Belkin drops price for upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock
updated 06:19 pm EST, Mon January 7, 2013
Sacrifices eSATA port in process
Belkin's upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock has returned to a $300 pricetag, the company now says. The product has been in development since 2011, and was originally assigned the $300 price -- along with a September 2012 launch date -- at last year's CES. In June, however, the company made some modifications to the peripheral and raised the price to $400. The September release date came and went, forcing Belkin to push the launch to the first quarter of 2013.
The company is still aiming for a first-quarter debut, and in fact suggests that the dock should ship sooner rather than later. The unit connects to a single Thunderbolt port, but adds several new connections in the process. These include three USB 3.0 ports and an extra Thunderbolt input, plus FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, and 3.5mm in/out connections. As a part of today's changes, Belkin is dropping an eSATA port.
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Management Waffling?
It seems strange to take so long to introduce the dock. Clearly, Belkin made the right choice in eliminating the eSATA port. Thunderbolt drives out-perform eSATA drives and the only legacy disk interfaces used by Mac users not included by default with the MacBook Air is Firewire 800. Bringing the retail price down is another win. However, given the increased competition for Thunderbolt accessories, Belkin should have come in even lower just to dominate the dock market. With a retail price of $199, these docks would be flying off the shelves.