RYF? Belkiin Thunderbolt dock $150

[bazookaman]

gabester wrote:
Oh, but I see this dock includes 3 x USB3 ports, Ethernet, FW800, audio jacks and an additional TBolt for daisy chaining.

Heh. So it's like an Apple Display...w/o the display.

[Lew Zealand]

bazookaman wrote:
[quote=gabester]
Oh, but I see this dock includes 3 x USB3 ports, Ethernet, FW800, audio jacks and an additional TBolt for daisy chaining.

Heh. So it's like an Apple Display...w/o the display.
If the Apple Display had USB3.

Which it doesn't.

[bazookaman]

Lew Zealand wrote:
[quote=bazookaman]
[quote=gabester]
Oh, but I see this dock includes 3 x USB3 ports, Ethernet, FW800, audio jacks and an additional TBolt for daisy chaining.

Heh. So it's like an Apple Display...w/o the display.
If the Apple Display had USB3.

Which it doesn't.
Well yeah. There's that.

[Gareth]

RAMd®d wrote:
This appears to be a breakout box more than just a hub.

Does it use one of the T-Bolt ports to connect to a Mac? Is that the only connection? If so, does the earphone jack function independently of the Mac's earphone jack and speaker?

It's better described as a "dock" than a "hub" but for whatever reason various manufacturers like to call them "hubs". And a true TB hub (which would break out to multiple TB ports) doesn't exist, which is really annoying given the number of drive and accessory manufacturers that only put one TB port on their device.

It connects only via the TB port, so you'd gain a second headphone jack (and 2nd Ethernet and Firewire, if applicable, etc). At least for headphone jack, you presumably can't use both at the same time, but that's a limitation of the OS which only lets you select one audio output at a time. But you could use both the dock FW, Ethernet and USB along with your built-in FW, Ethernet and USB.

[sekker]

So far, I like it a lot.

1) Supposedly fast ethernet, and I didn't need to install a driver.

2) Firewire worked great - and without a driver, too.

3) The included thunderbolt cable is tighter connection than the one from Apple, so I'm hoping it's a better long-term connectivity solution (my Ethernet-to-thunderbolt connector from Apple regularly disconnects as it's just too loose).

4) Trying to buy all of these connectors a la carte comes to a reasonable fraction of the total cost of the hub - powered USB hub, thunderbolt to firewire, thunderbolt to ethernet

5) And it doesn't take away a net thunderbolt port (you get the second to daisy chain, or in my case, connect to my external Apple Cinema Display).

6) Basically, for $150 plus a TB/TB cable, you can convert any decent monitor into what the Apple Thunderbolt display offers - except you get USB3 instead of USB2, and you can buy a matte screen display.

[heap1]

I was going to buy the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station, which is similar to the Belkin but got better reviews on Amazon. Then I found out from reading user reviews that with none of these devices can you boot from attached drives. Until this changes, this seems like a major deficiency to me.

[Gareth]

heap1 wrote:
Then I found out from reading user reviews that with none of these devices can you boot from attached drives.

Yea, I noticed the other day that I couldn't even use the keyboard I attached to the dock to enter my FileVault password while the computer was booting up. Had to use the built-in keyboard on my MBP instead.

[Zoidberg]

Lew Zealand wrote:
[quote=bazookaman]
[quote=gabester]
Oh, but I see this dock includes 3 x USB3 ports, Ethernet, FW800, audio jacks and an additional TBolt for daisy chaining.

Heh. So it's like an Apple Display...w/o the display.
If the Apple Display had USB3.

Which it doesn't.
Or a power cable for your MacBook Pro. Which it also doesn't.

[sekker]

Zoidberg wrote:
[quote=Lew Zealand]
[quote=bazookaman]
[quote=gabester]
Oh, but I see this dock includes 3 x USB3 ports, Ethernet, FW800, audio jacks and an additional TBolt for daisy chaining.

Heh. So it's like an Apple Display...w/o the display.
If the Apple Display had USB3.

Which it doesn't.
Or a power cable for your MacBook Pro. Which it also doesn't.
This is not that big a deal. 1) The Apple solution doesn't replace plugging in your Mac. You still have to plug in. And Apple doesn't license the Magsafe connector tech, so it's not surprising third party manufacturers do not have this as an option. 2) Apple's TB display doesn't have a modern Apple connector (Magsafe2). It's only the original Magsafe, though Apple now includes a Magsafe to Magsafe2 adapter.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC914L...219%7CGOUS&cid=AOS-US-KWG-BTB

[gabester]

I'd get one of these instead of the Apple display, you'll still save money when coupled with one of these docks; throw in an Apple power adapter if you really want with that money left over and go out to dinner(s):

$699 http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/produ....aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=210-ACHO&dgc=SS&cid=274439&lid=5138338&acd=12309196890274932

$460 http://www.monoprice.com/Product/?c_id=113&cp_id=11307&cs_id=1130703&p_id=10489