Following the release of its original Thunderbolt Docking Station earlier this year, popular TV and video accessory maker Elgato has now introduced an upgraded Thunderbolt 2 Dock.
Elgato's new dock is similar to the original, sticking with an aluminum shell and black plastic core, now with added focus on taking advantage of Macs and accessories with Thunderbolt 2 ports. The Thunderbolt 2 Dock also shuffles around the arrangement of the ports compared to the original, but maintains the same feature set.
Just like its predecessor, Elgato's new Thunderbolt 2 Dock has three USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, audio in and out ports, and a port for the power source.
As noted by iLounge, the change in port arrangement has seen the two audio ports on the device's front swapped and now sitting to the right of the front-facing USB 3.0 port, instead of the left. The rear Ethernet port has also been moved from between the HDMI and power ports on the original to the far left of the new version's rear section, shifting everything else slightly to the right.
Elgato claims the dock can support any HDMI input display, even those reaching up to 4K resolution. The Thunderbolt 2 Dock also has a few features not offered by many other hubs: the USB ports provide enough power so that you can boost the charge of your iPhone or iPad even if your computer is shut down and not connected to the dock, use Apple SuperDrive, or even connect additional USB bus-powered devices onto an Apple Keyboard.
The same menu bar utility that enables high-powered USB support and allows for easy ejection of the Thunderbolt 2 Dock is still free and available for download.
Elgato's Thunderbolt 2 Dock comes in at the same retail price of its predecessor, $229.95 with an included Thunderbolt cable, and can be purchased from Elgato's official website. Elgato's launch comes as OWC continues to take pre-orders for its Thunderbolt 2 Dock, which will begin shipping later this month with pre-order pricing of $249 without a Thunderbolt cable. Pricing on OWC's dock will rise to $299.99 once it launches.
The upcoming OWC dock looks like it will have more bang for the buck. Only 3 USB ports on the Elgato? My Mac Pro has way more native ports than this.
I agree. Having only three USB3 ports is a terrible waste of time and space.
Even the 5 ports on the OWC model made me want to look elsewhere but there's nothing better so far that I know about.
Why the bloody hell is a dock so expensive?
It's actually not that pricey. What would be an ideal price point? Even for a TB2 device $250 is a rather decent price.
No eSATA, no buy.
I guess this pushes the Sonnet even more into the future (I agree).
I used to feel the same way, but at this point I don't think eSATA will get any more love as even drive manufacturers are moving to USB3.0 and ThunderBolt.
OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock (https://eshop.macsales.com/preorder/OWC-Thunderbolt2-Dock/)
More ports, more backward compatibility, hi-powered USB ports, etc..
It's just better for extra $15 :cool: :apple:
CHIPSET
Thunderbolt 2
INTERFACE / PORTS
2 x Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gb/s)
5 x USB 3.0 (5 Gb/s) - (3) USB 3.0 / (2) USB 3.0 high-power charging
1 x FireWire 800 (800 Mbit/s)
1 x HDMI 1.4b
1 x Gigabit Ethernet
1 x 3.5mm Audio Input
1 x 3.5mm Audio Output
POWER SUPPLY
Universal auto-switching
Input: AC 100-240V
Output: 12V 6.0A
DISPLAY SUPPORT
DisplayPort 1.2 with support for up to 4K/60Hz, or HDMI 1.4b with support for up to 4K/30Hz
MAX DATA RATE - 20 Gb/s
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Works with any Thunderbolt equipped Mac running OS X 10.9.4 or later
DIMENSIONS
Width: 9.05 in / 23 cm
Height: 0.98 in / 2.5 cm
Depth: 3.54 in / 9 cm
I don't get it. Why not use the ports the MacBook already has?
Docks are one of those things where if you have to ask the question why, you don't need one. They're to expensive to have just because and that applies to all docks for all PCs.
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Top Rated Comments
I agree. Having only three USB3 ports is a terrible waste of time and space.
Even the 5 ports on the OWC model made me want to look elsewhere but there's nothing better so far that I know about.
It's actually not that pricey. What would be an ideal price point? Even for a TB2 device $250 is a rather decent price.
I used to feel the same way, but at this point I don't think eSATA will get any more love as even drive manufacturers are moving to USB3.0 and ThunderBolt.
OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock (https://eshop.macsales.com/preorder/OWC-Thunderbolt2-Dock/)
More ports, more backward compatibility, hi-powered USB ports, etc..
It's just better for extra $15 :cool: :apple:
CHIPSET
Thunderbolt 2
INTERFACE / PORTS
2 x Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gb/s)
5 x USB 3.0 (5 Gb/s) - (3) USB 3.0 / (2) USB 3.0 high-power charging
1 x FireWire 800 (800 Mbit/s)
1 x HDMI 1.4b
1 x Gigabit Ethernet
1 x 3.5mm Audio Input
1 x 3.5mm Audio Output
POWER SUPPLY
Universal auto-switching
Input: AC 100-240V
Output: 12V 6.0A
DISPLAY SUPPORT
DisplayPort 1.2 with support for up to 4K/60Hz, or HDMI 1.4b with support for up to 4K/30Hz
MAX DATA RATE - 20 Gb/s
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Works with any Thunderbolt equipped Mac running OS X 10.9.4 or later
DIMENSIONS
Width: 9.05 in / 23 cm
Height: 0.98 in / 2.5 cm
Depth: 3.54 in / 9 cm
WEIGHT
0.85 lbs / 0.38 kg
WARRANTY
1 Year OWC Limited Warranty
INCLUDES
OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock
Its almost like they prefer exclusivity over money and exposure.
you dont get the entire point of a dock? it's to avoid having to plug in a million cables when you sit down at a desktop work area. just one cable.
Docks are one of those things where if you have to ask the question why, you don't need one. They're to expensive to have just because and that applies to all docks for all PCs.