Thunderbolt Hubs and docking stations

I think the Sunix dock was intended to be launched in Q4 2012. It was announced, somewhat prematurely in June 2012:

http://asia.cnet.com/computex-2012-sunixs-ultimate-thunderbolt-docking-station-6 2216255.htm

For a while the Sunix website indicated it was waiting for Intel approval (because Thunderbolt is an Intel system). That advice no longer appears - maybe Intel asked them to remove it.

Thank you for the consolidated list.

Thanks, excellent summary.

Would you consider including the Lacie hub? It only has eSATA (x2), but has 2 thunderbolts, so can be daisy-chained. It's on my short list (price $179 being the problem), because I could use eSATA and absolutely won't get anything that can't daisy-chain (I mean, really, how aburd is that, especially considering the price of these things?).

cpage wrote:

Complete Agree Cyberwlf

If someone just build a HUB, they'd have sold 1000's by now. there's no compition.

Maybe Apple is holding everyone back?

Apple don't own the technology, Intel do.

Of these the Belkin looks to be the best compromise between ports and dollars.

cpage wrote:

The Belkin is Available in Canada now

http://www.marketnews.ca//LatestNewsHeadlines/BelkinsThunderboltExpressDockNowAv ailable.html?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

not that $299 is a good price, but for $50 more the Henge offers a fair amount more.

My Belkin was delivered to me yesterday thanks.

I have owned Henge products before, I will never buy another, thanks.

It seems like thunderbolt is a failure, so far the only products seem to be high priced docks that don't have the features people want or some external disc storage. I have a bunch of firewire devices like photo/video cameras and a ton of stuff that connects via USB. I purchased a new iMac to replace my aging mac pro (was also taking up a lot of space)

and as far as I'm concerned the TB ports on the back are useless. I would have prefered firewire and USB in their place. So a lot of folks will be upset that I call an Apple product a failure but from my standpoint it does not fit in with all the other devices I have.

If you're not already using an only Thunderbolt port for an external display (as I do on my MacBook Air), and all you want is to be able to use your numerous Firewire devices, then you can buy for $29 Apple's Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter. Since virtually all Firewire devices allow daisy-chaining, you should be in good shape.

The problem for owners of Mac computers that have only one Thunderbolt port is that if you tie it up with anything that can't daisy-chain (like most monitors), then you desperately need something with (at least) two Thunderbolt ports to get back to a usable configuration. I can't believe how long I've been waiting, and how frustrating it is to see all of these expensive docks that have things that I don't need and/or are missing things that I need. It's really pathetic.

It might be premature to declare that Thunerbolt is a failure, but you might ultimately be right. It sure hasn't been anything close to what could be called a success of any kind.

I just bought the Belkin (few days ago), not cheap but it is extremely good.

Most all thunderbolt devices have 2 tb ports on them so you can daisy chain them. The only device that doesn't are monitors as they have to be at the end of the chain, the last device connected.

Apple's Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter lacks a second Thunderbolt port.

Like I said, if you have one TB port, use a monitor, and you'd like to use any other pre-TB device that you might have (eSATA, Firewire), you are currently out of luck. Or out of a lot of $$ for stuff you don't need.

I don't plan to purchase any TB devices to replace things that I have that work fine. I would just like to be able to use the things that I have: a monitor, a FW drive, other FW devices, and an eSATA drive. I can't do that.

Calling Thunderbolt a failure, even though I get where you're coming from is to ignore history. Firewire is not a new technology, it's had over a decade to get its current level of support. Furthermore even though FW did quite well in the Digital Video Camera market in the early days, as computing accessories went it's NEVER been a mainstream technology.

Wanted a Firewire HDD Enclosure, a FW Card Reader, FW DVD Burner? Good luck with that (they exist, but try finding a physical store with these in stock). Wanted a Firewire Hub? Well, it used to be easy, Mac stores had them available often but these days? Not so common.

The only thing that has been easier with FW was buying an external HDD (not just an enclosure). To add to that, if you found any of the other items mentioned, till the last 1-2 years the 'premium' you'd pay for them would often be significantly more than the USB 2 (+ eSATA) alternatives. I personally have bought most of these things, so I know from first hand experience what's been required to research / purchase them.

So where Thunderbolt is now seems like a parallel of where Firewire previously has been.

So now I have two thunderbolt ports, I use them to connect at times to my external display via the MiniDisplayPort (which has been around for some time now and is well supported) using the Thunderbolt port, connect the one Thunderbolt HDD I do own (which cost a fortune, but also gives me performance my FW800 HDD could only dream of) and to connect my FW800 HDD drive+FW Card Reader via Apple's FW-to-Thunderbolt adapter, which I daisy chain. Even if I had a display which utilised a FW interface, I could still add it to the end of my FW daisy chain and i'd be fine.

If my thunderbolt HDD supported daisy chaining then i'd be able to connect all of these at the same time without issue to my Mac, unfortunately it doesn't, but that's hardly Apple's fault (it's LaCie's). As such, I'd like a Thunderbolt hub, but I'm holding out for now till there is something that isn't the kitchen sink offering but a good old fashioned multi-port hub. The lack of this is Intel's fault, not really Apple's, Intel is the one licensing it, Apple chose to use the technology, so they hold some responsibility, but they don't set the licensing fees or conditions which places Intel as the primary problem here.

xgrep's requirements can be addressed if his monitor uses a FW interface as it could sit on the end of a FW daisy chain and presto, problem solved. If he has two TB ports, then one port will cover his FW needs (daisy chained again) and the other can have the display attached (and should he later buy TB devices, he can create a TB daisy chain with the monitor at the end of that too). As for eSATA though, well, Apple's never catered for that, it is frustrating, but it's not something new.