OWC has announced that it will be debuting a range of new Thunderbolt 3 products at the 2017 NAB Show this weekend in Las Vegas.

Envoy Pro EX Thunderbolt 3

Envoy Pro EX with Thunderbolt 3

First up is the Envoy Pro EX, a pocket-sized, bus-powered SSD with Thunderbolt 3. Storage capacities will start at 240GB. As it remains a prototype, no release date was specified. OWC's existing Envoy Pro EX with USB 3.0 starts at $199.99.

Helios 3

Mercury Helios 3

OWC's new Mercury Helios 3 is a PCIe expansion chassis with a dedicated cooling fan and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. It can accommodate a half-length, full-height, double-width PCIe card. OWC said it will be available in the second quarter of 2017. Pricing was not disclosed.

Other products include the Helios FX external GPU powered by Thunderbolt 3, ThunderBay 6 six-bay RAID with Thunderbolt 3, and Mercury Viper portable Thunderbolt 3 SSD suitable for daisy chaining. OWC said the ThunderBay 6 is coming in late 2017, but no word on pricing or availability for the other products.

Helios FX
OWC's previously announced Thunderbolt 3 Dock and DEC for the 2016 MacBook Pro will also be on display at the show.

Top Rated Comments

H3LL5P4WN Avatar
102 months ago
"Other products include the Helios FX external GPU powered by Thunderbolt 3..."

Why is the most important announcement here barely a footnote?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OldSchoolMacGuy Avatar
102 months ago
Love OWC and have been a friend of Larry for more than 20 years, but I feel like they do more announcing of products than actual releasing of them.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
102 months ago
Wow, SSDs with speeds up to 40GB/s. Thats almost twice the speed of the RAM. Not bad!
Gb/s, not GB/s.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
102 months ago


First up is the Envoy Pro EX with Thunderbolt 3, a pocket-sized, bus-powered SSD with desktop-class performance and speeds up to 40 Gb/s. Storage capacities will start at 240GB. As it remains a prototype, no release date was specified. OWC's existing Envoy Pro EX with USB 3.0 ('https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/ENVPROU3S240/') starts at $199.99.
I can tell you this, it won't be 40Gb/s, there are no SSD's with that speed, the bus (Thunderbolt 3) has the bandwidth but that's just it.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MikhailT Avatar
102 months ago
One thing I don't like about OWC is that they list the throughput of the connection to tell you what speeds you can get... which is total BS. Sure TB 3 can do 40 Gb/s but an SSD can't. Not even freaking close. At best its shady marketing, at worst its an out right lie. Stupid things like this have kept my money in my pocket when it comes to OWC.
While I agree with you that it is marketing BS on OCW side for their own SSDs and their SSDs aren't going to be doing 40GBps, you are incorrect that an SSD can't do it. Sure, it can. Kingston has an upcoming data center SSD that can push nearly ~7GBps. ('http://www.thessdreview.com/featured/kingston-dcp1000-nvme-ssd-reaches-7gbs-worlds-fastest/')

40Gbps TB3 is around ~5GBps but less than that due to overhead.

Last year's Samsung 960 Pro PCIe SSD can do about 2GBps. Put 2 of them in Mercury Helios 3 with two PCIe slots and you can get it close enough to the max TB3 speed.

Intel's Optane SSD today ('http://www.anandtech.com/show/11209/intel-optane-ssd-dc-p4800x-review-a-deep-dive-into-3d-xpoint-enterprise-performance/2') is already doing 2GBps at low depth and that's just the first-gen.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
brentsg Avatar
102 months ago
I can't believe we haven't seen any Thunderbolt 3 docks with Thunderbolt 2 ports on them. The new stuff is great, but many of us still have TB2 products in use.

Yeah I know Apple made adapters, but I'm having to move away from OSX sadly.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

'New' iPhone SE Product Listing Appears on French Website

Wednesday February 12, 2025 6:49 am PST by
As the wait continues for Apple's long-rumored, fourth-generation iPhone SE, French electronics retailer Boulanger has prematurely published a product listing for a "new" model of the iPhone SE. The placeholder page says the device is "coming soon," but it offers no further information, and the price shown is obviously not real. The listing was spotted by a reader of the French technology...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

What to Expect From the 'Apple Launch' Next Week

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week. Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Next Week With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro With All-New Camera Bar Design Allegedly Revealed

Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech. iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
M4 Mac mini Apple Video

Apple's Refurbished Mac Mini Pricing Has a Problem

Thursday February 13, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple this week began selling refurbished Mac mini models with the M4 chip for the first time, but this has led to a pricing conundrum. In the United States, Apple is offering a refurbished Mac mini with the base M4 chip, 256GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, and Gigabit Ethernet for $509, down from $599 new. This is the standard 15% discount that Apple offers on refurbished Macs. The issue is...
M4 mini Glowing Blue

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished M4 Macs

Wednesday February 12, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today added MacBook Pro and Mac mini models with M4 series chips to its certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland for the first time since the computers were introduced in October 2024. Some refurbished MacBook Pro models with M4 chips are also available in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and select other European countries. ...
iPhone 16 Apple Store

iPhone 17 in New Sizes This Year: What to Know

Thursday February 13, 2025 2:45 am PST by
Last year, Apple tweaked iPhone 16 Pro screen sizes to make them bigger than 2023's iPhone 15 Pro models, and this year we are also expecting a change in the size of the displays in the iPhone 17 lineup. Here's what we know. Standard iPhone 17 Apple could introduce a new display size for the standard iPhone 17 model in 2025. The iPhone 17 could measure in at 6.3 inches, up from 6.1 inches,...
Apple Ad on X

Apple Resumes Advertising on X

Wednesday February 12, 2025 2:18 pm PST by
Apple this month started advertising on X for the first time in more than a year. The company had stopped advertising on the social media platform in November 2023 following controversial remarks made by its owner Elon Musk. For example, the @Apple account is running an ad promoting Safari's privacy features. The ad was spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The @AppleTV account has a...