Belkin Finally Taking Pre-Orders for Thunderbolt Express Dock

Thursday February 14, 2013 11:22 AM PST by Jordan Golson
Belkin is taking pre-orders for its $299 Thunderbolt Express Dock and is telling buyers that it should begin shipping next week.
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The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock is an easy, powerful way to take advantage of Thunderbolt technology. The Thunderbolt Express Dock lets you use a single connection to create high-speed, reliable transfers between your laptop and up to eight other devices, including FireWire, Ethernet, USB, and daisy chaining multiple Thunderbolt devices.

- 1 Thunderbolt port
- 1 FireWire 800 port
- 1 Gigabit Ethernet port
- 3 USB 3.0 ports (max 2.5Gbps transfer rate)
- 1 3.5mm-out port
- 1 3.5mm-in port
Belkin first showed off its Thunderbolt Express Dock back in September of 2011, promising 3 USB ports, an outbound Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining, a FireWire 800 port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

In January 2012, an HDMI port and a 3.5mm audio out plug were added to the dock which was priced at $300. In June 2012, Belkin added USB 3.0, an audio in port, and eSATA while bumping the price to $400.

At CES last month, Belkin removed the eSATA port and dropped the price back down to $299.

Now, close to a year-and-a-half after it was first announced, the Thunderbolt Express Dock is here. Matrox has a similar dock with slightly different ports that launched in December for $249.
78 comments


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Imac Sam
47 months ago
I would just like to see a simple Thunderbolt --->> USB 3.0 adapter. Then I would be golden with my Mid-2011 Imac.
Rating: 17 Votes
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troop231
47 months ago
Great, now just lower the price! :D
Rating: 7 Votes
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Crzyrio
47 months ago
I would much prefer this baby ---> http://hengedocks.com/order_horizontal_dock.php

...If they ever release it. I have always wanted a dock like that for my macbook
Rating: 6 Votes
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mus0r
47 months ago
Still too much money.
Rating: 5 Votes
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charlieegan3
47 months ago
I've said it before and ill say it again: this is just to expensive.
Rating: 5 Votes
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curmudgeon32
47 months ago
The only scenario this makes sense for is someone who travels with a laptop and then brings it home and plugs it into an external monitor and hard drives and a bunch of other stuff — and who is willing to spend a bunch of money to only have to plug in a single cable.

But hell, in that scenario, you're spending $350 (once you factor in buying a Thunderbolt cable) and you could just plop down another $150 and have a mac mini sitting there connected to all that stuff.
Rating: 5 Votes
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CJK
47 months ago
Two negatives here ...

#1 - it's way too expensive for what it is
#2 - it's made by Belkin

Pass.
Rating: 4 Votes
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oneMadRssn
47 months ago
I would consider buying it at $50, and I would consider asking for it if my employer were to pay for it at $100, but it boggles my mind that they would sell a single one of these at $300.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Glassed Silver
47 months ago
Everytime a company releases an overpriced (read: any) Thunderbolt accessory a kitten dies...

I heard cats are an endangered species now...

Glassed Silver:mac
Rating: 4 Votes
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iPusch
47 months ago
I feel like I have two dumb Thunderbolt ports in my Mac which will be never in use, they are just there, getting dusty^^ Hope they won't stop supporting them, otherwise it'd be even more stupid to have ports which do no even exist :D oh boy, stupid ports :cool:
Rating: 3 Votes
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