Pros: Works right out of the box, pretty much instantly.
Sturdy enough to stay on the desk with many wires connected

Cons: Power brick is pretty large and heavy.
Not enough USB ports
No Firewire connection
No display port or 2nd hdmi
Pricy

Other Thoughts: Up on looking at the unit was quite surprised by the look, and the pics that were advertised. Then opening it up and connecting things to it, I realized that its quite bulky for the lack of connections it has. The power brick is extremely large funny how some apple products can have tiny power brick for a laptop and this thing has the old large size, I would guess they could have shoved some high tech power brick into the unit.

The weight of the unit seems a lot, not sure if they shoved some steel to add to it, it is a good thing for when your connecting devices and cables, the unit stays pretty secure on the table.

I was really pleasantly surprised as I’m not a Mac user but visit them once in a while. I connected this to a MacBook Pro retina and it worked right away, that’s really nice surprise coming from the PC world were you would have to go through a number of installs and pressing a number of “ok” buttons etc…

There are only few cons, I really wish there was some side usb connections, it seems that the device is large enough that they should have been able to put, 3 usb connections are not enough (they should have doubled that) if you have usb devices, a usb key and a thumb drive you see that pretty fast you will need to connect a usb hub which defeats purpose of this dock, also why no Firewire 800? Its small enough that they could have had connected, I assume user would have to use up one of the thunderbolt connections with adaptor for that? A 2nd HDMI would have been good too. At most this will get 4 stars, and if you are heavy on usb 3.0 devices (with usb 3.1 already out) then probably 3 to 3.5. For the price I would expect this to be the ultimate dock, but I doubt that it meets those requirements to get that title, this is just a good above average dock.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi, Valentin,

We appreciate the time you spent in writing this detailed review. We'll take note of your suggestions and rest assured those will be passed along to the Engineering team. Should you wish to share more ideas, you may submit them on this link, http://www.belkin.com/us/contactus/submitanidea/.

For inquiries and assistance, feel free to email us at BelkinCares@belkin.com. We'd be happy to hear from you.


Regards,

Belkin Support
www.belkin.com

Pros: How well you like Belkin's Thunderbolt dock will depend upon whether you value a clean desktop or best performance. If you have a raft of peripherals to connect with your Mac, this dock lets you move the cabling nightmare away from your desk with just a single Thunderbolt connection to your Mac.

The dock uses an external power supply so you can charge USB peripherals when you Mac is disconnected or powered off. Belkin deserves kudos for not using the usual plug-covering wall wart. Power comes from a compact brick that uses a detachable cable for plugging in. The entire dock is fairly small, so packing it for use on a trip is certainly doable.

Out of the box, most peripherals function without a hitch. The Ethernet port appeared as did audio and USB. Thunderbolt external drives run at full speed.

One of my co-workers laid claim to the dock. The difference it makes in terms of cable clutter was impressive.

You can connect two monitors but *only* if one of them uses Thunderbolt. A pair of DVI or HDMI monitors simply will not function.

Belkin obviously mimicked Apple design. The sleek brushed aluminum case fits right in with modern Macs and looks good.

Cons: As mentioned above, using dual monitors is only possible if one of the pair has a Thunderbolt input. That seriously limits your choice in compatible displays. If one of your displays is 4K resolution, the Belkin dock can only support 30 Hz refresh rates. That leads to ghosting and artifacts in fast-changing scenes.

While Thunderbolt peripherals run at nearly full speed, the same cannot be said of USB3. Transfer rates for fast flash drives or external disks are cut roughly in half from a direct connection.

Finally, be aware that this product is Mac-only. Windows simply does not see it, while on Ubuntu connectivity came and went every few seconds.

Other Thoughts: If you value a tidy desk above all else and have either a single monitor or a pair with one being Thunderbolt-equipped, give this dock 5 stars.If instead you regularly use USB3 devices or multiple DVI or HDMI monitors, 3 stars is the best this can do. I split the difference at 4: the dock either works for you or it doesn't. Not much middle ground.

Pros: Includes three USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt 2.0 ports, single HDMI, single Gigabit Ethernet, 3.5mm audio output & 3.5mm input ports.
Can run 2160p resolution.
Can output to two displays simultaneously using one Thunderbolt connection and one HDMI.

Cons: The biggest con for me is that it is geared solely towards Mac products.
The only way to use dual displays is with Thunderbolt & HDMI, not DisplayPort.
Docking station is not weighted/balanced correctly. Cables hanging from the back cause it to not lie flat and to bounce around on my desk.

Other Thoughts: Including the Thunderbolt port is a great feature for those with Mac products but this device would be much more appreciated if it was also geared towards Windows systems and offered DP, HDMI, DVI, plus Thunderbolt dual display options.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi, Marcus,

Thank you for sharing your insights, and we'll take note of your feedback about the product's features and functionality. Should you have queries, or should you need assistance in the future, reach out to us via email at BelkinCares@belkin.com along with your contact details and the link to this post for reference. We would be more than happy to assist you.

Regards,


Belkin Support
http://www.belkin.com/us/support

Pros: This is very useful to have when switching between various setups on my MacBook pro.
Sitting down for the day and only plugging in my power and thunderbolt cable keeps my whole setup clean and simple.

Cons: The hub seems to fail randomly, not being recognized by the laptop. Eventually it seems to start working again, but it is unclear what triggers this. Belkin support has provided minimal information regarding fixing this. All the peripherals work when plugged directly in, so it is the hub itself failing.

After over a year of ownership it has fallen into a non working state for the Nth time. At this point I am just going to keep it disconnected so I can get work done.

Other Thoughts: When it's recognized and connected, I really enjoy this product.

Unfortunately it is now a silver brick on my desk.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi William,

We value the time you spent in sharing your experience with us. We want to look into the details of what happened. Please provide us your case number (if not available, provide us your phone number or email address instead) and send it to BelkinCares@belkin.com with the link to this review for reference.

Regards,

Belkin Support
http://www.belkin.com/us/support

Pros: It looks nice, is plug-and-play, and devices plugged into it just seem to work.

Cons: Both a DisplayPort monitor and HDMI monitor (900p, same models) plugged into the dock couldn't be used at the same time (could only use one or the other). Not certain if this is a known limitation of the dock, Thunderbolt, or OS X.

Other Thoughts: In order to stress the dock, I plugged in both monitors (even though one could only be used), flipped the orientation of the external monitor, plugged in a USB 3.0 HDD and two USB 2.0 flash drives, and connected to my network through it over Gigabit ethernet.

I had multiple transfers going between all 3 drives, played a video back on the external monitor over the network and through speakers plugged into the dock, and transferred a file over the network all at the same time without any issue.

This test didn't necessarily come close to the dock's advertised functionality though, but I'm pretty confident that this dock will handle casual usage without any problem.

The dock itself doesn't seem to be usable over any other connection aside from Thunderbolt. I would like to use the dock with my other computers containing USB 3.0 ports, but this doesn't seem possible. On another note, this dock does provide power to devices over USB without a TB host device, and provides enough power to handle the Raspberry Pi 2 B without undervolting.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Sean R.,

Thank you for sharing your feedback on the Belkin Thunderbolt dock. The Thunderbolt port is backwards compatible with Mini DisplayPort, and the dock supports either HDMI or Mini DisplayPort but not both. Rest assured that we will relay your valuable feedback to our engineering team for future product improvements.

If you have questions or if there's something else you wanted to share to the team, feel free to reach us at BelkinCares@belkin.com.

Regards,

Belkin Support
http://www.belkin.com/support

Pros: Solid build quality and plenty of features in a small package. Mostly geared towards MacBook users, the Belkin Thunderbolt's most useful benefit is the ability to connect to monitors with UHD resolutions in addition to having three extra USB 3.0 ports available. It acts pretty much just like a typical docking station for a desk setup environment. Simply plug a MacBook into the provided thunderbolt cable and presto, it's docked.

Cons: It's not really a big deal, but all the wires connecting to the back seem to throw the balance off and the dock tends to tilt upward. 4K support is only for Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10 or higher. The only other negative thing to mention is the price. As high quality as it is, the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 is expensive. It's a high price to pay for convenience.

Other Thoughts: I definitely recommend the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 dock if there is a genuine need for one. Great quality, ease of use, and plug and play make it the go-to dock. But mainly this dock is geared towards MacBook users.

Pros: Belkin are thought of as the lower priced/Quality computer product manufacture. This can be said about some products but most are top notch high quality products that are very affordable.

This Thunderbolt docking station is one of those high quality products it works flawlessly with the Mac-book air definitely a must have when you use lots of peripherals with your Mac-book air. Great speeds between items that were plugged into dock not video lag or data lag used to transfer files from one external drive to another and worked great.

It just works in all forms it was built to do very sleek looking and has just the right weight to keep it from sliding around on the desk.

Seems like a niche market though due to not many people using Apple Products I had to barrow the only friend I have that uses a Mac-book air to be able to review the use of this docking station.

Does what its supposed to do no more or less.

Cons: Price is a bit high could be lower but it you compare other docking stations the prices are right up other with this dock.

I think it would be beneficial to add a second monitor port whether it a display port or DVI or another HDMI is really doesn’t matter would just me nice to use dual monitors with this product, I don’t know many business or people the done have dual monitors at their desk it’s just more productive.

Other Thoughts: I would highly recommend this product to any mac user needing a docking station to add more i/o to their laptops.

Pros: Sleek and elegant design that matches the aluminum finish of Macbooks. Rubberized feet on the bottom prevent the dock from sliding around on a surface.

There are a plethora of connectivity options available with the Express Dock HD. 3x USB 3.0, 2x Thunderbolt 2.0, 1x HDMI, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, audio out and another audio in/out port. This ensures support for a variety of devices that can be connected to a laptop, desktop or ultrabook. Supports a dual monitor setup though there is catch to it which is explained below.

There is a small green connection status light. I found it to be hardly noticeable during the day however.

I tested several devices with the dock such as portable hard drives and printers while connected to my Macbook Pro and all have functioned perfectly while connected. However I was not able to test a device with thunderbolt connectivity.

Cons: The biggest thing about this dock is Thunderbolt support. Due to the inclusion of those ports it is effectively geared towards Mac users since nearly every Mac supports Thunderbolt in comparison to most PCs. There are still not a lot of devices out there that directly support Thunderbolt and those that do are typically expensive storage devices such as large capacity external hard drives. The version of Thunderbolt that is supported is 2.0 which is backwards compatible with 1.0 devices. The advantage of Thunderbolt 2.0 is that it supports double the bandwidth (20 Gbps vs 10 Gbps). However the Thunderbolt 3 protocol has been developed which this device lacks but even so it is not necessary due to the lack of chipsets that are available in the market at the time being.

The duel display feature can only be supported while connecting one monitor to Thunderbolt and the other to HDMI, not through two Thunderbolt ports simultaneously. Streaming through two Thunderbolt ports to two monitors requires Thunderbolt 3 support which is not supported by this dock.

Other Thoughts: You can't really make the most of this dock if you do not have peripherals that make use of the available I/O that is provided on the Express Dock HD. I personally can't justify using it since most of the devices I own are USB 2.0 with a couple that are USB 3.0. Lack of Thunderbolt devices is pretty common among general users and such a dock would be useless. This is primarily geared towards power users who utilize macs primarily and need a good workstation solution with regards to connectivity.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Gokul,

Thank you for sharing your detailed feedback on the Belkin Thunderbolt dock. The dock's current design is indeed favorable for Mac users compared to PC users. Your thoughts and feedback will be relayed to our engineering team for future product improvements.

Feel free to email us at BelkinCares@belkin.com if you have questions, suggestions, or if you need any Belkin assistance.

Regards,

Belkin Support
http://www.belkin.com/support

Pros: First thing you will notice before you even open the box is how heavy this is. To me that's a good sign in this world of throw away electronics. Since I didn't have a computer with Thunderbolt2 I took this over to a friend's house. He had a Mac laptop with a few cables connected to it. I brought a headset and a external USB 3.0 hard drive and usb 3.0 flash drive just in case. Any way looking at it it looks like they designed it pretty good. The HDMI, ethernet, 2 usb 3.0,2 thunderbolt and headphone connectors are in the back. In the front you have a usb 3.0 connection and combo headphone mic connector,the only ones most people connect and unconnected alot. We connected his HDMI cable, my harddrive and my headset and went about testing. We first tried playing a movie to his TV through this and it was flawless. While the movie was playing I copied and 8gb file to my drive. There was no skipping in the movie playback. I plugged in my headphones and did the same test copying the file and watching the same movie. The sound, movie and file transfer went without a hitch. Now time to checkout speed hit with and without movie playing. Well I might just have to buy myself a Mac after seeing the speed increase just by using a Mac computer over my pc, about 10% faster. The testing went very well too, there was no speed decrease at all. You can play a hires movie and transfer files with no noticeable speed drop. I'm sure there was a small decrease but not enough to show.

Cons: Cons? There are a few. First the price is very high for a hub but as Mac stuff goes I guess it's about normal. Second I think to get full use out of this I'd want 2 of these, one for home and one for work. What's the use if you only had one? You'd be connecting everything at one place or the other. Third is the manual, very small. I miss the days of only English manuals and text at a normal size so easily readable. In today's global markets the manuals are multi language which is nice but the quality has dropped and what used to be just English now has many languages in the same amount of space.

Pros: Although this works with iMac, I would say the intended market is the Apple macbook crowd without a doubt. I borrow a Macbook Pro for a month to give this puppy a test drive and I loved it!

If you're not sure what Thunderbolt is, think of this as a USB hub on steroids but even better. Using the one connection you can plug in just about anything you would need while sitting at a desk. When you need to go mobile, just unplug ONE cable and that's it!

The fit and finish of the Dock is top notch. It feels quality and has a certain heft to it that makes you feel confident it was made with great materials and care. That added heft also makes sure it doesn't slip around on the desk.

Cons: I really didn't have a single negative thing to say about this, which is rare because I like to nitpick. Everything that is listed on the features page it does, and it does it well.

It is sold as performing X,Y, and Z and nothing more so you know exactly what you are paying for.

Other Thoughts: The Apple IT guy in my office was so impressed that he went out and bought one for himself to use at work when he isn't on the go and is very happy with his purchase.