Other World Computing (OWC) today announced the upcoming availability of its new Thunderbolt 2 dock. The OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock includes twelve ports, allowing for the connectivity of up to 78 direct and daisy-chained devices through a single Thunderbolt connection.
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Designed with Apple hardware aesthetics, the dock is compatible with Thunderbolt-equipped Macs in both form and function. Available expansion connections include two Thunderbolt 2 ports, five USB 3.0 ports, 3.5mm audio in/out and one port each for Firewire 800 devices, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI 1.4b with support for 4K displays.
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The OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock compares favorably with Belkin's Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD, which debuted earlier this year. Similar to OWC's latest offering, Belkin's $299 expansion dock includes two Thunderbolt 2 ports, one HDMI port and one Gigabit Ethernet connection. It also offers two audio out ports and three USB 3.0 ports as compared to five for OWC.
The OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock is available now for pre-order with a price tag of $249 and an expected ship date of early December.
Top Rated Comments
FYI...
I've pre-ordered this product and found out that almost immediately OWC invoiced my AX $10 within the hour. It doesn't bother me too much, but OWC should have at least warned me about this and it should also be stated in their pre-ordering process.
I've also pre-ordered, and have the same $10 pre-charge
They did warn you before you hit 'confirm order' that there would be a 'small' charge to verify the payment method.
You could quibble with their characterization as 'small', of course. :p
This has eSATA, USB 3.0, FW 800, but no video
http://www.akitio.com/accessories/thunder-dock
I know that. The point is that no complete Thunderbolt Dock is available yet, and that's why I've bought nothing.
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eSATA and USB 3.0 + UASP (OS X 10.8.5+) provide similar speeds.
eSATA you can TRIM, but I've seen no UASP UNMAP support yet.
Available expansion connections include two Thunderbolt 2 ports, five USB 3.0 ports, 3.5mm audio in/out and one port each for Firewire 800 devices, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI 1.4b with support for 4K displays.
Isnt it a bit misleading to claim two Thunderbolt 2 "expansion ports"? One of them is an input from your computer isn't it? So there is no expansion of thunderbolt at all, just one port out for one port in (daisy chaining).
With a number of single port small thunderbolt drives out there, what I want is a thunderbolt hub, so I can connect two of such drives to my Mac. Technically this may not be possible to split a thunderbolt signal the way you can with USB. I don't know.
I doubt you will see such a product with eSATA. Not enough demand and usb 3 is sufficient for the majority of users.
The Akitio thunder dock has eSATA with port multiplier.... I know since I currently own it.
I doubt you will see such a product with eSATA. Not enough demand and usb 3 is sufficient for the majority of users.
The Sonnet vaporware will have eSATA.