Sonnet Shipping First New Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis

Sonnet today announced the first Thunderbolt 2 expansion chassis, allowing owners of late 2013-era MacBook Pro and Mac Pro models to add two or three PCIe cards to their machines.

There are three new options, desktop and rack mount three-slot chassis, plus a two-slot desktop version.

Sonnet Expansion Chassis

The Echo Express III-D, Echo Express III-R, and Echo Express SE II incorporate ultra-fast Thunderbolt 2 technology, which delivers twice the throughput of 10 Gb/sec Thunderbolt and provides sufficient bandwidth to support many of the highest-performance and most-demanding PCIe cards. The new expansion chassis support every kind of Thunderbolt-compatible PCIe card available — enabling the use of professional video capture, audio interface, 16Gb and 8Gb Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, SAS and SATA HBA, and RAID controller cards with Thunderbolt-enabled iMac®, Mac® mini, Mac Pro®, MacBook Air®, and MacBook Pro® computers. Plus, the Sonnet systems' dual Thunderbolt 2 ports support full-bandwidth connectivity with Thunderbolt 2-equipped host computers, full backward compatibility with 10 Gb/sec Thunderbolt-equipped computers and devices, and daisy-chaining of other Thunderbolt 2 and Thunderbolt devices.

Customers who purchased Thunderbolt 1 equipped expansion chassis can get free upgrades to the Thunderbolt 2 version. All the Thunderbolt 2 chassis are fully backwards-compatible with older Thunderbolt equipped Macs.

The desktop three-slot version is available for $979, the rack mount three-slot is $1,199, and the two-slot desktop is $499.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
New MacBook Pros Launching Tomorrow With These 4 New Features 2

M5 MacBook Models to Use New Compact Camera Module in 2025

Wednesday July 17, 2024 2:58 am PDT by
Apple in 2025 will take on a new compact camera module (CCM) supplier for future MacBook models powered by its next-generation M5 chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Writing in his latest investor note on unny-opticals-2025-business-momentum-to-benefit-509819818c2a">Medium, Kuo said Apple will turn to Sunny Optical for the CCM in its M5 MacBooks. The Chinese optical lens company...

Top Rated Comments

KindredMAC Avatar
137 months ago
Is that price for real???
F-that...

Don't see many of these moving...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
barkmonster Avatar
137 months ago
Why aren't graphics cards compatible?

There really should a Thunderbolt usage for beginners FAQ on here somewhere and if there is, it should be linked on every thunderbolt article for easy reference.

Thunderbolt2 offers 2 x 10Gbit/s channels combined. Thunderbolt offers them as seperate channels. Neither of those speeds offer anywhere near the bandwidth of a 16xPCie card and even then, most higher end GPUs are double-wide and need internal power. You'd end up using 2 slots for 1 card, leaving only 1 PCIe slot for other uses and then cripple the card with bandwidth that doesn't even come close to 4xPCIe.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikiverse Avatar
137 months ago
No, these are for professionals.

These aren't for home users and gamers.

The audience is defined by the price. Home users and gamers don't spend $1000 on PCI expansion slots.

The audience is defined by the need to use PCI cards and the purchase of a TB or TB2 equipped computer.

Price doesn't determine audience for any product. It that were true, college students wouldn't be carrying around rMBPs and the iPhone wouldn't be the top selling US handset with AT&T the biggest telco.

The idea that only a professional would buy expensive equipment is just wrong, along with the idea that home users and gamers are all poor and couldn't possibly be able to afford things they want.

Considering that most desktop PCs offer PCI expansion slots for free, and they are faster than TB2, a professional is more likely to invest in the product that gives maximum return for minimum outlay - in which case 'professionals' wouldn't be buying this product at all.

This is expensive because it is a niche product in terms of utility, not because 'professionals' are willing to pay the asking price.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Radiating Avatar
137 months ago
These dont officially support Graphics Cards, right?

I heard something about intel not approving external GPus andthen driver probs?

Graphics cards work fine in windows in every current mac except for the Mac mini , there is no OS X driver support yet. I was one of the few people who set up a geforce Titan over thunderbolt to a MacBook Pro when the last version first came out.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
imageWIS Avatar
137 months ago
Is that price for real???
F-that...

Don't see many of these moving...
That's the prob with Thunderbolt: the prices are astronomical UNLESS you are a corporation or very wealthy. The rest of us are SOL. :mad:
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
137 months ago
Is that price for real???
F-that...

Don't see many of these moving...

Again, these are for professionals.

--

I'm going to assume this can't handle higher-end video cards on PCI Express 3.0? Still not enough bandwidth.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)