CES 2012: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock to Launch in September at $299

Last September, we noted that Belkin was showing off a new Thunderbolt docking station at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), preparing to offer users a single-cable dock connection three USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a FireWire port, as well as inbound and outbound Thunderbolt ports for daisy chaining.

belkin thunderbolt express dock 2012
Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock (Source: HardwareZone.com)

Belkin is once again previewing the Thunderbolt Express Dock at CES this week, but has announced that it will not begin shipping until September of this year and will be priced at $299.

Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock - $299

- Quickly connects into a desktop workstation and instantly accesses multiple devices with a single cable
- Adds reliable, gigabit Ethernet connectivity to your laptop
- Includes three USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800 port, one HDMI port, one 3.5mm Audio port, one gigabit Ethernet port and two Thunderbolt ports (one upstream and one downstream) for daisy-chaining to another Thunderbolt compatible device.
- Utilizes Thunderbolt Technology for data transfer rates of up to 10Gbps bi-directionally

The company had previously claimed following the publicity surrounding the dock's appearance at IDF that it would begin shipping in "spring 2012".

Apple offers similar docking functionality built into its Apple Thunderbolt Display. The $999 27-inch display includes three USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a FireWire 800 port, a FaceTime HD camera, and a 2.1 speaker system, all connected to the user's computer over a single Thunderbolt cable.

Top Rated Comments

basesloaded190 Avatar
161 months ago
Still way too much money and the abscence of USB 3.0 is a deal breaker. Cut the price in half and add that and then you have a product people will want to buy.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peace Avatar
161 months ago
Too much money and too late.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dakwar Avatar
161 months ago
The words crazy and ridiculous come to mind.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AdeFowler Avatar
161 months ago
People have babies quicker!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KnightWRX Avatar
161 months ago
I guess that's cheaper than a 999$ display. Frankly, it's a bit too expensive for my taste, I'd rather just plug 2 cables and save the extra over my plain USB hub.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LordVic Avatar
161 months ago
its taken them over a year to come up with this fairly simple solution, and have priced it at an outrageous $300?

Just because it's thunderbolt doesn't mean its a $300 part.

Its nothing more than a glorified PCI-e expansion port. I'd buy one of these at ~$100.
but $300 is gauging
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...