock's attachment to your laptop is somehow as robust as that of a Kensington lock itself?

Can't you just pop the laptop out of the dock and walk out of the room? Does the doc just hold on to your USB ports really tightly?

Afraid I'm not willing to Kickstart this one. :P
Rating: 9 Positives / 3 Negatives
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Stingray454
25 weeks ago
Great idea, but.. Why not take advantage of the thunderbolt? A TB hub would be awesome, or maybe just use the TB to get gigabit ethernet. Probably comes down to licensing costs, but I would personally not go without a thunderbolt hub/extension/whatever. Right not it seems to turn the Mini DisplayPort / TB port to only displayport, making it unable to use any TB peripherals.

Also, agree about the looks, hope they make a version in brushed aluminum or similar as well.
Rating: 6 Positives / 1 Negatives
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macrumorsuser10
25 weeks ago
I would only buy one if it's made of aluminum and of the same colour as the MacBook Air. I am not putting anything that looks like cheap plastic on my desk.
Rating: 7 Positives / 2 Negatives
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guan
25 weeks ago
This doesn’t have any FireWire ports and only has 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, not Gigabit. The USB hub connects to your MacBook Air via USB, as does the Ethernet controller. It probably won’t be as fast as you expect from, say, the equivalent function on a Thunderbolt Display. There’s no Thunderbolt support at all.

Finally, and this isn’t completely obvious for the final product but is true for the clear plastic prototype they’ve posted, it doesn’t power your MacBook Air directly: you need to plug in a regular power adapter with the MagSafe head that will plug in to the Air, and then the docking station presumably needs a separate power supply.

I guess for pre-2011 Airs you can’t do much better, but as a 2011 Air owner I would wait for a Thunderbolt model. I doubt they can solve the power problem because Apple doesn’t license MagSafe.
Rating: 4 Positives / 0 Negatives
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reden
25 weeks ago
This isn't a dock, this is a USB hub
Rating: 3 Positives / 0 Negatives
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syan48306
25 weeks ago
From the looks of it, it does not support thunderbolt because the license and implementation would bump the cost of the device to $1000 according to the inventor. Also, there isn't an easy way to just leave it unblocked because the concept of the device is to be able to detach everything by flipping the lever.

Clever design. It's just a damn shame thunderbolt would cost so damn much.

EDIT: "- Until two months ago, the price of an entry level Thunderbolt peripheral is over $1000."
Rating: 4 Positives / 1 Negatives
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spillproof
25 weeks ago
Great idea, but thunderbolt implementation would be nice.


So, there's a Kensington lock on the dock - great. How does that protect the laptop, unless the dock's attachment to your laptop is somehow as robust as that of a Kensington lock itself?

Can't you just pop the laptop out of the dock and walk out of the room? Does the doc just hold on to your USB ports really tightly?

Afraid I'm not willing to Kickstart this one. :P


I think it locks the mechanisms in place (not allowing the handle to release).
Rating: 3 Positives / 0 Negatives
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rmwebs
25 weeks ago
Who else noticed the SJ biography on the table when they watch the movie ;)

I like the idea of this, but it should have used thunderbolt, or at least provided an accessible thunderbolt port.
Rating: 3 Positives / 0 Negatives
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paulrbeers
25 weeks ago

set them up with several million $ so they can hire engineers, management, and pay for an advertising campaign. oh yeah, and get those licenses handled. then all they'll need is a Chinese sweatshop and you'll have it on the shelves at Best Buy.


What's your point? If they can't make it right because they don't have the money/engineers, are we supposed to buy it just to make them feel better about selling an expensive USB hub?
Rating: 2 Positives / 0 Negatives
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vjl323
25 weeks ago



This seemed nice but equates to nothing more than an overpriced, flop IMHO

No tb, gb-Ethernet, FW800?

Like others have said - this dock is fine for MBA 2010 and prior models; not us TB owners!


It won't work on MBAs older than 2010, since they are built differently and have only one USB port.

There's no way to add FW800 or GB-ethernet since the MBA only has USB2 ports - both of which are slower than FW800 and GB-ethernet.

Intel is delaying many people/companies from licensing Thunderbolt. And the licenses are VERY expensive [it would probably double the price of this dock, sadly enough].
Rating: 2 Positives / 0 Negatives

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