Belkin’s upcoming Thunderbolt Express Dock has returned to a $300 pricetag, the company now says. The product has been in development since 2011, and was originally assigned the $300 price — along with a September 2012 launch date — at last year’s CES. In June, however, the company made some modifications to the peripheral and raised the price to $400. The September release date came and went, forcing Belkin to push the launch to the first quarter of 2013.
The company is still aiming for a first-quarter debut, and in fact suggests that the dock should ship sooner rather than later. The unit connects to a single Thunderbolt port, but adds several new connections in the process. These include three USB 3.0 ports and an extra Thunderbolt input, plus FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, and 3.5mm in/out connections. As a part of today’s changes, Belkin is dropping an eSATA port
