I’ve been looking for a serious MacBook dock setup for quite some time, but really have been disappointed in the current offerings. Henge Docks displayed its Horizontal Dock as a prototype last year, but it’s now available to order and I’m pretty excited about it…
If you’re not familiar with Henge Docks, we’ve covered their products in the past, but the one really hits home for me. If you’re mainly using a MacBook Pro with Retina Display for your setup, this tough dock will provide 13 ports of connectivity. Along with that it has a sleek automated docking system that utilized motors to slowly and securely dock the MacBook Pro.
Check out our hands-on video with the Horizontal Dock below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq87tsgLHrc]
Henge Docks’ Horizontal Dock is made from Zinc Alloy and can be ordered now for the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, but will also be available for the 13-inch model and MacBook Air in the future. As far as the ports go, you’ll find two TRS audio jacks, an SD card reader, HDMI output, six USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, and two Thunderbolt 2 ports.
Along with that, the Horizontal Dock is the first third-party accessory to supply power to the MacBook Pro so you won’t have to worry about fiddling around with your power brick and cable. It automatically docks and begins powering the MacBook at the same time.
This is probably one of the best MacBook docks that you can get right now. It’s super sturdy and built to last, but you’ll pay for all of the luxuries it offers. Henge Docks’ Horizontal Dock is available to order for $399 and will begin shipping soon. For more information about this dock or other products from the company, be sure to check out their website.
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Looks great BUT how much will it cost in Europe? Due to pricing policy Apple products are overpriced in Europe compared to the USA!
(Whispering) it is not an apple product Ya big silly!
Some people simply don’t understand that tax rates are NOT included in USA pricing. In contrast, European pricing always INCLUDES tax. Why? The tax structures in the US are very different among each of the 50 states, the territories, counties, and cities. One price does not fit all.
ALSO, one has to recognize that the cost of business is different among countries. In some places there are weak laws protecting consumers – reducing prices but increasing risk to the customer. In others, there are strong laws protecting customers, but resulting in additional costs. For instance, if Apple is required to warranty a product for 3 years in country A instead of 90 days in country B, guess what – it costs Apple more money to do business in country A, and they’re going to increase prices in country A to cover those costs.
I know this is very hard to understand – you might want to ask your mom or dad, or one of your teachers in school for more details.
Some people don’t understand because they are unaware of the vagaries of American tax laws – understandably so, considering they aren’t American. It’s obvious that you expect everyone to be knowledgeable on tax structures around the world, so instead of making sarcastic comments why don’t you explain to us all how tax works in Latvia?
Or don’t you know?
Even though you are right, it is still rediculous I got my iMac off of an american airbase with the help of a US navy that was my neighbour in the netherlands. Therefore I got an iMac €700 cheaper than it would’ve been if I were to buy it in the netherlands. It’s just a rediculous price difference no matter how you look at it…
Apple products are overpriced everywhere!
OMG, $399.
three letters for you, VAT.
they do not have VAT in US, they have sales tax. it is not included in the price tag, but you still pay that.
yes but even after sales taxes, stuff is way cheaper in the US than in EU
@guillaumebougard, Let’s do the math, shall we?
iPhone 6 in French Apple store is 709 Euro, VAT included. Deduct 19% VAT, you will get 574 Euro. Now, with today’s exchange rate that is $679.48. iPhone 6 price in USA before sales tax is 649. Yes, the rip off is about 30 USD, about same difference if you would change that sum of Euros to USD in an airport.
Now, the interesting part. If you buy iPhone in France and get tax return, it will cost you less that if you would buy it in USA where sale tax in not refundable for tourists.
Blame French government for high taxes, but do not blame Apple, please, that is not fair.
Everything in Europe is overpriced. Especially electronics and clothing.
And it’s not a fault of companies.
Pretty expensive, seeing all you are getting is basically a dock with what probably is just:
o Pass-through for power, Thunderbolt 2 and HDMI
o A USB 3.0 hub
o Audio, SD Card Reader through most likely the USB hub (all of which are already available on the Mac)
o Ethernet, which, again, probably goes through the USB
You don’t get much “expansion” over what is already on the Mac. And the expansion you get you can with about $50 in USB accessories. I guess you pay for the look/design (which I find questionable) and the auto-docking (which I can picture being problematic).
I’d rather spend the bucks on a proper Thunderbolt dock from the likes of Matrox, Elgato, CalDigit, Sonnet, Belkin and others (and save a few bucks).
Docks are meant to have everything connected all of the time and the dock just makes it easier to connect your laptop to everything without having to plug and unplug a lot of cables every time you bring our laptop home/office. It’s always been an expensive way to get convenience, not necessarily enhanced functionality. But in this case, you are getting additional USB ports, maybe additional TRS audio ports, etc.
I think Ethernet is going through the Thunderbolt port, it’s got the bandwidth for lots of things at the same time.
$400 for? No.
When they introduced the horizontal dock (over a year ago, btw!), the price was set to 250 bucks, now you can preorder one for 399 and it will ship in june? Im looking forward to this dock since they introduced it but 399 and still 6 month away they lost my attention.
What’s that device on the lefthand side of the macbook please? it looks like some sort of input device?
It’s a SpacePilot Pro and can be found easily enough through a wonderful thing called google…!!! ;)
Sorry there are so many options under $200 that you have lost me. When will you folks ever learn what the general price level on things like this should be. Yes it looks nice but way too much money. On top of that we have to wait until June. What are you boys smoking.
Considering the superb and unique technology and build of this product, I have to ask, to what you are comparing it? I’ve never seen anything close to this from another manufacturer, so are you comparing apples with oranges (or maybe a Jaguar XK with a Kia Sportage)? I’d really like to know.
http://www.landingzone.net/products/for-the-macbook-pro/ – About half the cost with most of the features…
Based on Henge’s past products I’m very skeptical of the build quality on this dock. I’m a Mac admin who oversees roughly 200 Macs. Over the past few years we’ve tried several different docks, including several thunderbolt connected docks and different styled docks. Henge was one that the organization went with before I arrived and they’ve had nothing but problems with them. Granted, it’s a much cheaper design, but it’s also clear that it wasn’t a terrible well thought out design.
LandingZone was the first manufacturer to offer horizontal docks, in a traditional docking station style which is great for switchers, for both the MacBook Pro Retina and MacBook Air at a reasonable price point. Aside from number of USB ports and aesthetics this new Henge dock doesn’t really offer much that would benefit the vast majority of our end users. Factor in a cost that is well over double what we pay for LandingZone (we buy in bulk, save $20~ on each one) and this thing is dead in the water for us and I’d imagine most enterprise scenarios.
If they had brought it to market at $250-300 I could see it (maybe!) having a more widespread adoption but at this price point, from this company, it’s going to remain a niche product for those Mac users who fancy throwing lots of money at pretty gadgets.
A couple of comments:
#1: show my ANY option for the Macbook Pro that doesn’t require using the Apple power cord.
#2: show my ANY option that works with a Thunderbolt display with the regular MagSafe adaptor. One thing folks always forget is that the Thunderbolt display has power passthrough … but you need to use the Apple converter to go from Magsafe to MagSafe2. These simply don’t work in most docks because they are designed to accept the MagSafe2 plug by itself. Interestingly HengeDock DOES have a solution in their vertical dock line but I’ve purchased three and NONE really work … within three or four removal attempt of your laptop, the adaptor pops loose.
#3: as someone who goes between home and two office locations, and my MBP (13″ retina) is my primary computer, being able to just drop the laptop into a dock is the best solution. Mind you, I use to plug all the cables in but then discovered that cable fatigue is a real “thing”. I’ve had to replace the Thunderbolt cable twice on two Thunderbolt displays because of the constant plugging and unplugging over the years.
This is definitely a “niche” product … and in that niche, its a great solution ON PAPER. Unfortunately, this company has been pitching a MBP solution for almost two years. Last year they finally released the vertical dock and it really doesn’t work with anything but the very newest monitor. Now they are at least showing this model but its really not available.
This is still vaporware. The unit for the 15″ MBP is still six months out unless you pay $50 for early adopter status. The 13″ model is not even for sale and MAY come sometime at the end of this year. This will be almost three years from the announcement of the product and the shipping of the product. IF they ship it.
That’s insane.
For now I stick with the LandingZone. Once you download the ethernet drivers, its almost the exact same solution with a manual slider instead of an automatic one. And as tough as it is to align the ports when doing is manually, I can’t imagine how smooth this will be in automatic mode on the HengeDock unit.
I wish them luck though. I will check by in a year. Of course, by then the 12″ Macbook Air will be out and probably all new MacBook Pros and these units this will all be moot.
CharlesJR
Charles, have you tried the Akitio Thunder2 Dock?
Hi Charles, I have a vertical Henge dock at work & at home. The one at home draws power from the Thunderbolt display & uses the MagSafe adapter you mentioned. I wanted to say for the record that after a few teething issues where I adjusted the height & layout of the cables (how they are ordered out the back of the dock changes the stress on the cables in their holes) I have never had the power adapter pop out. I’ve found the vertical henge docks to need a bit of tweaking maybe each day for the first week, but when you get it sweet, it’s really sweet. I basically plonk my Mac in every day and my workstation comes to life. Not saying you’re wrong about this but thought I’d best stick up for one of my favourite products.
The motorized connection seems needlessly complex. It adds cost and another point of failure for no real benefit. Also, the design is much less flexible than thunderbolt docks currently on the market. Sure, with other docks you have both a power cable and a thunderbolt cable to connect but doing so allows you to place the dock and the MBP in much more convenient locations on (or under) your desk.
I am sure it will sell though. There are a lot of rich Mac owners that will see the automated connection and think “how cool” and will plunk their money down regardless of whether the idea is good or practical.
Love the guy popping up out of nowhere! 0:23s
Vaporware. I was on the waiting list for a year and then got notice that it would ship during CES then amended to June 2015 unless I pay $50 for early adopter. That still get me on a estimated April ship.
Way too expensive for a dock even with this technology. You have to be a pro.
This dock is so beautifully designed both from a cosmetic standpoint and a utilitarian standpoint. So beautiful it makes me wish I needed it, but I don’t.
Question for those who say Apple products are more expensive in the UK, are you taking into consideration the difference in currencies (dollar vs. euro, disregarding the VAT)? I really don’t know the answer, so would appreciate anyone with knowledge of this to respond.
heh… did anyone else notice the guy at 25s who looked like he was doing the old dad trick of riding an elevator behind a wall?
Can someone confirm that this dock allows you to connect two external monitors via thunderbolt to the TWO thunderbolt ports on the dock? My problem with all other docks is that one of the two thunderbolt ports is always used to connect to your macbook pro, leaving only ONE thunderbolt port for use with a monitor.
It looks like you get two FREE thunderbolt ports with the Henge Dock, but I’m just checking…
What is the case shape changes on the next MBP? Do you throw it away?
I just bought the Henge Horizontal Dock for $399 – I have a 2015 MBP Retina – and the thing flat out does not work!!!! Stay away from this product!!!! The customer service is by email only, the phone number says we are not taking any calls at this time, there is no online help, FAQs, community for they product and the way they chose to resolve the issue was say send it back-no offer to send out another one. Complete disaster-stay clear people!!!!
Just had mine delivered. From the packaging to the way “it just works” exceeded my expectations. I set it up thinking “There’s no way motorised automated docking can ever work” but it does (how they get the tolerances right is beyond me) and the ability to push a button and leave without touching a single cable is amazing. Granted my setup is more complicated than most – a Sonnet 10GbE Thunderbolt NIC, 2×24″ mini-DP/1900×1200 displays, webcam, studio monitors, etc so doing the whole cable shuffle was never going to be an option – the fact that I’ve almost forgotten it’s there in terms of my workflow is the best praise I could give.To the point I’ve moved the Mac Pro into the attic…
p.s. ALMOST forgotten, its a pity about the cooling fans running harder – I think it’s because I am running with the lid closed while docked. ?
Bought a new $400 Horizontal Dock with Expedited Shipping – Didn’t show up in the 2 business days. Yesterday, when I did get it, it worked for 5 minutes until it did a “required” firmware update with the “DockApp”. At some point through the update it started cycling through its automated docking – in and out, in and out. Wouldn’t stop. And my Mac is stuck in it while its doing this. The DockApp says its still updating firmware, so I let it do its thing. After a half hour of this, I try to contact support. During this time my mac is still in it and I don’t want to wreck the dock or my mac. There is no immediate support via phone, just email support. 3 and a half hours later I finally get an email explaining to do a recalibration or a power reset. Neither works. Finally they say that Head of Customer Support will contact me tomorrow to get a replacement shipped out right away. Here we are at the end of the day and a couple of emails to Henge Docks and absolutely no word from the Head of Support on my replacement.
I am really disappointed so far in their product and service – I expected more from what seems to be a premium priced product.
Very basic. I am having a lot of trouble with the Horizontal docking station and not much direct product support!
I bought 2 of these docks for my teammate and I. On the surface it looks great. It is made out of Aluminum and on the surface seems sturdy. When it actually connected it was great. It was a great option for dual monitor support. However the system that connects your laptop to your devices does not work. The system goes in and out, in and out, multiple times. It is very fickle. The dock motor that locks in the connectors quite working one day and my computer was stuck in the dock and I had to turn an orange spinner that manually moves the connectors. To add lemon to the wound, the spinner needs a specialized tool that they do not provide. I had to get 2 screwdrivers and after an hour, I was able to get my mac out. Both systems garbaged out so it is not a coincidence. I am sad I wasted so much money. What a piece of junk! I now am using the OWC thunderbolt adapter but it doesn’t have dual monitor support. What a disappointment. I have used the vertical Henge docks in the past. They worked amazingly well so you can imagine how disappointed I am. :-(