Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Portables, Macbook Pro, MacBook
BookEndz: Mac Portable Docking Stations
BookEndz produces pretty nifty docking stations for Mac portables, which duplicate nearly all of your ports and thus make moving a MacBook (Pro) between locations with many different peripherals quite easy. The MacBook station (right) is available in black or white and will be shipping in "late February." The MacBook Pro docking station is available now for the 15" model (no 17" model yet, but they have one for the old 17" PowerBook so it stands to reason that they'll eventually get around to it). They have stations for many older Mac portables as well (PowerBooks and iBooks). The MacBook model looks particularly nice with a built-in 5 port powered USB hub and both VGA and DVI connectors. The MacBook version will sell for $159.00 while the 15" MacBook Pro version is $299.00.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David said 8:41AM on 2-12-2007
The BookEnds website now indicates a 17" MBP dock will be available in April.
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HTPC Pete said 8:47AM on 2-12-2007
How many peripherals do you need to have on your desktop to be willing to use of these monsters? Maybe I'm ignorant but isn't most devices connected via USB these days? If so, a small USB hub will do the work?
Peter
http://www.peterkrantz.com
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bob said 9:04AM on 2-12-2007
I don't know, I think I would much rather see the Belkin expresscard docking station available for the macbook pro. (http://www.belkin.com/highspeeddock/). All those connectors look like an accident waiting to happen.
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quandmeme said 9:15AM on 2-12-2007
Some of the 15" docks actually look like docks, this one is--visually--a trip to the proctologist.
Remember Apple's docks for the PB Duo. Overkill perhaps, but THOSE were docks.
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Dave said 9:15AM on 2-12-2007
We actually already bought one of these a few weeks ago. We use it for a secretary who likes to take her MacBook home at night but uses an external keyboard, mouse and 17 in monitor at work. So far, it's working great!
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Brian said 9:22AM on 2-12-2007
I'd be interested to hear comment from others who have tried any of these products. I invested in two BookEndz docks for G3 PowerBooks years ago, and was very disappointed in the build quality and overall durability, especially given what they cost.
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The Plaid Cow said 3:18PM on 2-12-2007
If you were thinking of buying another power supply so that you could run it behind your desk, then this would be an excellent bargain since the power supply would be built in. It would also allow you to have perhiperals plugged in full time, but without havign to worry abotu a jumble of cords coming out the side. Sounds like an excellent idea. How well it works in practice is unknown.
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Paul said 5:59PM on 2-12-2007
I don't really see what the big deal about docks is anymore. I have a buttload of USB devices including two printers plugged into a daisy chain and a couple of firewire drives daisy chained. So that's 1 USB port, 1 Firewire port, power and DVI used. Total plug-in time: about 15 seconds. I'll save my $300, thanks.
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Marvin Mason said 2:02PM on 3-02-2007
Anyone experienced the the speaker out doesn't send in stereo? I have the 15" model for the Macbook Pro 15.4".
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Mike said 8:32AM on 4-12-2007
This was perhaps the biggest waste of money I've ever spent. The dock was flimsy and unreliable. It's an amateur piece of crap, if you ask me. The way you have to force the dock into the macbook is difficult - the earphone jack replicator is a p.o.s., the actual dock is huge and bulky and further more - power is not even supplied... I received mine one day ago and I'm sending it right back today...
Have a lot of cables/peripherals? Take a rubber band and wrap it around the cords. Unplug to go somewhere - plugin when you come back. Not only will it save you money - it's mostlikely easier.
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