The new iPhone 15 lineup has been rumored to release with USB-C since before even the iPhone 14 was announced. Now, just a few weeks away from the next Apple event, we’re finding out more about the new move from Lightning to USB-C in this year’s iPhones.

This week, we reported that the cable provided in the regular iPhone 15 box will only be capable of USB 2.0 transfer speeds. Now, a new claim from leaker Kosutami expects Apple to offer iPhone 15 Pro owners the optional purchase of a USB-C data transfer cable capable of Thunderbolt or USB4 speeds up to 40Gbps.

The leak, posted on Twitter (now X), claims the cable will be 0.8 meters and support charging up to 120W. This cable will be sold separately, despite the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max having the capability to reach speeds far beyond the cable included in the box.

We’re expecting to see faster charging speeds in the new iPhones thanks to the rumored change to USB-C. This means unlike the maximum 27W speeds of the iPhone 14 Pro, we could see the iPhone 15 support 35W alongside a new stacked battery configuration.

Faster speeds at an additional price — iMore’s take

So the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro are rumored to be even more expensive this year, with some reports claiming a $100-$200 price increase. You’d expect for that additional cost, you’d get the cable required to make the most of your fancy new flagship smartphone, but it appears that Apple might have other plans.

The argument could be made that not everyone needs such a powerful cable, and therefore, not supplying one helps reduce overall costs and prevents waste. But the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max will all likely come with a USB-C cable, so why not give customers who fork out for the latest and greatest capabilities to get the most from the new USB-C port?

We’ve seen Apple previously do similar things with the USB-C Lightning cable when fast charging was originally launched in the iPhone 8 back in 2017, so this rumor comes as no surprise.

With only a few weeks to go until the rumored September 12 Apple event date, we’ve not got long to wait to find out what’s going to be included in the box of your new iPhone.

You can never have enough ports, and you can never have enough places to charge your devices from. The many devices lying around your house have different charging needs and physical connection requirements. Finding a device that can play nicely with all of them – especially when it comes to computing connectivity – isn't always easy. 

Apple's laptops and desktop machines have, thankfully, in recent years improved the amount of I/O offered on-device after a long spell of minimalist approaches to USB and SD card support. But it's often still not enough to hook up every device you'll need in your desktop working life.

Enter the CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock, a true beast of burden when it comes to shouldering the menagerie of ports and charging requirements the modern workspace requires. With a total of 18 (EIGHTEEN!) ports, ranging from Thunderbolt 4 to reliable old USB-A, audio connection, memory cards, and more, not to mention 98W charging, it's the support station your desktop needs and easily the best Thunderbolt docking station we've used thus far – providing, of course, you can meet its high price tag.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock: Price and availability

The CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock is available now, priced at $399.99 / £399.99 when bought directly from CalDigit, and around that price when picked up from other retailers too.

There’s no denying that’s a lot of money – you could get a whole budget laptop for that cost, and many other Thunderbolt 4 docks come in at far less expensive. But in reality, there’s not another dock out there that can offer this much speed, connectivity, and power. Of course, you get what you pay for then: if you have a demanding workload, it’ll pay for itself. But if you simply need to add a couple of USB ports to your setup, you might be better off with a little less expensive one.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock: What I love

Ports! All the ports! Ports everywhere! If you’ve got a device that can be plugged into your Mac or PC, and it’s been made in the last ten years, chances are you’ll be able to plug it right into the CalDigit TS4 with no problems whatsoever.

A quick rundown of what’s on offer then: its 18 ports consist of three Thunderbolt 4 ports (all on the rear), three 10Gb/s USB-C ports (one rear, two front), five 10Gb/s USB-A ports (four rear, one front), a DisplayPort 1.4 port, a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, two UHS-II card slots (in both full size and microSD sizes, both on the front), 3.5mm audio in and audio out, plus a 3.5mm combo audio in and out on the front. You’ve also got a Kensington lock for keeping the dock safe from thieves. 

Display support goes up to two 6K / 60Hz screens over Thunderbolt 4 or refresh rates up to 240Hz at a 1440p resolution. You’ve got the ubiquitous DisplayPort, too, if Thunderbolt displays aren’t your thing.

All these then connect to your Mac, MacBook, laptop, or PC over one of those Thunderbolt 4 connections. Load the dock up with drives, speakers, mics, dongles, and displays, pop in that one cable to your computer, and you’ll instantly get all those connections added. Likewise, yank it out, and you’ll quickly be on the go again, with the dock ready to be hooked up to another device. It’s incredibly convenient. 

You’ll get some functionality if your host device is Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C too (it’ll work with an iPad Pro, for instance), but expect the performance and compatibility to degrade in line with the connection you’re hooking up with, whether that’s in the number of displays it can support or bandwidth it can deliver.

Those ports can charge your devices too. For instance, you’ll get 98W from the rear Thunderbolt 4 connection to your host laptop, while the remaining two Thunderbolt ports offer 15W. One of the front USB-C ports delivers 20W – suitable for a MagSafe charger – and the remaining USB-C and USB-A ports have 15W. So many of the ports will still provide power to your devices even if the host computer isn’t present, making the CalDigit TS4 double as a handy charging station.

It’s not a bad-looking thing, either. It is made with aluminum paneling and works in either a flat landscape or upright vertical orientation; it measures 141mm x 42mm x 113mm (H x W x L). It has a reasonable desktop footprint then, but compact given what’s on offer – don’t expect to easily take it on the go when the large accompanying power brick is taken into account.

Aside from some minor monitor issues, which I’ll go into, everything I worked with on the CalDigit TS4 worked without a hitch – I got the highest speeds I’ve seen from my router, solid transfer speeds when transferring between multiple sticks and cards (though an external HP Thunderbolt 3 SSD remained fastest when hooked up to my MacBook) and fast charging. In addition, there was never a delay in items being recognized by the dock, the right ports are easily accessible from the front, and the whole unit never got too hot, even when all ports were in use – at least when stood in a vertical orientation, as I tended to keep the CalDigit TS4.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock: What I don’t love

The CalDigit TS4 gets almost everything right, and any complaints I have will be merely down to the quirks of my computing configuration.

One complaint likely to be a universal one is the lack of an HDMI port. While Thunderbolt and DisplayPort connectivity will do the trick for most users, HDMI is still handy in a pinch. That’s particularly true for those using smaller OLED TVs as monitors, with the likes of the 42-inch LG C2 surprisingly popular on desks.

The accompanying power brick is also a bit of a chunker. It’s bigger than my Windows PC’s and monitor’s power supplies combined and finding it a spot among the mess of cables under my desk was a bit of a challenge. However, given the 230W power it’s drawing, its size is understandable.

Finally, I’ve had some intermittent issues with my monitor connected to the CalDigit TS4, which would intermittently lose signal in a way that didn’t occur when connected directly to the display itself. Multiple links in the chain could be causing this, from the cables I’m using, to the ports on my devices, to the monitor itself. So it’s difficult to say if the dock is at fault here or some other part of the party.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock: Competition

There’s lots of competition in the Thunderbolt dock space – but surprisingly, few options go to the extreme connectivity lengths that the CalDigit TS4 does.

Your next best bet for Thunderbolt 4 connectivity is the Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 dock, which offers 12 ports of connectivity, of which HDMI makes up two ports. But it too is expensive, its USB ports are just 2.0 speed, and its power options are weaker. So you’d be better off coughing up the extra cash for the CalDigit.

The real competition sits in the smaller, more affordable dock options. CalDigit’s own Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub will probably be enough for most people, delivering 60W charging and featuring four Thunderbolt 4 ports and four USB-A. The budget-friendly OWC Thunderbolt 4 Hub is worth a look, too, at around half the price of the CalDigit TS4 (for about half as much connectivity, granted).

If you’re using an older Thunderbolt 3 device as your primary driver for the dock, it’s worth looking back at the CalDigit TS3 Plus. It has slightly fewer ports at 15; as its name suggests, it only hits Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth. But it’s also around $100 cheaper.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if…

• You have a Thunderbolt 4 device – and not enough ports to take advantage of it
• You want to keep multiple desktop devices topped up with power at once
• You have an intense workload that requires the use of lots of devices simultaneously

You shouldn’t buy this if…

• Your port needs are modest
• You never work at a desk – a portable dock may suit you better
• You need HDMI connectivity for your display

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt dock: Verdict

If your desk and workload demands many connection options, there’s no better docking device on the market than the CalDigit TS4. Its port selection is near perfect, its port placement is convenient, and its performance is top-notch, whether in data transfer speeds or power supplies. Of course, it’s expensive, but its convenience makes it the finishing touch to any self-respecting workstation and a great companion to the best MacBooks.

The world is changing towards a USB-C future, and Apple is finally getting on board. With the included USB-C port on the new iPad (2022) and strong indications that the iPhone will finally drop the lightning port in favor of the "universal" connector, it would be prudent to understand the ports we see on Apple devices today and likely going forward.

While Apple seems to be using USB-C ports on most of its devices these days, its MacBook Pro (M2, 2022), iPad Pro (2022), and some other devices also have a Thunderbolt port. What exactly is the difference? Well, it can get a bit complicated, so let's break it down for you. 

Two protocols, one port

USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 both utilize the same reversible port, which can lead to a lot of confusion surrounding the two protocols. While a USB-C port and Thunderbolt 3 port look the same, Thunderbolt 3 has some extra hardware compared to the more widely-adopted USB-C.

It's important to know, too, that your USB-C accessories and cables will work with a Thunderbolt 3 port. All Thunderbolt 3 ports are also USB-C ports. However, the same cannot be said for the other way around; not all USB-C ports are also Thunderbolt 3 ports.

A story of PCIe

Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and offers high-bandwidth data transfers between devices, with maximum transfer rates of 40Gbps (or 5GB/s) available. Importantly, it's also built on PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort, which is why Thunderbolt 3 cables and accessories aren't compatible with USB-C-only ports (for the most part; more on that in a bit).

PCIe offers a lot of data throughput — it uses multiple lanes to quickly move large amounts of data. This is what gives Thunderbolt 3 its speed, but it means that if you want to use a Thunderbolt accessory, you need to plug it into a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Because USB-C doesn't use PCIe. USB-C is merely the latest generation of the USB standard, something that's been present in everything from computers to cameras to phones for a while now. So when you try to plug in a Thunderbolt 3 accessory to a USB-C port, it just won't work because there's no PCIe controller in the USB-C port.

While you can't use most Thunderbolt 3 devices with a USB-C port, the same isn't true the other way around. You can plug a USB-C device and cable into a Thunderbolt 3 port whenever possible because Thunderbolt 3 fully supports USB-C.

So a USB-C hard drive you have can be used in any of the Thunderbolt ports on your iMac (2021) or in the USB-C port on iPad Air 5. 

Daisy chain away

Another advantage that Thunderbolt has over USB-C is daisy chaining. You can connect up to six peripherals to a single host Thunderbolt 3 port by chaining them together serially.

For instance, if you have a bank of Thunderbolt 3 external hard drives, you can connect one to your Thunderbolt 3-equipped Mac, then connect a second hard drive to the first drive, a third to the second, and so on. All of those drives (again, up to six) will now be available for use by your Mac.

While devices like USB-C monitors can act as hubs for other devices, you can't yet connect device to device to device serially as you can with Thunderbolt 3.

Remember the port matters

For some people, what exact ports you have on your device might not matter much; as long as it uses the same connector, you're good to go; however, some workflows and setups need Thunderbolt or USB-C that can handle certain data transfer speeds.

What you need to know

• OWC has announced the Flex 1U4 with Thunderbolt connectivity.
• The new rackmount chassis supports up to 128TB of capacity.
• A combination of HDD and NVMe storage can be used.

OWC has today announced the Flex 1U4, a new rackmount solution that offers four bays of storage, PCIe expansion, and more via Thunderbolt.

The new device can house traditional hard disks, NVMe SSDs, or a combination of the two with prices starting at $1,899 with 16TB of capacity via four 4TB 7200RPM drives. Things increase in price from there — going all the way to $9,499 if you spec 32TB of NVMe and 54TB of HDD storage.

All of that connects to devices via Thunderbolt and there is an additional Thunderbolt port for daisy-chaining capabilities. There are advanced RAID features, as you'd expect, as well as a PCIe expansion slot that can be used for various duties.

OWC says that the Flex 1U4 is designed to live in all kinds of business and education environments, whether that's on a film set or in a server room.

The full rundown of features includes:

• Drive diversity: Use SATA/SAS2 and U.2/M.23 NVMe drives for up to 128TB1 of capacity and real-world Thunderbolt speeds up to 2750MB/s
• Drive flexibility: swap drives quickly and easily if/when needed
• Future ready: use U.2 SSDs – an emerging storage standard - in all four bays
• Get Maximum: utilize U.2 NVMe SSDs as well as the OWC ecosystem of U.2 drives and adapters for incredible speed and flash density per bay
• Powerfully easy RAID: create, manage, and monitor advanced RAID sets with OWC SoftRAID
• Use it all: connect keyboards, mixers, cameras, displays, and mobile devices such as tablets with (2) USB-C 10Gb/s and (3) USB-A 10Gb/s ports
• See more: connect up to an 8K display to the DisplayPort 1.4 port4
• Charge: keep your notebook powered with 85W via the upstream Thunderbolt port5
• Do more: add an audio/video capture, 10Gb Ethernet networking, SSD storage, hardware RAID, or I/O card to the PCIe slot.
• Configurable: daisy chain up to five devices or add an additional display with the second Thunderbolt (USB-C) port
• Worry-free: Up to 5 Year OWC Limited Warranty

It's safe to say that the OWC Flex 1U4 won't be for everyone. But if it sounds like something you or your business can use you can place an order today. Depending on who you are and what you do, this could well be the best Mac purchase you make this year.

All the best Macs that you can get today have Thunderbolt ports on either the front, back or side. Thunderbolt connections are blazing-fast data transfer ports and can be used for a range of different applications. They're capable of transferring super high-definition signals for example, so you can hook up a 4k monitor. One of the more common uses is high-speed data storage.

There are loads of compatible drives out there, but we've found you the best you don't have to trawl through pages upon pages of them on Amazon. There are colorful ones, portable ones, and desktop options.

Quick List

Q&A

The best drive for everyone will be the Samsung X5. It's got incredible performance but doesn't cost too much. It's also got a shockproof casing, so there won't be any problems if it's dropped.

The G-Technology drive might not give you the speed of an NVME SSD, but it does give you oodles of space to store your stuff. If you want somewhere to store your stuff that you won't be accessing quite so much, then this drive is absolutely perfect. It's not portable though, so bear that in mind.

What you need to know

• Plugable has announced a new Thunderbolt 4 hub.
• The new hub includes support for Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, and USB-C devices.

People who need more ports, listen up — Plugable has announced the new TBT4-HUB3C, a not-so-catchy name for a hub that is compatible with Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, and USB-C devices as well as offering ports for USB-C power delivery for charging.

The new hub is good for "Thunderbolt 4's full 40 Gbps performance, support for extra displays, and 60W power delivery," according to a Plugable press release.

The new hub can be used to output images to up to two USB-C displays in glorious 4K, too. Just need the single display? You're good for up to 8K images in that case!

All of this is available right now for $189 from Amazon. The announcement also comes with new Thunderbolt 4 cables as well, with a 3.2ft cable costin $33.95 and a longer 6.4ft cable costing $59. Buyers of the new hub will also get a 2.6ft Thunderbolt 4 cable in the box, too.

What you need to know

• OWC has announced the Envoy Pro SX, a rugged new Thunderbolt SSD.
• Not only is the new SSD designed to withstand tough treatment, but its Thunderbolt 3 connection means it's fast, too.

OWC has today announced the new Envoy Pro SX, a rugged SSD that's designed not to withstand all that life throws at it. It's quick, too — The Thunderbolt 3 connection means users can expect transfer speeds of up to 2847MB/s.

It's pretty obvious that this little SSD is designed to be taken on location by photographers and videographers. Those locations aren't always the safest or indeed, softest. That means dropping an SSD can be catastrophic. OWC has built the Envoy Pro SX to keep working regardless, and it'll do it in double-quick time as well.

There are already tons of great Thunderbolt 3 drives on the market, but another one never hurts. This OWC offering already looks like it could do the job for most people and it won't be found lacking for storage, either. Capacities range from 240GB all the way to a 2TB option. That monster of a drive will set you back $529, but it should be money very well spent indeed.

Whether you're connecting this to an iMac at your desk or a MacBook Pro on the road, you might just have found your next SSD.

What you need to know

• Anker's new Thunderbolt 4 dock has 12 ports to its name.
• You'll pay $299.99 to get one.

Anker has announced the Apex Thunderbolt 4 Dock and it's a beast in more ways than one — not least because it costs $299.99. But depending on what you need, that might be a bargain.

If there's a port your computer is lacking, there is a good chance this dock has it. It has 12 in total, including a "Thunderbolt 4 upstream port, a Thunderbolt 4 downstream port, a USB-C Power Delivery port, 2 HDMI ports, an Ethernet port, SD card slot, a 3.5 mm AUX port, and 4 USB-A ports." Don't forget the 90w USB-C PD pass-through for charging all your stuff as well.

Those two HDMI ports both support 4K at 60Hz and you can use Thunderbolt 4 to get 4K at 120Hz, too. Maybe that $299.99 asking price is starting to make a little more sense.

You'll need a Mac running macOS Big Sur or later to take advantage of all of these ports or, if you're so inclined, a PC running Windows 10 and later. Those people also get to enjoy 8K monitor output as well.

In terms of looks, it's fair to say this dock looks a little on the industrial side, but it's pretty enough and none of that will matter if you stick it somewhere it can't be seen. Let's be honest, Windows users have been doing that with their PCs for years.

Does that sound like something you're missing? You can order the Anker Apex Thunderbolt 4 Dock from Amazon now.

What you need to know

• Apple has added the Thunderbolt Display to its vintage product list.
• The company is rumored to be releasing a new external monitor soon.

Apple's beloved Thunderbolt Display and original iPad Air are now considered vintage products.

As reported by MacRumors, Apple has added the 27-inch Thunderbolt Display to the company's list of "vintage" products. It is time - products that are not sold for around five years go onto the list and the Thunderbolt Display hasn't been sold in about that time. The original iPad Air and Apple Cinema Display are also now vintage products.

The 2013 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pro models have also now been moved to the obsolete list, meaning they will no longer receive hardware or software support from Apple or its third-party authorized repair partners.

It's interesting to see the Thunderbolt Display join the vintage product list at this time since Apple is actually rumored to be working on a new external display that could see a debut sometime this year. The only external display that the company currently makes is the Pro Display XDR so a more consumer-friendly model would be a welcome sight.

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, the new monitor would be a more basic external display that doesn't have the brightness or contrast ratio featured in the company's high-end monitor.

It's currently unclear exactly when Apple may announce the new monitor. WWDC21 is right around the corner, but we're only expecting a new 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro at most at that event.

What you need to know

• Plugable has announced the TBT3-UDC3 Thunderbolt 3 dock.
• It includes support for 4K monitors and can charge a MacBook Pro at up to 100W.
• The dock is priced at $219, or $199 if you're quick.

Plugable has a new Thunderbolt 3 dock out and while the name isn't what anyone would call snappy, the dock itself looks pretty sweet.

Dubbed the TBT3-UDC3, the new dock has a few tricks up its sleeve – not least the ability to charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro or similar notebook at up to 100W.

It can also drive two displays at 4K60, too.

As you might expect, this dock has ports for days, including more USB-C and USB-A ports than you're likely to know what to do with.

Plugable is shipping this with an included two-year warranty for $219.99. If you order soon you can save $20 when you apply the on-screen coupon, too.

What you need to know

• OWC announced its new Thunderbolt Hub.
• It takes a single Thunderbolt port and turns it into three.
• There's a single USB-A port for those people who need it.

For the first time, there's a hub that takes a single Thunderbolt 4 port and turns it into multiple Thunderbolt ports. Oh, and a USB-A port as well.

The new OWC Thunderbolt Hub might be designed for PCs with Thunderbolt 4 ports, but there are plenty of reasons to pay attention to it in the Mac world. For starters, it's likely future Intel Macs will use chips that support Thunderbolt 4 and even if they don't, there's always Apple silicon down the line. And anyway, who doesn't get excited about new hubs like this?

When we do get a Mac with Thunderbolt 3 support, we're in for a treat.

Just, you know. Ignore all that PC stuff.

That all sounds pretty stellar and you can pre-order a fancy new OWC Thunderbolt Hub direct right now. It'll cost $149 when it ships in late October.

Earlier this week, Intel released specifications for its latest universal cable connectivity solution, Thunderbolt 4. The hardware interface allows external peripherals to connect to a computer. The new standard increases minimum performance requirements while also expanding capabilities and USB4 specification compliance. Despite this, its maximum bandwidth remains the same compared to Thunderbolt 3.

Here's a look at what the new standard will (probably) mean for Apple and Mac moving forward.

What is Thunderbolt 4

Like Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 uses a USB-C connector to deliver data, video, and power over a single connection. Thunderbolt 4 supports 40Gb/s data transfer and can be used with three downstream ports to share bandwidth. It will continue to use the same USB-C design port and will be compatible with both USB-C and USB 4.

To comply with the Thunderbolt 4 standard, manufacturers must meet the following requirements:

• Must support two 4K displays or one 8K display.
• PCIe at 32 Gbps for storage speeds up to 3,000 MBps.
• Provide support for docks with up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports.
• PC charging on at least one computer port.
• The ability to wake the computer from sleep by touching the keyboard or mouse when connected to a Thunderbolt dock.
• Required Intel VT-d-based direct memory access (DMA) protection that helps prevent physical DMA attacks.

Compatibility

Out of the gate, Intel's upcoming mobile PC processors, code-named "Tiger Lake," will be the first to integrate with Thunderbolt 4. The company also announced the first Thunderbolt 4 controller 8000 series, which is compatible with the hundreds of millions of Thunderbolt 3 PCs and accessories already available.

The difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt

As we previously noted, USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 both use the same reversible port. And yet, while a USB-C port and Thunderbolt 3 port look the same, Thunderbolt 3 (now 4) has some extra hardware compared to the more widely-adopted USB-C.

• What's the difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt?

What about Apple?

In June, Apple announced it was moving away from Intel for chipsets in future Macs. Instead, it plans on releasing computers with custom-designed ARM chips. Despite this, the company says it's committed to the Thunderbolt 4 protocol, which doesn't need Intel chips to work.

In a statement, Apple said:

It should be noted that Thunderbolt support has never extended beyond Apple's Mac lineup. To date, the USB-C connectors on iPads, for example, aren't compatible with Thunderbolt 3. Whether this omission continues on future iPads with Thunderbolt 4 is unknown.

Which Macs will have Thunderbolt 4 support?

Apple plans on releasing a few more Intel-based Macs in the coming months before switching over entirely to Apple silicone. If any of these new products (perhaps a 2020 16-inch MacBook Pro) come with Intel's Tiger Lake, the odds are high they will support Thunderbolt 4. Otherwise, I'd suggest we won't see Thunderbolt 4 on any new Macs until 2021 at the earliest.

Questions?

Are you concerned about Thunderbolt 4 Have any additional questions? Let us know below!

What you need to know

• OWC has announced the Envoy Express.
• It's a small, bus-powered Thunderbolt 3 SSD enclosure.
• Users just add their own NVMe SSD and plug it in.

OWC has announced what it calls the "world's first Thunderbolt™ 3 certified bus-powered portable storage enclosure" that users can put their own NVMe SSD into. It's available to preorder now and costs $68.

For your money you'll get a small enclosure with a 10.2-inch Thunderbolt 3 cable. The enclosure opens up to reveal space for an NVMe of your choosing to be installed, with storage options of up to 4TB available via OWC's own Aura SSDs. Or you can roll our own, of course. OWC says that future drives beyond 16TB will be supported, too.

Oh, and it's super quick, too,

At a size that makes it shorter than a ballpoint pen and built from anodized aluminum this would be the perfect companion for photographers and videographers that need quick, reliable storage while out in the field. And as a business expense it isn't a costly one – though those 16TB NVMe drives won't come cheap.

What you need to know

• OWC has long been a go-to source of solid, quality Mac parts and accessories.
• The company has a new Thunderbolt 3 dock out.
• It has all of the ports video professionals need.

Apple part and accessory maker OWC is out with a new Thunderbolt 3 dock (via 9to5Mac). Perfectly named the Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, this thing comes fully loaded with ports and connections and is specifically designed to be used by those who work in media.

The list of ports this dock offers is lengthy and complete. If you need to plug it into a Mac, the chances are good that you can plug it into this dock instead. Features include:

• Lightning-fast 40Gb/s transfer speeds – (2) Thunderbolt 3 ports
• Easy media ingest at speeds up to 370MB/s – CFast 2.0 Card Reader and SD 4.0 Card Reader
• Bandwidth to edit from your server – 10Gb/s Ethernet port
• Power while working – 60W notebook charging
• Connect your peripherals – (3) USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
• See your work – Connect two 4K displays or one 5K display
• Securely powered – locking power connection
• Multi-bay external drive access – eSATA port with port multiplier support
• Thunderbolt certified for Mac and Windows

You can order a Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock to call your very own direct from OWC now. It'll set you back $349.99, but if it can make your life easier and make work quicker, that's a small price to pay.

Read more comics from The Pixel Project.

Make all the #DongleLife jokes you need, but USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 on the new MacBook Pro isn't just the fastest connection available, it's one of the most flexible. That means any port on your new MacBook Pro can become almost anything you need, from ancient VGA for that enterprise projector to HDMI for the latest video to USB-A for all your existing peripherals.

So, if you're just getting started with USB-C / Thunderbolt 3, here's what you'll need.

Note: I tend to stick with Apple's cables because there's been enough uncertainty around USB-C that I'd rather spend a few more bucks to spare myself any and all anxiety. Your spending habits may vary. There are really good less expensive UBC-C alternatives, and often time Amazon will even suggest them to you alongside the Apple versions. You shop you.

USB-C to USB-C

Apple includes a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box, since that's what you use to charge your new MacBook Pro. Having an extra one on hand is convenient, but the thing about multitaskers is that they multitask. And the thing about standards is that they're standard. That means there's only going to be more accessories, of all types, that use them.

I currently use USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 cables to hook up my 5K external display and my SSD backup drive. They provide incredible bandwidth and incredible speed. You don't really need them until you need them. Then you wonder how you ever did without them.

$20. I keep a spare or three around, just in case.

See at Amazon

USB-C to Lightning

Did I mention I love multitaskers? With the USB-C to Lightning cable you can not only charge your 2015 or 2017 iPad Pro at twice the usual speed (with the addition of the USB-C to AC adapter, sold separately), you can connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch directly to your new MacBook. Likewise the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, or Magic Trackpad. Heck, even the Apple TV's Siri remote. All the lightning things!

$25 for the 1m, $35 for the 2m. I typically keep a few in my travel bag, including the longer ones for nightstands.

See at Amazon

USB-C to USB-A adapter

I bought one of these a couple of years ago when the 12-inch MacBook first came out, just in case I needed it to attach older drives or cables. It's come in handy several times since then, mostly to connect to or charge accessories that still use USB-A to microUSB or miniUSB, like tethering a DSLR camera, hooking up a travel microphone for podcasting, or connecting a [USB A Ethernet adapter ($29)](https://www.amazon.com/Apple-USB-Ethernet-Adapter-MC704LL/dp/B00W7W9FK0/?tag=imoreb-20&ascsubtag=UUimUdUnU42685 to download really large files.

It's the Swiss Army knife of USB-C adapters and so my gear bag is never without it.

$19, but you can find cheaper third-party alternatives.

See at Amazon

Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2

I never really got into Thunderbolt 2 accessories. USB-A was my previous jam and then I moved right over to USB-C / Thunderbolt 3. With one major exception: Apple's Thunderbolt 2 display. Sure, I have a fancy new Thunderbolt 3 5K display, but that just means my old Thunderbolt 2 display has simply moved into another room. And in that room, it's permanently dangling this dongle.

If you have the same display, if you did go all in on TB 2 storage, or if you have Apple's old Thunderbolt 2 to Ethernet adapter ($29) or Thunderbolt 2 to Firewire adapter ($29) you still want to use, you can dangle this dongle as well.

$49, but worth it for transitioners.

See at Amazon

USB C to VGA or HDMI

They're not just for presentation projectors any more. OK, so the VGA adapter is still for really old enterprise projectors, but the HDMI one is for anyone who wants to output video to an HDTV (or, fine, a projector). It's convenient if you want a really big panel to preview — or even just watch — video on, and even if you occasionally want to connect to your main TV to play something off your Mac.

I bought the VGA one just for the lulz but I keep the HDMI one in my bad for meetings and the occasional conference. Since both have USB-C and USB-A out, they even work when you you need to connect to both at the same time.

$65 for each. Yeah, ouch.

See VGA at Amazon

See HDMI at Amazon

Your must-have USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 cables and adapters?

These are the USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 cables and adapters you'll find in my office and gear bag. What are yours?

Elgato's multi-port docking station, Thunderbolt, has been updated to support connecting to USB-C devices, charge your MacBook Pro, and work with 5K displays. The Thunderbolt 3 Dock goes on sale June 6.

Apple made the decision to rid the MacBook Pro of all but one type of connection port, the USB-C. You can get one with two or four ports, but all of them are USB-C. So, dongles it is. Elgato's Thunderbolt 3 Dock really makes it all good again.

It has three USB-A ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB-C ports that can handle one 5K display at 60Hz or two 4K displays at the same time (4096 x 2160 pixels), a display port that supports the DisplayPort connection a 3.5mm stereo audio port for your headphones, and a 3.5mm input for your microphone. Yes, it has it all.

The built-in charger can juice up your MacBook Pro with 185W of power and the USB-A ports are capable of charging your iPhone or iPad as if it were plugged into the wall.

You can add the Thunderbolt 3 Dock to your Amazon wish list and sign up to receive an email when it's available to purchase. The previous version, the Thunderbolt 2 Dock is still available for about $190.

See at Amazon

There's no denying that graphics performance in current Macs isn't the best. There are always tradeoffs to make, and Apple tends to err on the side of battery life and heat management over raw performance. That led to the new MacBook Pro being equipped with the latest AMD GPUs, even if there were doubly-more-powerful NVIDIA chips available.

But there's another option, at least in theory: the external GPU. Plug in an enclosure via a Thunderbolt 3 cable and voilà you've got desktop-class graphics performance for your slim MacBook. This is especially important for folks in the 3D industry who rely on NVIDIA's CUDA system — something currently unsupported in any Mac available on the market today.

Why would you want an external GPU (eGPU)?

The benefits of hooking up a desktop-class GPU to a MacBook cannot be understated — at least for those that need that kind of power. If you're a gamer, you'll want one for vastly-improved graphics. A 15-inch MacBook Pro can drive a pair of 5K displays, but if you try and play any graphically intense game at full resolution it'll grind to a halt. The bigger potential market is with people who need the massive power of a GPU for other tasks.

Modern graphics cards excel at parallel computing — they were designed to render a huge number of assets all at once in real time for games, and that means that cards like the NVIDIA Titan Xp are equipped with a mind-boggling 3,840 processing cores. Modern computers can leverage all of that computational power as additional processing power for tasks other than putting pixels on a monitor. GPUs are used in everything from rendering video from Final Cut to 3D rendering in 3ds Max to applications in defense, medical imaging, climate study, and structural mechanics. Heck, Google even uses GPUs as processors in their servers.

Sounds great. Where can I get one?

Not so fast. The problem here is that Apple doesn't officially offer support for eGPUs. While Thunderbolt 3 offers an absurd 20Gbps of data throughput in each direction, and there are external enclosures capable of holding, powering, and connecting even the fancy new NVIDIA Titan Xp with its 12 teraflops of graphics performance, there's no actual support in macOS to do so.

Apple fans instead can choose AMD-equipped Macs, build out a hacky external GPU for macOS (and lose graphics power in the process), or go play in another, CUDA-friendly sandbox (like Windows).

• How to set up your Mac with an external GPU

Am I ever going to be able to properly use an eGPU with my Mac?

We hope so. As somebody who does both video and 3D rendering on my MacBook Pro, I've been watching the development and struggles of eGPU support on macOS with great hope and frustration. Even Apple has acknowledged that there's interest — asked specifically about external GPUs, Apple senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said, "I think they have a place."

Interestingly enough, external GPU (eGPU) compatibility has been found in the latest macOS Sierra betas, though full support is still limited — the GPUs aren't yet able to send data back to the MacBook, so you'll have to run it out to an external display connected to the GPU (or hack your Mac to think an external display is connected), though this offers a significant decrease in overall power.

In addition, NVIDIA just issued macOS drivers for the top-end Pascal-powered GPUs (Download here). It's an interesting move when you consider that no Mac officially supports the GPU — the cheese grater modular Mac Pro is too old, while the 2013 model has no way to swap out its graphics cards beyond the aforementioned eGPU hacks.

Coupled with the news that Apple is approaching the next-generation Mac Pro from a more customizable route, NVIDIA's newfound support for macOS on their top-end GPU is encouraging. We're still a long way off from seeing whatever Apple has in the works for its Mac Pro (and certainly a few months out from proper support for eGPUs in macOS), but we could be looking at a future of top-end — and upgradeable — graphics performances for Macs. And that's something we haven't seen since 2013.

Updated April 2017: NVIDIA's Pascal drivers are now available for download on the Mac, if you plan to use a Titan Xp card as an external GPU.

If you've got your eye on Apple's new MacBook Pro, you may want to check out this Thunderbolt 3 dock from OWC. The accessory maker has just introduced a dock that includes a total of 13 ports and the capability to drive two 4K displays.

From OWC:

In total, the OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock features five USB 3.1 Type-A ports, S/PDIF optical audio, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, mini DisplayPort, a headphone jack, and an SD card reader. The Thunderbolt 3 Dock is currently available for pre-order at the special price of for $279, down from its normal price of $299.95. Deliveries of the dock are expected to begin in February 2017.

• $279 - Pre-order now

With the new MacBook Pros, Apple has done away with traditional USB ports and literally every other port in favor of the Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port (and a 3.5mm headphone jack). That's it, that's all.

This has spawned many a meme, since folks who still plan on using many of their current peripherals are going to be living in dongle city. So what's so great about Thunderbolt 3? How does it work? How can it replace everything? Why is the rum gone?

Simple answer: Because it can do everything.

What's Thunderbolt 3?

Thunderbolt 3 is essentially USB-C (USB 3.1) on 'roids. USB-C is the latest connector technology, which is reversible and can do just about any job — power, HDMI, data transfer, DisplayPort, and more. Standard USB-C can transfer data at a rate of up to 10Gbps. That's incredibly fast.

Thunderbolt 3 has transfer rates of up to 40Gbps. Yeah. Way faster.

What's it for on the new MacBook Pro?

The answer to that question is "all of the above". You'll be able to charge your MacBook via Thunderbolt 3; you can power displays; you can transfer data; you can do just about anything.

In fact, one of the coolest features of the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the MacBook Pro is the ability to charge your laptop from any one of the ports. The baseline 13-inch only has two ports, but the step up 13-inch and the 15-inch both have four ports. This makes orienting your workstation easier than ever, since you never have to worry about which side your power is coming from.

But the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks aren't exactly the same.

If there are only Thunderbolt 3 ports, how will I connect my devices?

Apple has always been a company that's pushed forward. The USB-C connector is the future and Apple's of the opinion that you either keep up or get left behind. Fair enough, Apple's moved on, but the rest of technology is only slowly making that switch. So how do you connect your devices to your new MacBook Pro?

You'll need dongles. For your iPhone, you'll need a USB-C to Lightning cable. For HDMI or VGA, you'll need mutiport adapters.

That's just the way it's gonna be until the rest of technology moves toward USB-C. It's bound to happen at some point — many Android phones already use USB-C.

For now, however, you'll just have to dongle it up.

What's different in the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks?

The main difference between the two models is that the 15-inch MacBook Pro has two drivers. That means that all four Thunderbolt 3 ports are equally powerful, and you can power two 5K displays simultaneously (if you wear them like glasses, that's 10K! (not recommended)).

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports only has one driver; therefore, according to Apple, only the two lefthand ports run at full performance. The two righthand ports have reduced PCI Express bandwidth, which means they can't support the same amount of data all at once.

So, if you're running higher-performance peripherals, like a 5K display, you'll want to power it out of the left side of your 13-inch MacBook Pro; the right side just won't do it.

If I can charge from any port, can I charge from all of them?

No. The new MacBook Pros are smart enough to detect the best power source and charge from just the one. It's also not wise to try and unnaturally speed up charging. You know… "Kaboom" and all that.

Apple also recommends you only charge with the included cable and adapter, since the 15-inch and 13-inch models use different adapters.

Is this gonna be forever?

Likely, yes. Like I said, USB-C is the future and it's a hell of a little connector. Apple saw its potential, souped it up, and now we have Thunderbolt 3. Yeah, dongles are cumbersome, no matter how fun it is to say "dongles". And yeah, you'll probably lose one or two (and they ain't cheap), but that's the price we have to pay for innovation right now. If you adopted the iPhone 7, then you know all about port-compromise.

I'm not totally onboard with everything Apple does, but I am fully behind Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C, and if the future world is a world where I don't have to look at my USB cable before plugging it in, then that's the world I one day want to live in.

Thunderbolt 3 arrives later this year once computer makers start shipping devices equipped with Intel's "Skylake" microprocessor. Skylake is the successor to Broadwell, the fifth-generation Intel Core processor that saw its debut on the Mac earlier this year. Thunderbolt 3 offers twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2 — up to 40 gigabits per second, more than enough for a computer to drive an external 5K display, for example. Enough to transfer an HD movie from an external hard drive to your Mac in mere seconds.

Apple hasn't announced plans for Skylake yet, but Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 have been important to Apple. Thunderbolt allows the Mac to work with external 4K displays, interface with fast RAID hard drive systems, provide an incredibly fast interface for storage area networks and more. There's no reason to think Apple won't adopt it when the time is right. So I consider Thunderbolt 3 on the Mac an inevitability.

USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 are not the same thing, of course. They simply use the same connector. USB-C is the connector; on the MacBook, it's connected to a USB 3.1 interface. So don't think your shiny new gold MacBook is going to work with Thunderbolt 3 devices. On the other hand, any USB-C devices or cables you buy for your new MacBook will work on future Macs equipped with Thunderbolt 3.

This isn't the first time this sort of interface switcheroo has happened, even within the Thunderbolt era. Before Thunderbolt appeared on the Mac, Apple incorporated Mini DisplayPort connectors on some models. Mini DisplayPort is a shrunken-down version of the DisplayPort interface and provides a way to connect external displays without using all the space required for a DVI or VGA port. Physically, Mini DisplayPort looks exactly the same as a Thunderbolt port. The only obvious difference is the logo that appears next to it on the Mac.

Thunderbolt is downwardly compatible with Mini DisplayPort, so if you buy an MDP dongle to attach a monitor or projector, it'll work even on a Mac with a Thunderbolt 2 interface. But if you hook up a Thunderbolt device like a hard drive or a Gigabit Ethernet network interface to a Mini DisplayPort, nothing happens. In the same way, if you hook up a USB-C device or interface adapter to a Thunderbolt 3 port, it'll work. But connecting a Thunderbolt 3 device to a USB-C port that's USB 3.1 won't do anything.

I'm thrilled with this development because as I've written before, I've been plagued by finicky Thunderbolt connections on my Macs. I know many others have as well. The Thunderbolt interface is an imperfect technology, at best. By contrast, my experience with the MacBook's USB-C connector is that it's a solid plug that doesn't easily unseat or jiggle loose.

There's just something about the Thunderbolt cable connection that can create problems, so I'm not disappointed to see the connector itself go away on future Mac designs.

USB-C is also a lot smaller than Thunderbolt connectors are, so Apple can make thinner laptop designs even on their pro systems. The lighter, the better, as far as I'm concerned, especially when you're carrying a 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, as I do. Even though the 15-inch rMBP is loads better than the gargantuan 17-inch MacBook Pro I used to carry, I still feel it on my shoulder when I'm carrying it in a backpack all day. Shaving any weight at all is a good thing.

So far, we've only seen USB-C on one computer — the new MacBook, which made its debut this past March. Apple has updated other Macs since then, including both Retina MacBook Pros, the MacBook Air, and the 5K iMac. But USB-C stands alone on the MacBook.

Apple still produces new Macs with fourth-generation Core (Haswell) chips, because Intel's Broadwell rollout was much slower than expected. Intel says the Skylake rollout won't have the same problems.

As it stands now, the first crop of Skylake chips won't show up until later this year. I expect it'll be a while before Apple completes the Macintosh's Skylake transition. I don't think it'll happen before the end of 2015. But we'll see what comes down the road.

Because USB-C is used for both USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3, I wouldn't be surprised to see USB disappear from future Mac designs altogether. Apple could instead just make Thunderbolt 3 the single external wired peripheral interface standard for the Mac going forward.

Fewer ports mean less complexity, less power usage, and less user confusion. Thunderbolt 3's compatibility with USB 3.1 means that customers who buy a Thunderbolt 3-equipped computer don't have to buy more expensive, higher performance devices. They'll be able to buy the inevitable flood of mass-market USB 3.1 products that are coming down the pike. And choice is a good thing for everyone.

Called the Accelsior S, the new offering from OWC is a SSD mountable PCIe card that runs at 6Gb per second with bandwidth throughput of 550MB/s. In other words, it's pretty darn speedy.

OWC is targeting the Accelsior S is compatible with Thunderbolt expansion hubs, but OWC is also targeting the drive at legacy Mac Pro owners who may be looking for a speed bump in their aging systems. As a bonus, no extra drivers are required to get started. All one has to do is mount an SSD drive to the Accelsior S and install the card.

If the Accelsior S sounds like it's up your alley, you can grab one now for $57.75 from the link below.

Buy the OWC Accelsior S ($57.75)

Press Release:

OWC's New Accelsior S PCIe Card Brings 6Gb/s Speeds to any System With a PCIe Slot

Versatile SSD expansion solution can be used as a Mac or PC bootable drive and delivers enhanced performance and increased reliability

WOODSTOCK, IL – May 22, 2015 – Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, announced today the Accelsior S, a new PCIe card with direct mount support for a 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD. The latest addition to OWC's award-winning Accelsior line enables PC, Mac Pro tower and Thunderbolt interface expansion chassis users to quickly and easily add additional storage. Utilizing the robust PCIe architecture, the Accelsior S card offers both storage expansion and 6Gb/s speeds up to 550MB/s -- more than double the performance of SATA 3Gb/s.

When equipped with the Accelsior S PCIe card and an SSD, Mac Pro tower and PC users can launch, capture, render and process I/O-intensive apps without long wait times. The Accelsior S PCIe card is also extremely easy to install--no drivers or software are required.

"The Accelsior S provides legacy Mac Pro, PC tower, and Thunderbolt interface expansion chassis users with storage expansion and a speed bump," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. "This is a fantastic upgrade for the legacy Mac Pro, which is speed limited by its native SATA 3Gb/s architecture. The Accelsior S is fully equipped to support the flexibility and fullspeed of a cutting edge 6Gb/s OWC SSD."

Performance Plus Reliability

Backed by a 3-year limited warranty and OWC's award-winning US-based 24/7 technical support, OWC Accelsior S cards have been developed to deliver consistent reliability well into the future. The OWC Accelsior S is custom-engineered for use with PC, Mac Pro tower and Thunderbolt interface expansion chassis.

Pricing and Availability

OWC's new Accelsior S PCIe Card is now available for same day shipping from OWC for $57.75. For more information on the OWC Accelsior S, visit: https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kqzyfj.com%2Fclick-100048246-11765405-1437755345000%3Fsid%3DUUimUdUnU31944%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Feshop.macsales.com%252Fitem%252FOWC%252FSSDACL6G.S%252F&token=-JpPy-O5

The OWC Trust Advantage®

Over 25 years of product design and innovation OWC tested for compatibility, speed and reliability Comprehensive step-by-step installation and support videos 24/7 award-winning, U.S.-based customer support

About OWC

OWC is the manufacturer and upgrade provider of choice for Apple and PC enthusiasts and has been providing OWC memory upgrades for Apple computers since 1989. For the last decade, OWC has been building SSD upgrades specifically for Apple computers, winning multiple awards while also earning accolades for OWC external drives and optical drives. OWC memory, SSDs and a growing number of our products are designed, engineered and manufactured in Austin, Texas. Widely recognized for its exemplary customer service, OWC provides extensive US-based technical support for Mac and PC users around the world. As a member of the Apple Developer Program, OWC also produces a catalog of upgrades and accessories, having served the Apple community worldwide since 1988.

At some point or another, you're bound to want to send the video on your Mac to your television. There's certainly more than one way to do that, so let's take a look at how you can!

First of all, let's answer the obvious question: Why would I want to send Mac video to a TV? There are tons of reasons: You're streaming content only available on your Mac — perhaps a movie you've downloaded, for example, or a video you've created on the Mac. Or a Keynote or PowerPoint presentation. Or a photo album of a recent vacation or special event. There are tons of reasons why.

With that out of the way, let's break down the nuts and bolts of getting stuff from your Mac to your TV. I'm going to assume for the sake of simplicity that you're using a TV with a spare HDMI input, and you know how to switch inputs. If not, check with the manufacturer of your flat-panel TV for instructions. (And if you're using an older CRT-based television without HDMI, it's still possible to get video from the Mac to the TV, but that's a bit beyond the scope of this how to.)

The most elegant way to connect your Mac to your TV is to use Apple TV, Apple's $99 black box. The Apple TV is a streaming video device. Connected to the Internet using an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi, the Apple TV uses your Apple ID to connect to the iTunes Store, where it can stream any movie or TV show you've bought or rented using iTunes. It also has dozens of channels of its own, making it possible for you to watch video content from services like Netflix, Hulu and major broadcasters like HBO and Showtime (provided you have service through a cable or satellite provider).

The Apple TV is designed to work independently from a Mac or iOS device, but if you have one, it's made even better. Apple TV can stream video from most Macs made since 2011 using AirPlay Mirroring. If there's a video you'd like to watch on your Mac which isn't available on Apple TV, you simply mirror your Mac's display on your Apple TV using the AirPlay Display menu on your Mac. Here are the instructions to help:

• How to mirror your Mac display to your TV using AirPlay

Many modern Macs also include another innovation that makes it simple to connect your Mac to your TV: An HDMI port. HDMI ports are standard issue on the Retina MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro. Connecting a simple HDMI cable will enable the Mac to connect to a TV and use it as an external display. You can then mirror video, or use the TV as an extended desktop.

• 2 Meter HDMI cable - $5.99

Even if your Mac doesn't have an HDMI port, there's still another way to connect the Mac to a television: You can use an adapter. Macs that have Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort can also support external displays, using an inexpensive adapter.

The MacBook Air and iMac are both current Mac models in this boat. Thunderbolt has been standard issue on Macs going back to about 2011, and Mini DisplayPort, which uses the same interface design as Thunderbolt, first made an appearance on Macs in 2008. Many companies make HDMI adapters that work with both Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort — it shouldn't matter terribly which you get.

• Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter - $9.99

There's an important point to note, however: Not all older Macs with Mini DisplayPorts can pass audio to the HDMI connector. Most 2009 and 2008 Mac models equipped with Mini DisplayPort can only pass video signals instead (The late 2009 iMac is an exception). Apple keeps a complete list on its web site.

I hope you've found a way to connect your Mac to a television. If you're still confused, or if you're still not sure how, drop me a line in the comments and I'll try to help.

Easily the most useful aspect of the Thunderbolt connection has been the creation of single-cable docks, and OWC's just-announced Thunderbolt 2 Dock is really upping the ante on the docking game. Utilizing the blazing-fast 20Gbps interface, the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock sports a plethora of additional connection options, certainly far more than other offerings, all through a single cable to your Mac.

Of course, this is most useful for users of a MacBook, which already has but a few ports and is meant to be portable, so the fewer cables to plug in, the better. The OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock aims to make that as simple as possible. Here's a run-down of what holes you'll find in its body:

• 2x Thunderbolt 2 (one will be dedicated to the cable running back to your computer)
• 5x USB 3.0 (yes, 5; two are side-mounted with high amperages for easy access and fast charging)
• 1x FireWire 800 (FireWire is back!)
• 1x HDMI
• 1x Gigabit Ethernet
• 1x headphone
• 1x microphone

This is all packaged into a blocky box with an aluminum ring around the outside that matches the finish of an Apple product and topped by glossy black plastic. What's truly impressive is the price — OWC is offering their Thunderbolt 2 Dock for $249. Belkin's Thunderbolt 2 dock offers less connectivity for $50 more, as do a handful of others with similar prices and specs.

But there is one thing the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock is missing: a date. It's "coming soon!" we're promised, and we'll be eager to check it out when it finally arrives.

Source: OWC

Two of the questions we're still getting asked a lot is whether the Retina 5K iMac can be used in "target display mode" as an external monitor for a new Mac Pro or MacBook Pro, or whether Apple will be releasing a 5K version of their Thunderbolt display any time soon. Sadly, as I tweeted right after the Apple's October Event, and later explained, the answer to the first question is, sadly, "no", and the answer to the second question is the same. Why is that?

The simple answer is that there's no port that can properly drive 5K yet. The current Thunderbolt 2 ports on the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro use DisplayPort 1.2 and max out at 4K. To drive 5K, we'll need Thunderbolt 3 and DisplayPort 1.3. That's coming with Intel's Skylake platform... which is coming after Intel's Broadwell platform... which is coming... eventually.

Intel claims that the continued delays with Broadwell won't affect Skylake, but I'll be that when they ship it.

With the iMac, Apple can ignore the standards and fuse the two DisplayPort 1.2 pipes internally with their own custom timing controller (TCON). With external displays, they can't. So, we're capped at 4K until Skylake. After that, we'll still need new Mac Pros and new MacBook Pros with Skylake chipsets and Thunderbolt 3 ports. Then we'll be able to drive 5K and then, hopefully, Apple will release a Retina 5K Thunderbolt display.

It makes for a markedly different dynamic than back in October of 2009, when Apple released the first 27-inch iMac with in-plane switching (IPS). That iMac did support target display mode. Since it was so much bigger than the then 24-inch LED display of the time, some Mac Pro owners bought them simply for their screens. That it took until July of 2010 before the stand-alone 27-inch LED display was released was thus somewhat tempered.

This year, not so much. Even if Apple releases a stand-alone Retina 5K Thunderbolt display next July, there's no target display mode to tide anyone over until then, and no existing Mac will be able to drive it when it ships anyway. What there is is a stand-alone Retina 5K iMac for anyone will to not just switch screens, but Macs. (As some seem ready to do...)

For those who don't want to make the switch but still want desktop Retina, there are 4K displays that work with Thunderbolt 2, including the Dell UltraSharp 24 Ultra HD which hits 185 ppi. (That's not quite the Retina 5K iMac's 218 ppi, but it's closer than other 27-inch 4K displays.)

There are also some vendors who are or will be using two DisplayPort buses, each driving 2.5K, and stitching them together to try and simulate one "5K display". It's not the same as what Apple's doing, because it's not done internally and there's no custom TCON like Apple is using. So, there are negative side effects like "tearing" down the middle when the two sections fall out of sync. Some people may not care, but the kind of person who buys a Mac Pro likely will. A lot.

If you haven't bought yet, and you're still trying to decide between the Retina 5K iMac and Mac Pro, you'll either want to go iMac now, or wait and go updated Mac Pro and Retina 5K Thunderbolt display whenever those currently-mythical beasts gets announced.

• Starting at $2,499 - Buy now

Apple's fall 2014 event brought with it an all new iPad Air 2, a somewhat updated iPad mini 3, gorgeous new retina iMacs, and finally, an update to the very long in the tooth Mac mini. Make no mistake, this was no small event for Apple and they delivered on a lot. However, there are still a few things that were either rumored or expected that didn't seem make the cut this fall.

Retina MacBook Air

It's arguable that a Retina Display MacBook Air has been one of the most highly anticipated items of the year. Unfortunately, it's most likely not going to happen until the spring at the earliest. Most of this can be attributed to Intel's continued delays of their new Broadwell chips that would bring power consumption in line with what Apple would expect in the MacBook Air line. A Retina Display draws a lot more power and portable computers are a little more tricky than desktop computers, because you know, battery.

So for now, we have Retina iMacs, which are an amazing upgrade in their own right.

iPad mini 3 performance boosts

One of the only things that disappointed me personally during this event was how much of a shaft the third generation iPad mini got. Not only does it not get the [new A8X chip](http://, it also didn't get an upgraded camera or 802.11ac support. Basically, the iPad mini 3 with Retina Display is pretty much what we got last year with the addition of Touch ID, a gold option, and upgraded storage.

For people that really wanted the power of an iPad Air in a smaller form factor, the iPad mini 3 unfortunately isn't it.

NFC-enabled iPads

The new iPads were rumored by many sources to receive NFC capabilities for use with Apple Pay. While we never really fancied the idea of tapping to pay with an iPad, we know there are some folks out there that for one reason or another, wanted to see an NFC capable iPad.

Looks like we'll have to wait at least another year to witness people dropping their iPads off a Starbucks counter while trying to use Apple Pay. Damn...

iPad Pro

Rumors of an iPad Pro were growing rather persistent as we neared launch, specifically a 12.9" model. If I were to take an educated guess on why, I'd almost certainly think it may have to do with Apple not being able to get battery life where it needs to be for a screen that large. If you remember, the iPad 2 never received a Retina Display for what was believed to be a similar reason.

For whatever reason, it's not going to see the light of day this year. When Apple feels comfortable with the performance, it's probably a product we'll see.

5K Thunderbolt 2 display

This is one thing I know a lot of my colleagues and many designers really wanted to see happen. Considering the new Retina Display iMacs pack a 5K display, it isn't unreasonable to assume that Apple could easily adapt the same technology into a standalone Apple display. However, for some reason they decided not to follow through on that.

However, a 5K display may be something that Apple opted not to devote stage time to. At this point, I wouldn't rule out the fact that we may see it eventually crop up in a press release or just appear in the online Apple Store.

Apple TV

Some people were really hoping for a refreshed Apple TV, even though we had a feeling it wouldn't see the light of day until next spring. When iOS 8 was released in September, newer revisions of the Apple TV received a decent update that overhauled the entire interface. And for now, that's going to have to be enough to hold us over until spring.

New iPod touches

The iPod touch hasn't been updated since the fall of 2012 and is starting to show its age. There's no Touch ID support and even though it supports the latest version of iOS, it can't take advantage of many features simply due to its age. While we didn't expect to see new iPod touches at this event, it's still an item in Apple's lineup that's still biding its time.

Your impressions?

If you tuned into Apple's live stream or followed our coverage live, are there any items you were secretly crossing your fingers for that aren't listed above? If so, be sure to let me know what as well as your opinions on today's announcements in the comments!

If you're a MacBook user with a desktop set-up, Belkin's new Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD might be just the salvation you've been looking for. Instead of sitting down and hooking up your MagSafe power adapter, an HDMI or Mini DisplayPort to your monitor, 3.5mm cable to your speakers, and filling up your two USB ports with more gadgets, you can scale back to just power and a single Thunderbolt cable. This isn't Belkin's first Thunderbolt dock, but it's their first with blazing-fast Thunderbolt 2 built-in.

Here's everything that the Belking Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD offers:

• Two Thunderbolt 2 Ports
• One HDMI Port
• Three USB 3.0 Ports + charging support
• One Audio Out Port
• One Audio Out Port with mic support
• One Gigabit Ethernet Port
• One AC/DC Power Input

And because it's even-speedier Thunderbolt 2, the dock is capable of support an attached 4K display, and can daisy-chain four more Thunderbolt devices past that. Additionally, you can still hook up another display to that HDMI port.

So you can hook up two monitors, speakers, headphones, hard line internet, and multiple USB devices — all with one cable. Though that comes at a price — $299.99. You can buy the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD now direct from Belkin, with availability from third-party retailers expected later in October.

Thunderbolt is awesome, wouldn't you say?

Source: Belkin

We all have our big and little wishes for WWDC 2014 next week. The grand unveiling of OS X 10.10 is a forgone conclusion, and we're seeing pundits and analysts chime in on what they expect to see. Our own Rene Ritchie offered his thoughts this morning on what he'd like to see regarding iOS 8. For my part, among the hardware hopes that I have is a replacement for Apple's aged Thunderbolt Display.

Apple doesn't sell a lot of Thunderbolt Displays. At least that's my experience working for a third-party reseller for the past year. But people who buy them are usually outfitting Mac Pros or other high-end, murdered-out Mac workstations built around a loaded up 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro or even a 27-inch iMac. And most people who get them love them. They're excellent monitors.

At $999, Apple Thunderbolt Displays are expensive - the very high end of the 27-inch display spectrum — but they're well-calibrated, easy to work with and they integrate well into a Mac workstation. The display offers three USB ports, a FireWire 800 port, Gigabit Ethernet and a Thunderbolt port, making it an expansion interface of its own for a companion MacBook connected with a single, thin Thunderbolt cable. A nice way to reduce clutter and wear and tear on the connectors of your laptop, to be sure.

The very design of the current Thunderbolt Display is showing its age, however. It came out in July of 2011m, and it closely resembles the iMac of that year, enough so that my customers regularly confuse it with an iMac. But upon closer inspection it's clear that it's not an iMac. It's too thick to be an iMac.

But in 2012, Apple redesigned the iMac. One of the things they did was make the iMac a lot thinner. The Thunderbolt Display still has a thick bezel around the edge, the chunkier design more reminiscent of iMacs that still have internal CD/DVD drives. If you stay up to date on Apple's design trends, the Thunderbolt Display just looks older.

Next, let's look at the expansion options: Three USB ports. Correction — three USB 2.0 ports. USB 3.0 is now standard across the Mac product line, and is practically ubiquitous now when you're shopping for an external hard drive. USB 3.0 is up to ten times faster (on paper, anyway) — it definitely makes a difference for some applications, like cheap external storage.

FireWire 800 and Gigabit Ethernet come in handy if you have a legacy device you need to connect or want to hardware your workstation to a Local Area Network (LAN). But let's look at the Thunderbolt port.

The current Thunderbolt Display uses the original Thunderbolt interface instead of the twice-as-fast Thunderbolt 2. Thunderbolt 2 is now standard issue on the Mac Pro and the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, two systems primed for use with the Thunderbolt Display. Presumably Thunderbolt 2 will be adopted across the rest of the product line before too long.

For laptop users, the Thunderbolt Display even offers a MagSafe power charger, so you can top up your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro without having to haul out an additional AC charger. But the Thunderbolt Display sports the original MagSafe adapter, instead of the MagSafe 2 interface that all the newer Mac laptops now sport. Apple includes a MagSafe 2 adapter in the box, to bridge the connection to newer laptops. But it's one more thing to misplace on your desk.

2560 x 1440 resolution in a 27-inch screen is enough for me to get lost in. Heck, sometimes I have to jiggle around the cursor just so I can get my bearings, it's so big. That's one reason I'm not convinced that Apple has to go 4K with the next Thunderbolt Display. Another is because 4K support is still relatively limited across the Mac line. Mac users who need it can opt for a third-party DisplayPort-equipped monitor that better meets their needs.

Will we see a new Thunderbolt Display next week? I have no idea. Looking at Apple's release schedule, five of the past nine Apple-branded displays were released in the summer, though of those, not all appeared at WWDCs.

Still, I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'd love to see a shiny new Thunderbolt Display show up on stage next week.

How about you? Any interested in a Thunderbolt 2 Display? Or is it silly for Apple to keep making external displays at all? Sound off in the comments — I can't wait to read what you have to say.

That Mac Pro that's taking up space on your desk can be faster, better, stronger with new upgrades from OWC. The new turnkey upgrade program lets you send in your shiny new Mac Pro to OWC, have their Apple Certified technicians swap out your piddly old chips for powerful new ones, and then ship it right back to you, more capable than ever.

OWC's offering the option to upgrade the Mac Pro's processor to the latest Intel Xeon processors, from the 8-core 2.6GHz chip for $1498 to a 12-core 2.7GHz processor at a whopping $2978, saving up to 30% in the process than if you had ordered it that way from Apple. In addition to those processors, you can upgrade with OWC's MaxRAM to an obscene 128GB of memory. Apple only offers up to 64GB of RAM in the Mac Pro (four 16GB sticks), and even then OWC's 64GB upgrade is 48% cheaper than Apple's.

The Mac Pro is a pretty crazy machine to begin with, but you'll also pay a pretty crazy price for it. With OWC's new upgrades, you'll still be paying a lot, but not quite so much. Plus, if you're willing to part with your old RAM, OWC will give you up to $500 to trade in your old RAM. Is it a good deal? Perhaps the few of us that have a Mac Pro can gain some benefit. Let us know in the comments what you think.

Press release:

OWC Introduces Intel Xeon Processor and OWC Memory Turnkey Upgrades for Latest Apple Mac Pro 2013

Four Processors Available from 8-Core to 12-Core, Save Up To 31% vs. Factory

April 1, 2014, Woodstock, IL — Other World Computing (OWC®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC upgrade and storage technology company, today officially introduced Intel Xeon processor and OWC memory turnkey upgrades for the latest Apple Mac Pro 2013. Options include 8-Core, 10-Core, and 12-Core models. The processors are fully compliant with Apple technical specifications and power requirements and are fully tested, qualified, and guaranteed to meet or exceed the processors available from Apple.

Full Service Turnkey Upgrades

The OWC Turnkey Upgrade Program includes professional installation and testing by OWC's Apple Certified technicians, shipping both ways, and options to upgrade memory, add Thunderbolt technology external storage solutions to your order and extend the included OWC one-year limited warranty to three years.

Configuration Page Displays Options and Computes Pricing

An easy to use configuration page makes the selection process fast and provides accurate pricing for desired options: https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kqzyfj.com%2Fclick-100048246-11765405-1437755345000%3Fsid%3DUUimUdUnU23719%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Feshop.macsales.com%252Fshop%252Fturnkey%252FMacPro2013%252F2013_Xeon_Processor%252FApple_Mac_Pro_2013&token=2N0bHZ7j

The process begins by selecting the original processor and continues with the four new processor options. Next, choose to add up to 128GB of OWC MaxRAM® certified memory, to extend the included one-year limited warranty to three years, and to add Thunderbolt technology external storage devices to the order. Return shipping is included with expedited shipping options available.

OWC Turnkey Server Class Processor Upgrade options for Mac Pro 2013 models:

• Intel Xeon E5-2650 v2 8-Core 2.6GHz* with 20MB Cache, 25% faster**, $1498
• Intel Xeon E5-2667 v2 8-Core 3.3GHz with 25MB Cache, 41% faster**, $2448
• Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2 10-Core 3.0GHz* with 25MB Cache, 45% faster**, $2396
• Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 12-Core 2.7GHz with 30MB Cache, 46% faster**, $2978
• Not available from Apple.

** Compared vs. base factory offered processor. PassMark® Software CPU Benchmarks: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html Note: Pricing includes trade-in of original factory processor.

Mac Pro 2013 Quad-Core Processor Upgrades vs Factory

OWC not only offers processor upgrades that will meet or beat factory specs but that can save up to 31% vs factory prices.

• Intel Xeon E5-2667 v2 8-Core 3.3GHz* with 25MB Cache, $2448: Server Class processor with 10% higher CPU Clock performance vs. Factory E5-1680 8-Core 3.0GHz Option.
• Intel Xeon E5-2690 v2 10-Core 3.0GHz* with 25MB Cache, $2396: Savings of up to 31% (save up to $1104) vs. $3500 for factory 12-core 2.7GHz model.
• Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 12-Core 2.7GHz with 30MB Cache, $2978: Savings of up to 15% (save up to $522) vs. same factory processor option $3500.
• Not available from Apple.

Savings up to 48% Versus Same Sized Factory RAM Upgrades

OWC, offers 32GB, 64GB and 96GB, and 128GB options for the Mac Pro 2013 as part of the Turnkey Upgrade program, with savings of up to 48% compared to same sized factory upgrades:

• OWC 32GB Kit (8GB x 4) $449.00: Savings of up to 44% (save up to $351) vs. $800*
• OWC 64GB Kit (16GB x 4) $829.00: Savings of up to 48% (save up to $771) vs. $1,600*
• OWC 96GB Kit (32GB x 3) $1699.99 (Not available from Apple)
• OWC 128GB Kit (32GB x 4) $2129.99 (Not available from Apple)
• Savings comparison based on Apple Store memory upgrade pricing as of April 1, 2014.

Memory upgrade kits for Apple Mac Pro are also available separately for user 'DIY' installation. OWC guide makes selection easy: https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kqzyfj.com%2Fclick-100048246-11765405-1437755345000%3Fsid%3DUUimUdUnU23719%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Feshop.macsales.com%252Fshop%252Fmemory%252FMac-Pro-Memory&token=L3YScieM

OWC Turnkey Upgrade Offers Service, Options, Savings

"OWC makes upgrading easy with our full service turnkey upgrades for the Mac Pro 2013," said Larry O'Connor, OWC Founder and CEO. "Not only can we upgrade your new Mac Pro with the best processors and memory, but we will give you credit for your original Apple processors and memory to save you even more. Get the best service and performance while saving up to 31% on processors and up to 48% on memory. Just send us your Mac Pro and we will return it with all the extra performance you need."

More Savings Available with OWC Rebate Program

After upgrading with an OWC Apple Mac Pro 2013 Memory Option, customers can save even more with OWC's Trade-in Rebate for the original factory memory. Receive up to $500 for Apple factory or OWC modules removed from any Mac Pro 2013 model. For complete details, see: https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kqzyfj.com%2Fclick-100048246-11765405-1437755345000%3Fsid%3DUUimUdUnU23719%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Feshop.macsales.com%252Ftech_center%252Fsupport%252Frebates%252Fmemory.cfm&token=RhIlTtXA

OWC MaxRAM Memory Certification Program Provides Comprehensive Testing and Certification By maintaining not one, but two labs with multiple Apple Mac models that encompass nearly every Apple Mac model ever made, the OWC MaxRAM Memory Certification Program determines the maximum amount of memory that can be installed in a Mac, backed by OWC's Lifetime Advance Replacement Limited Warranty and 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.

OWC – The Long-term, Trusted Name for Mac Memory

OWC memory upgrades are available from 16MB to 128GB for nearly every current and past Apple notebook and desktop computer manufactured during the past twenty years, including Mac Pro Xeon, MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, Power Mac, Xserve, iBook, and PowerBook computers. The full OWC Memory line as well as a compatibility guide which directs customers to the correct upgrades for each specific Apple model, can be found online at: https://www.imore.com/e?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kqzyfj.com%2Fclick-100048246-11765405-1437755345000%3Fsid%3DUUimUdUnU23719%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Feshop.macsales.com%252Fshop%252Fapple%252Fmemory%252F&token=Oq6w0LAk

Source: OWC

Storage peripheral maker La Cie is showing off new hard drive designs at this week's CES in Las Vegas. Among them is Fuel, an external hard drive aimed at iOS devices, the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2, and Sphèro, a designer external hard drive clad in silver.

Fuel is a 1 TB external hard drive that connects with iOS devices over Wi-Fi. It features up to 10 hours of battery life per charge, and communicates with the iOS device using a free downloadable app from Seagate called Seagate Media App. As a Wi-Fi device it'll work with other Wi-Fi-compatible systems like the Mac. It will create its own Wi-Fi network, for use anywhere, and it can also connect to another Wi-Fi hotspot, providing up to four connected devices with internet access. Fuel is priced at $199.99.

If you've invested in a new Retina MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 2, or if you're looking for a small external drive for you new Mac Pro, you might be interested in the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2. It's a 1 terabyte Thunderbolt 2-equipped system that encloses two Solid State Drive (SSD) mechanisms configured in a RAID. La Cie claims that it can read at 1,375 MB/s and write at 1,180 MB/s. On the back is two Thunderbolt 2 ports, so it can be part of a daisy chain. The best part is the size - this drive measures 5.5 inches long by 3.3 inches high by 1.6 inches wide and weighs about a pound and a half - very easy to slip into a backpack and take with you on the road with your Retina MacBook Pro. Price wasn't announced, but LaCie says to expect it in the first calendar quarter of 2014.

LaCie has long been known to invest a lot in the design of their products, and nowhere is that more evident than in Sphère, an odd new external hard drive cum desktop sculpture created in coordination with French flatware maker Christofle. Sphère is, as the name implies, spherical, and hand-clad in polished silver. It's a bus-powered USB drive with a 1 TB mechanism inside and a blue activity light on its base. It's priced at a staggering $490 and is expected to ship this month.

Look, I say this as someone who owns a LaCie Porsche Design P'9220 external drive - there's a finite limit on what you can reasonably charge someone for design. No 1 TB USB drive is worth $490. All putting a Sphère on your desk says is that you have a lot more money than sense. I just find Sphère to be a bunch of overwrought, pretentious, artsy nonsense.

Having said that, Fuel is a really nifty idea - it'll be interesting to see if it works as well in practice as it's described by LaCie. And the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 is an object of technology lust - a fast-as-hell external SSD RAID with a blazing fast interface on it.

But that's my opinion - what's yours? Is LaCie's new kit worth the dough? Which drive has your interest? Sound off in the forums.

Mobile Nations has plenty of boots on the ground in Vegas this week. Check out everything we're reporting from CES this week by bookmarking our #CESlive page.

CalDigit's Thunderbolt Station is one of a new class of peripherals designed for Thunderbolt-equipped Macs. It uses the prodigious bandwidth of the Thunderbolt connection on new Macs to connect a variety of peripherals over USB, Thunderbolt, Ethernet and more. Does it work well, and is it worth the money? Let's have a look!

The Retina MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are great machines, but one area Apple skimped on - because of size constraints - is the number of available ports. Compared to an iMac or Mac mini, or even the venerable non-Retina MacBook Pro, newer laptops come up short - no Ethernet port, for example. Fewer USB 3.0 ports. And so on. Fortunately, if you need port expansion, there's an answer: CalDigit's Thunderbolt Station. It's a $199 peripheral that increases the expandability of your Mac dramatically.

The Thunderbolt Station comes in a powdered aluminum finish, to match the exterior of your Mac. While no one would mistake it for an Apple design (if, for no other reason, the prominent CalDigit logo on its top), its color is close enough to the MacBook's case and the beveled rear corners echo the beveled corners of the MacBook too.

On the Thunderbolt Station's front are a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a 3.5 mm microphone jack, along side a single USB 3 port. There's also a blue LED which illuminates when the unit is plugged in (it requires an external power supply, included).

On the back are two more USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports (one to daisy chain to other peripherals like a monitor, RAID system, etc.; the other to connect to your Mac), an HDMI port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

Using the Thunderbolt Station is dead easy - just connect it to your Mac using a Thunderbolt cable (which you'll either need to supply on your own or order as part of a specially priced bundle on CalDigit's web site). Then attach the peripherals you plan to use with it. No drivers are necessary. If you connect it to an Ethernet network, you'll need to add the new network interface in OS X's Network system preference before it'll work.

This keeps all the other ports on your Mac free, which is great if you have a lot of stuff you need to use. But what's potentially more important is that the Thunderbolt Station gathers up a lot of cable clutter that would otherwise burst from both sides of your laptop. A single Thunderbolt cable connects the Thunderbolt Station to the Mac, so you can leave your peripherals connected to the Thunderbolt Station, then pick up your laptop and go without leaving a mess of electronic spaghetti behind.

In my testing, devices worked without incident connected to the Thunderbolt Station and my early 2013-era Retina MacBook Pro. USB 3.0 performance was comparable to a direct connection to the Mac; Gigabit Ethernet ran as fast as it does through a Thunderbolt adapter connected directly to the laptop, and my DVI display worked just fine using a Thunderbolt adapter as well. In short, using CalDigit's Thunderbolt Station was entirely transparent, which, quite frankly, is the way I like it.

The Thunderbolt Station measures just short of seven inches wide, standing about an inch high and 3 inches deep. It weighs just short of a pound. That's heftier than I'd really want for something to throw in my laptop bag and bring with me, but I don't see that as a big problem: it's designed to work as a desk peripheral rather than a mobile device. The Thunderbolt Station is very unobtrusive on a desk, thanks to four rubberized feet that keep it securely in place even when you're plugging and unplugging devices.

I've made a lot of the Thunderbolt Station's suitability for use with a Mac laptop, but the fact is it'll work with any Thunderbolt (or Thunderbolt 2) equipped Mac. But I suspect the device's best use case is with laptops, where space and expansion are typically at a premium.

I'm familiar with two other Thunderbolt expansion devices - Belkin's $299 Thunderbolt Express Dock and Matrox's $249 DS1. Belkin's device includes FireWire 800, but lacks HDMI (all the ports are rear facing, however, which is an aesthetic I prefer to the forward-mounted headphone, mic and USB port on the CalDigit). Matrox's, which costs $50 more, incorporates HDMI (a DVI version is also available), but sports two slower USB 2.0 ports with only one USB 3.0 port available.

From my perspective, the CalDigit Thunderbolt Station is a better value than either Belkin's or Matrox's, though the absence of FireWire 800 means yet another Thunderbolt dongle to hang off your daisy chain, if you're still using a FW800 hard drive or RAID, as I do.

The good

• Plenty of expansion to connect all your devices
• Gathers (most) cables together and behind to reduce desktop clutter
• Design mimics Apple's own design language

The bad

• Front-facing ports get in the way
• No FireWire 800 port for connecting legacy storage devices

Bottom line

The front facing ports can be a bit awkward, and I wish there was FireWire 800, but those are minor quibbles. CalDigit's Thunderbolt Station is priced below the competition with better features, and is a great value that keeps desk clutter to a minimum.

• $199 - Buy now

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group on Wednesday announced that it has completed the USB 3.1 specification. Most notably, USB 3.1 supports data transfer speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps), the same raw transfer speed as the Thunderbolt interface found on all currently shipping Macs. The group is sponsoring developer conferences in the U.S., Asia and Europe to spread information about USB 3.1, according to a press release.

USB 3.1 will supplant "SuperSpeed" USB 3.0, which is limited to 5 Gbps. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group says that more efficient data encoding is used in 3.1, enabling the higher speed. As before, USB 3.1 will be backwards-compatible with older USB devices.

USB 3.1 will see widespread adoption as a common computer interface, just as other implementations of USB have. And the "USB 3.1 matches Thunderbolt speeds" trope is in full swing at this hour on tech blogs around the globe. But it'd be an enormous mistake to discount Thunderbolt, notwithstanding Thunderbolt 2's imminent arrival.

Think of USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt like roadways. Both have the same speed limit: in this case, 10 gigabits per second. But USB has only two lanes on which traffic can travel, one lane of traffic in either direction. Thunderbolt has four: two up, two down - each of those with 10 Gbps of effective bandwidth. What's more, Thunderbolt has considerably better traffic management than USB does. The net result is that Thunderbolt is still going to win out in real-world usage.

There can be only one...or not

I have absolutely no doubt that USB 3.1 will ascend as the heir apparent. USB 3.0 is already ubiquitous; Thunderbolt, meanwhile, has had a very slow adoption rate outside of the Macintosh platform. I don't expect to wake up tomorrow and find every shipping PC with Thunderbolt ports. It ain't gonna happen.

Ultimately Thunderbolt and USB 3.1 are really different interfaces aimed at different market needs. Thunderbolt provides a small, high-speed interface that can easily replace other interfaces and works fast enough to push video without any problem (and once Thunderbolt 2 arrives, we'll be able to do 4K video).

USB 3.1 provides further improvements to a ubiquitous peripheral interface that supports a huge number of legacy peripherals - an interface that's actually mandated as necessary for some peripherals like cell phones, by various governments and regulatory bodies around the world.

USB 3.1 isn't going away.

It'll take a while to bake

Then there's the issue of availability.

Now that final details on the spec are available, vendors can get to work. But don't expect USB 3.1 hardware to appear right away. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group doesn't expect to see USB 3.1 devices appear even with limited availability until late in 2014. Between now and then, CPU makers like Intel and AMD will need to incorporate support for the faster spec into their chip designs. Then those designs will need to go into production. So it'll be a while before we see the market flooded with USB 3.1-compliant devices.

In the meantime, Apple is working on a radically redesigned Mac Pro, which it expects to ship later this year. Among the many innovations is Thunderbolt 2, an updated version of the high speed peripheral interface found on Macs that delivers twice the bandwidth - up to 20 Gbps. By the end of 2014, expect to see Thunderbolt 2 widely available on the Mac platform.

Is USB 3.1 a big deal for you? Did you notice a big difference when you used USB 3.0 for the first time, compared to 2.0? Or are you loyal to Thunderbolt? Share your thoughts below.