Posts Tagged ‘dock’

Belkin’s Thunderbolt Express Dock Is The Best Damn Thing In The World

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Thunderbolt, you were a tech with near unlimited promise when first introduced, but what have you done with all that power? Since my first Thunderbolt-equipped Mac, I’ve essentially been using the ports as straight up Mini DisplayPort replacements, and using them exclusively for powering external screens. But now the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock has arrived, and Thunderbolt finally makes sense. Pricey, $ 300 sense, mind you.

  • 2 Thunderbolt ports, with daisy-chain capabilities to connect up to 5 additional Thunderbolt devices.
  • Gigabit Ethernet port
  • 3 USB 3.0 ports
  • 1 FireWire 800 port
  • 3.5mm headphone output and mic in ports

The Belkin Thunderbolt dock’s design is understated, and will fit with the rest of your black and aluminum standard Mac kit. It’s basically just a box with rounded edges, a cable management channel running through the middle underside of the device, and a row of ports at the back, but it works and it can tuck nicely under your MacBook if you’re using a desktop stand, or underneath the screen of your iMac. There’s even a pair of flashing indicators for network traffic on the Ethernet port, which makes me nostalgic for the days of desktop PC towers that told you everything you needed to know with just a series of blinking lights.




If anything it’s a little bulky, but considering everything it’s bringing to the table, that’s not really all that surprising. Note that this also requires an AC adapter to work, so you’ll have to clear up space on your office power bar.

Computer makers don’t tend to be looking for more ways to fit extra ports in their hardware designs, and the Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines are perfect examples of where things are headed. As a result, I find myself with only two USB ports on an $ 1,800 computer, no Ethernet port, a single input for both mic and headphones, and no Firewire 800 for my legacy devices, like portable hard drives. The Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock fixes all those things.

The three USB 3.0 ports are possibly the best part of the arrangement, as they more than double to total load-out of USB ports on your average lightning-equipped MacBook Pro. Even with an iMac, you get 7 USB ports total instead of just three, turning it into a dream machine for someone like a video, design or audio professional who probably has tons of accessories they need to connect and/or switch out at any given time. The first time you don’t have to decide which crucial USB accessory to unplug in order to charge your iPhone, the Dock proves its worth.

The Thunderbolt daisy-chaining also means I can still attach my 27-inch iMac as an external monitor, though that means the chain ends there. But if I had a Thunderbolt drive with two ports, I can easily slot that in between the two, and still use the display as the terminal end of the chain. Finally, the return of Firewire 800 and the Ethernet provide some much-needed tools for using more old-school, but still very effective technologies, including the various Firewire 800 external drives I have sitting around.

All of these ports and additional bits worked flawlessly in my experience, and the headphone jack actually seems to operate as an external sound card to some degree, boosting volume levels and giving you more flexibility in terms of playback options.

If you ever feel like your Mac doesn’t have enough hardware input/output options, then the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock is for you. It took long enough to get here, and it’s pretty expensive at $ 299 (plus the price of Thunderbolt cable, which ships separately). The Matrox DS1 is another option at $ 249, but it only has one Thunderbolt port and just one USB 3.0, though it adds both an HDMI and DVI-D output. For my money, the Belkin is the way to go, especially if you use your Mac as your main workstation.

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New Toshiba AT10LE-A tablet leaked: Tegra 4, Android 4.2 and a keyboard dock

New Toshiba AT10LEA Android tablet leaked, combines Tegra 4 with Android 42

You might not have noticed, but Toshiba’s been playing the Android tablet game for the last few years. Now, a new leak suggests Toshiba’s next slab will house NVIDIA’s new Tegra 4 mobile chip (clocked at 1.8GHz, according to an AnTuTu benchmark) and almost the very latest version of Android — that’s 4.2.1, if you’ve been keeping count. According to techblog.gr‘s stolen glances, there’s also a dockable keyboard with chiclet keys, but no trackpad. It appears to be more of a standalone dock than connected lid, with the tablet connected and propped at an angle rather then joined at a seam, although it may lie on top of the tablet to protect the screen when not in use.

We also got a peek at the ports along one of the edges, which includes micro-USB, micro-HDMI and a microSD slot, but no word just yet on internal storage and, well, much else at this point — not a digitizer in sight. We’ve added a shot of the keyboard add-on after the break and if you’re interest has been piqued, there’s more photos at the source.

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Via: Liliputing

Source: techblog.gr

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Belkin’s Thunderbolt Express dock is finally shipping, offers its ports for $299

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/30/belkin-thunderbolt-express-dock-finally-shipsoffers-it/

Remember the Belkin Thunderbolt Express dock that we first laid our peepers on back at CES 2012? Well, the device that looks to lend a hand to your desktop setup is now available. After upgrading the unit back in the summer of 2012, pre-orders went live in February with a ship date expected shortly thereafter. No word on the cause of the delay, but the $ 299 dock still offers dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining up to five gadgets, FireWire 800, Ethernet, and both 3.5mm audio input and output. If the wait hasn’t swayed your interest, grab one immediately via the source link below, and in stores before the end of May.

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Source: Belkin

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Belkin’s Thunderbolt Express dock is finally shipping, offers its ports for $299

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/30/belkin-thunderbolt-express-dock-finally-shipsoffers-it/

Remember the Belkin Thunderbolt Express dock that we first laid our peepers on back at CES 2012? Well, the device that looks to lend a hand to your desktop setup is now available. After upgrading the unit back in the summer of 2012, pre-orders went live in February with a ship date expected shortly thereafter. No word on the cause of the delay, but the $ 299 dock still offers dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining up to five gadgets, FireWire 800, Ethernet, and both 3.5mm audio input and output. If the wait hasn’t swayed your interest, grab one immediately via the source link below, and in stores before the end of May.

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Source: Belkin

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Sony outs Lightning-friendly speaker dock in Japan, alarm clock and radio features in tow

Sony outs Lightningfriendly speaker dock in Japan, alarm clock and radio features in tow

Sony may have unveiled a slew of new audio products back at CES 2013, but the company has been relatively quiet when it comes to launching ones that are compatible with Apple’s novel Lightning connector. That being said, it looks as if folks in the Land of the Rising Sun will soon be able to pair their current-gen iOS device with a dock from the PlayStation maker, thanks to the recently announced SRS-GC11IP. Pictured above, this little 0.8W speaker isn’t loaded with fancy features like Bluetooth 4.0 or WiFi, but it does offer convenient functions such as an alarm clock and AM / FM radio — these, of course, go along with the ability to also play tunes straight from a Lighting-ready iDevice or, with the proper RDP-NWC11 model, a new-era Walkman and many different smartphones. Whether we’ll ever see the as-yet-unpriced tubular peripheral hit other markets, well, that still remains to be seen, with Sony only going so far as to listing it as “coming soon” on its Japanese website.

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Source: Sony Japan (1), (2)

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Dell ships its WiGig-based Wireless Dock, gives your Latitude a home base for $249

Dell ships WiGigbased Wireless Dock, gives your Latitude a home base

Dell has been teasing plans for a true wireless dock that would let Latitude 6430u Ultrabook owners get all the expansion they need without proprietary technologies — or the usual cable spaghetti. It’s at last here in the (rather plainly titled) Dell Wireless Dock. The station relies on a bandwidth-rich WiGig connection to give the Latitude supplementary audio, DisplayPort, HDMI, Ethernet and three USB 3.0 ports without skipping a beat. Few would call the Wireless Dock cheap at $ 249, but it could be a time-saver for any worker who just wants to grab their laptop and go at the end of a long day. Eager buyers should see the dock at the source link very shortly.

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Source: Dell

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Google’s ‘Happy Holidays from Android’ gets you in the spirit with an unannounced Nexus 10 dock (video)

Google's 'Happy Holidays from Android' gets you in the spirit with an unannounced Nexus 10 dock video

It’s hardly the most significant disclose of the month, but Google’s cheery “Delighted Vacations from Android” video clip served to communicate even more than the search giant’s sincere seasonal message– it’s additionally the launching ground for a Nexus 10 tablet dock. Detected by Android Central, the curvy black stand, seen at the 0:59 and 1:16 marks, seems rather compact in size, and consists of a raised back to support the high-res 10.1-inch slate. Regretfully, there’s no hint of connection options, and definitely no mention of a MSRP or ship date, so unless you occur to be one of the Google staff members included in this jovial action, possibilities are you will not be including Mountain View’s most recent Android accessory prior to the year is out. However you could see it in action after the break.

Continue reading Google’s ‘Delighted Holidays from Android’ gets you in the spirit with an unannounced Nexus 10 dock (video)

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Vlog #2 – Ipod dock Showcase

Stacks more videos to come over this holidays, plz do rate remark and subscribe. Game plays and even more Vlogs to come Bye XD

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Motorola VERIZON XOOM MZ600 32GB, Wi-Fi +4G, 10.1in – CASE AND DOCK INCL. *USED*

Motorola XOOM MZ604 32GB, Wi-Fi - Black

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Apple Looking Into 3D App And File Drawer To Extend Mac OS X Dock

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A brand-new patent application from Apple identified by Patently Apple describes an alteration to the OS X dock that combines elements of the iBooks racks it uses in iOS gadgets with Launchpad to offer quicker access to more apps from a user ’ s pc. The application, submitted in Could 2011, could be an indication of exactly how Apple is thinking of changes to OS X ’ s existing app introducing devices for upcoming versions of its desktop OS.

The patent describes a multi-level dock, that resembles the 3D bookshelf-type interface it uses for iBooks and Newsstand in its graphic renditions. The component would be optionally configurable, and would include numerous more apps than it ’ s possible to include in the dock. The dock might be configured making use of a settings device offered when it ’ s completely expanded, and there are also type tools explained in the patent for organizing the elements it includes according to different requirements, or for searching for the app you ’ re trying to find.

The app compartment idea in fact has a great deal of perks over the Launchpad function Apple introduced in OS X Lion. It seems like it may be a bit more helpful to the simultaneous computing design of the desktop environment where you ’ re running multiple apps at the exact same time in side-by-side windows. Still, it also appears to have some of the skeuomorphic design elements that departing Apple iOS chief Scott Forstall was understood for, so I have to ask yourself if we ’ ll ever see it make it into shipping items, at least as explained in this patent. Still, it does represent an option to the standard Finder file system, which is something Apple appears to want to move away from.

If there ’ s anything really worth removing here, though, it ’ s the effectiveness of those auto-sorting and search functions. Launchpad now has a specialized search bar, however the other attributes, consisting of easy sorting and labels that might categorize files and applications in different rows on the 3D dock would genuinely benefit use, albeit at the expenditure of simpleness. Rumors are flying that we ’ ll see Apple ’ s OS X 10.9 at some point following year, however, so we shouldn ’ t need to hang around too long to see if any of these ideas become reality.



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