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The Belkin Thunderbolt™ Express Dock is a simple yet indeed a formidable way to make the most of Thunderbolt™ technology. What makes it so awesome? It lets you use a single connection to create a super speedy, unswerving data transfers between your laptop and get you all the ports you need! Im talking aboout these: Dual Thunderbolt ports (one in, one out) line up with three super-speed USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, analog audio in and out, and a Firewire 800 port. All these in a convenient device that makes your life easier – couldn’t get any better!
Features of the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock that makes you go WOW!
With Thunderbolt™ Express Dock, you can get as much as eight cables become into just one cable. This means all of your drives, networking and input and output devices will be connected to 8 ports on the back – all of it, connecting to your laptop in one Thunderbolt.
The most direct product comparison for the Belkin Thunderbolt™ Express Dock is Matrox DS1. Just like the Matrox Unit, the Belkin Express dock also requires Thunderbolt cable. However, Matrox DS1 only has one Thunderbolt port and just one USB 3.0 although it features HDMI and DVI-D output. But genuinely, Belkin has notably a bit more flexibility and speed when it comes to performance. This is in particular to Firewire users, where in you will be able to chain a lot of Firewire 800 drives off the dock. It sure is more convenient to gave one less adapter to manage, one less Thunderbolt port on the computer tied up.
Another paramount performance that the Express Dock offers is that you really have no sweat in setting up anything at all. Once you plug it, its already good to go! It works as in a plug-and-play with not an inch of any device issues. More so, file transfer performance is exceptionally fast. Check this out: Thunderbolt™ moves data on two bidirectional 10Gbps channels. It’s 20 times faster than USB 2.0, 12 times faster than FireWire 800. And it means an entire HD movie transfers in 30 seconds. What could be more amazing than that?
PROS
- Simple yet elegant design with a passthrough port for flexibility
- Has FireWire 800, Ethernet, and 3x USB 3.0
- Stunningly fast performance
- No drivers needed – a plug and play device
CONS
- Pricey – but the performance and features are worth the money
- The design looks really sexy and sleek but it needs a bit of a tweaking since the plugs are located at the back. Perhaps it is also for the purpose of not having too many wires in front or at the side – which sometimes makes your desk look messy.
Overall, if you computer doesn’t have enough hardware input/output options, then the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock is perfect for you. Matrox DS1 is another option for under the same category but this device has only has one Thunderbolt port and just one USB 3.0 – on the other hand it adds both an HDMI and DVI-D output. Ultimately, Belkin is the best way to go, especially if the computer you are using is your main workstation.
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Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock with 1-Meter Thunderbolt Data Transfer Cable (F4U055qAMZ)
