Matrox has announced its new DS-1 Thunderbolt-based dock that adds a whole host of connectivity to your Mac including a USB 3.0 port, a DVI port as well as both headphone and microphone slots. Other than MacBook Air owners, I can’t imagine that many average consumers would need such a thing.
Nevertheless, the Thunderbolt port means it will be lightning fast, and for DVI, that could come in handy. But for the other connections, I just don’t see the point. A USB 2.0 port will be throttled anyway, so you can’t benefit from the higher transfer speeds of the Thunderbolt. Same goes for the USB 3.0 even though it is clearly a bit faster.
Maybe I’m being stupid in seeing the use of this, but it would have been awesome if they’d included an additional Thunderbolt port on there. Having said that, I do understand that collectively all the ports must transmit a lot of data, so that probably already maxes out the Thunderbolt speed.
Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still quite a useful bit of kit, and you can pick the DS-1 up for $249 when it becomes available. You might also want to consider Belkin’s alternative, which will feature additional ports (two Thunderbolt ports and fireWire 800). Belkin’s dock is also expected to be released this September.