A single high-speed Thunderbolt port can link to a lot of devices. CalDigit's docking station is designed to ease the cable hassles of taking your laptop with you. November 4, 2013 2:36 AM PST CalDigit's $200 Thunderbolt Station brings a variety of ports to a Thunderbolt-equipped laptop. (Credit: CalDigit) Intel's Thunderbolt port is becoming less exotic as it spreads beyond Macs to high-end PCs, and Thunderbolt docking stations are following suit. CalDigit on Monday began shipping its $200 Thunderbolt Station, a device that plugs into a computer's Thunderbolt port to provide three USB 3.0 ports, separate audio input and output jacks, an RJ-45 Ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a second Thunderbolt ports so more devices can be attached. That's a notch cheaper than alternatives that have been on the market so far. The idea is that a person with a laptop can plug in a single Thunderbolt cable that links to a variety of peripherals, making it easier to disconnect and reconnect a laptop to all the equipment you may have at home or in the office. Related stories Promise unveils Thunderbolt 2 storage lineups MacBook Pro Retina 2013 teardown: Tough fix, good parts Thunderbolt arrives in HP's mobile, desktop workstations The HDMI port can handle resolutions as high as 2560x1600 and supports the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology for playing copy-protected video. By specifications, the CalDigit dock compares favorably with other docking stations already are on the market. That includes Matrox' $249 DS1, which has only a single USB 3.0 port and single Thunderbolt port but that does have a DVI video port; Belkin's $300 Thunderbolt Express Dock, which supports FireWire but has no video output; and the bigger Sonnet Technologies' $400 Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock, which also includes a DVD drive, two eSATA ports, a Fire@ire port. Anyone considering buying Thunderbolt gadgets like this should expect to have to spend another $30 to $50 for a cable. And if you have a Windows machine, note that many Thunderbolt peripherals are certified only for use with Macs at this stage. Thunderbolt competes chiefly with USB, which is ubiquitous and after a years-long transition is getting much faster data-transfer speeds. Thunderbolt is a premium technology for now, and Apple's new MacBook Pro and Mac Pro machines come with the faster new Thunderbolt 2 version. The front of CalDigit's $200 Thunderbolt Station includes audio in, audio out, and USB 3.0 ports. (Credit: CalDigit)
A single high-speed Thunderbolt port can link to a lot of devices. CalDigit's docking station is designed to ease the cable hassles of taking your laptop with you.
CalDigit's $200 Thunderbolt Station brings a variety of ports to a Thunderbolt-equipped laptop.
(Credit: CalDigit)
Intel's Thunderbolt port is becoming less exotic as it spreads beyond Macs to high-end PCs, and Thunderbolt docking stations are following suit.
CalDigit on Monday began shipping its $200 Thunderbolt Station, a device that plugs into a computer's Thunderbolt port to provide three USB 3.0 ports, separate audio input and output jacks, an RJ-45 Ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a second Thunderbolt ports so more devices can be attached. That's a notch cheaper than alternatives that have been on the market so far.
The idea is that a person with a laptop can plug in a single Thunderbolt cable that links to a variety of peripherals, making it easier to disconnect and reconnect a laptop to all the equipment you may have at home or in the office.
Related stories
- Promise unveils Thunderbolt 2 storage lineups
- MacBook Pro Retina 2013 teardown: Tough fix, good parts
- Thunderbolt arrives in HP's mobile, desktop workstations
The HDMI port can handle resolutions as high as 2560x1600 and supports the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology for playing copy-protected video.
By specifications, the CalDigit dock compares favorably with other docking stations already are on the market. That includes Matrox' $249 DS1, which has only a single USB 3.0 port and single Thunderbolt port but that does have a DVI video port; Belkin's $300 Thunderbolt Express Dock, which supports FireWire but has no video output; and the bigger Sonnet Technologies' $400 Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock, which also includes a DVD drive, two eSATA ports, a Fire@ire port.
Anyone considering buying Thunderbolt gadgets like this should expect to have to spend another $30 to $50 for a cable. And if you have a Windows machine, note that many Thunderbolt peripherals are certified only for use with Macs at this stage.
Thunderbolt competes chiefly with USB, which is ubiquitous and after a years-long transition is getting much faster data-transfer speeds. Thunderbolt is a premium technology for now, and Apple's new MacBook Pro and Mac Pro machines come with the faster new Thunderbolt 2 version.
The front of CalDigit's $200 Thunderbolt Station includes audio in, audio out, and USB 3.0 ports.
(Credit: CalDigit)
