CalDigit has unveiled the latest iteration of its popular Thunderbolt Station series and it’s really gone all out. The TS4 Thunderbolt dock comes with an impressive array of 18 ports for Mac (and PC) to offer what the company calls “extreme connectivity.”
The CalDigit Tuff Nano is essentially a better-looking miniaturized version of its full-sized Tuff drive, complete with rubber bumper and an IP67 rating. Unlike the regular Tuff Nano, this version is small, with pocket-friendly dimensions that make it compare well with similarly-sized drives like those from Samsung’s popular T-Series lineup.
Should you consider adding the CalDigit Tuff Nano SSD to your stable of external storage devices? Watch our hands-on video review for the details. Expand Expanding Close
CalDigit has released its Tuff nano portable USB-C SSD today that offers IP67 dust and water resistance, up to 10Gbps speeds over USB 3.2 Gen 2, and more. In other news, Satechi has released a new wireless numpad for Mac and iPad that recharges over USB-C called the Bluetooth Extended Keypad.
The CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock is a dock made specifically for connecting to two 4K displays simultaneously. Available in HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 versions, this bus-powered dock makes it easy to connect your MacBook Pro to a 4K monitor. Watch our hands-on video for more details. Expand Expanding Close
I’ve covered tons of Thunderbolt 3-enabled devices over the years, and it’s become clear that CalDigit is one of the leaders in this space, especially when it comes to docks and external drive enclosures. The company’s latest product, the T4 RAID storage enclosure, starts at under a grand, comes with dual Thunderbolt 3 ports, and brings 4-bay external storage, DisplayPort connectivity, and Power Delivery to the table.
How might the die-cast aluminum RAID storage enclosure fit in a MacBook Pro user’s workflow? Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the lowdown. Expand Expanding Close
There is no shortage of Thunderbolt 3-enabled docks for the Mac; nearly every popular Mac peripheral maker has one, and they all seem to have various strengths and weaknesses.
CalDigit is no stranger when it comes to producing peripherals for the Mac. In particular, the California-based company has concentrated on Apple’s laptops with USB-C and Thunderbolt. The CalDigit AV Pro 2 is its latest such product: an external storage solution wrapped in a high-grade aluminum enclosure.
CalDigit has merged external storage with a USB 3.0 hub to create a product capable of providing three things of interest to MacBook owners — access to more storage, additional USB ports, and charging up to 30W. Have a look at our video walkthrough as we unbox and go hands-on with the CalDigit AV Pro 2. Expand Expanding Close
Back in October we reviewed the spinning hard disk version of the CalDigit Tuff Drive. While it was nice from a build quality perspective, the HDD speeds left us anticipating the soon-to-come SSD model.
Last week we received the 1TB SSD version of CalDigit’s Tuff Drive (coming later this month), and as expected, it’s much faster. Watch our brief hands-on video walkthrough as we unbox the CalDigit Tuff 1TB SSD, and test its speeds. Expand Expanding Close
The $199 CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3 Lite (TS3 Lite) is a Thunderbolt 3 dock geared towards 2016 MacBook Pro users. Unlike some of the docks released prior to the most recent MacBook Pro refresh, the TS3 Lite works out of the box without needing to employ any hacks or workarounds.
The aluminum-wrapped unit comes with dual Thunderbolt 3 ports and is capable of being daisy-chained. It also comes with two USB-A ports, Gigabit Ethernet, DisplayPort, and audio in/out connections.
Perhaps most-notably, the TS3 Lite works with the LG UltraFine 5K Display, which makes it an option that may warrant the consideration of those with such a setup. But as you’ll see from our hands-on video walkthrough, the TS3 Lite isn’t for everyone; it’s primarily aimed at customers who don’t require full power delivery from the dock. Expand Expanding Close
The National Association of Broadcaster’s trade show in Las Vegas is in full swing, and several prominent hardware makers have unveiled new Thunderbolt 3-equipped tools. Although there are no current products in Apple’s lineup that support Thunderbolt 3, it’s widely assumed that such hardware, made possible by Intel’s Skylake microarchitecture, is in the pipeline.
The folks over at Lacie, Promise, and CalDigit have all revealed new Thunderbolt 3 products at NAB 2016, bringing high bandwidth and high-capacity storage solutions to market.
USB-C is the sole port on Apple’s new 12-inch MacBook, and CalDigit today announced a version of its durable external drive that takes advantage of the new reversible USB 3.1 port. CalDigit Tuff features a USB-C port and cable for connecting the portable drive to the Apple’s ultra-thin notebook, and an included adapter cable ensures compatibility with the USB port that you’re used to seeing on your hardware as well. Since the new MacBook’s thin and light profile intends for it to venture out of your office and into the wild, CalDigit Tuff is ruggedized to endure drops, splashes, dust and other extreme environments.
CalDigit Tuff starts at $139.99 for 1TB HDD with availability starting in July (new MacBook orders currently deliver in 4-6 weeks). A solid state drive version with up to 1TB of storage will also be available while a higher capacity 2TB HDD option will be offered. Expand Expanding Close
As I’ve said before, Thunderbolt 2 docks are a really great idea for MacBook users. Before now, there were three major options: Belkin’s $300 Thunderbolt 2 Express HD Dock, Elgato’s $220 Thunderbolt 2 Dock(review), and CalDigit’s $226 Thunderbolt Station 2(review). All three are designed for the same purpose — to connect a bunch of peripherals (including hard drives, a monitor, and audio cables) to your Mac with one Thunderbolt 2 cable — and they all have the same core peripheral ports, with small differences to set them apart from one another.
This month, Kanex is entering the fray with the Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock ($250), which looks a lot like Belkin’s dock but is closer in price to Elgato’s and CalDigit’s. Aluminum on the top and bottom with a black plastic core, it has a front-mounted USB 3.0 port with two more on the back, and comes bundled with a power adapter and 3.3-foot Thunderbolt cable. While it doesn’t stand out in any major way from its earlier rivals, it’s competently executed and attractively designed, with some modest feature tweaks that prospective buyers should know about…
Despite USB 3.0’s growing popularity with consumers, Thunderbolt remains a viable alternative for professional users, particularly video makers willing to pay a premium for guaranteed high speeds. Over the past year, several Thunderbolt 2 hubs have come to market — boxes with one Thunderbolt 2 connection to a computer, one for a Thunderbolt accessory, and multiple ports to connect USB, audio, video, and Ethernet accessories. The idea: keep all of your gear hooked up to the hub, then use a single cable to connect it all to your Mac.
Known for large, heavy, professional-grade Mac accessories, CalDigit has just released Thunderbolt Station 2 ($199), which squeezes the same functionality offered by Belkin’s $300 Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD and Elgato’s $230 Thunderbolt 2 Dock (review) into a smaller, denser-feeling enclosure, at a lower MSRP — sort of. In reality, Thunderbolt Station 2 has some very specific benefits and one limitation that place it on par with its competitors, making the choice between them a more personal decision…
Looking to grab market share from rival makers of Mac Thunderbolt docks, CalDigit today announced Thunderbolt Station 2, an aggressively-priced Thunderbolt 2 docking hub that promises to surpass earlier Belkin and Elgato units in features and build quality. Redesigned from a prior model, Thunderbolt Station 2 includes the expected twin Thunderbolt 2 ports, three USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI and analog audio in/out ports. What’s new are twin eSATA 6G ports and an enclosure that can be mounted vertically or horizontally, saving space on a desk.
