Apple peripheral maker Kanex has launched three new Thunderbolt 3 products that will surely be of interest to new MacBook Pro owners. The products, just announced at CES 2017 in Las Vegas, include a Thunderbolt 3-enabled eSATA+USB Adapter, a Thunderbolt 3 cable, and a Thunderbolt 3 Travel Dock.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Kanex GoPower Watch is a handy portable battery pack that can charge your Apple Watch on-the-go without extra cables or adapters. That’s because it features an MFi (Apple certified) Apple Watch magnetic charger on the battery pack, which makes it an all-in-one solution. It’s rather pricey for a portable battery pack at $99, but it gets the job done if you want the most convenient way to power your Apple Watch over a weekend away from electricity.
I wouldn’t normally describe a portable battery as being beautiful, but Kanex’s just-released $99 GoPower USB-C Portable Battery fits that description. Its aluminum body is like a mix of Apple’s space gray and silver colors, but it’ll look good when paired with any 12″ MacBook.
Good looks are nice, but the real world performance of a battery pack is crucial. How does Kanex’s offering stack up? Check out our hands-on impressions.
Expand
Expanding
Close
Popular accessory maker Kanex today announced a new lineup of Bluetooth keyboards for Mac and iOS users that allow easy switching between up to four wirelessly connected devices, as well as two products aimed specifically at iPad users.
We are big fans of Kanex so we snuck over to their CES booth last night for an early look at their 2016 accessories. In short, they have a lot of goodies that they’ll be announcing later today (and we’ll update this post when they do). What stuck out for us were 2 products…
Expand
Expanding
Close
As I’ve said before, Thunderbolt 2 docks are a really great idea for MacBook users. Before now, there were three major options: Belkin’s $300 Thunderbolt 2 Express HD Dock, Elgato’s $220 Thunderbolt 2 Dock (review), and CalDigit’s $226 Thunderbolt Station 2 (review). All three are designed for the same purpose — to connect a bunch of peripherals (including hard drives, a monitor, and audio cables) to your Mac with one Thunderbolt 2 cable — and they all have the same core peripheral ports, with small differences to set them apart from one another.
This month, Kanex is entering the fray with the Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock ($250), which looks a lot like Belkin’s dock but is closer in price to Elgato’s and CalDigit’s. Aluminum on the top and bottom with a black plastic core, it has a front-mounted USB 3.0 port with two more on the back, and comes bundled with a power adapter and 3.3-foot Thunderbolt cable. While it doesn’t stand out in any major way from its earlier rivals, it’s competently executed and attractively designed, with some modest feature tweaks that prospective buyers should know about…
We’ve reviewed a fair bit of Thunderbolt docks for Mac here and one thing remains constant: The starting prices range well over $200 (Belkin’s a deal at $150) and that’s before you buy an expensive $30 Thunderbolt cable. The question is: Do you really need Thunderbolt to have a quality/usable dock for your MacBook? Can you get almost all of what you need just from USB 3?
Kanex sent me their $90 USB 3 SimpleDock a few months ago and I’ve put it through its paces ever since. The first thing you’ll notice out of the box is that it is made extremely well, looks very ‘Apple’ and is substantial in weight. It doesn’t move when you plug in devices because of that weight and a rubberized bottom. On top, all you’ll see is a space that coincidentally fits an iPhone perfectly with a charger cable hole through the bottom. Around back, you’ll find 3 USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port as well as a 10W high powered ‘Charge-only’ port.
So you are getting 3 products in one here: An iOS device quick charger, a USB3->Gigabit Ethernet adapter and 3 port USB 3 hub. The question is: Is the SimpleDock worth the $90?
We have played with and enjoyed a few products from Kanex in the past, and today the company showed off its latest USB 3.0 charging solution at Macworld with the DualRole. The product is a super lightweight and very portable bus-powered USB3 hub that packs three extra USB 3 ports and a Gigabit Ethernet adapter. That means you’ll be able to add a Gigabit Ethernet adapter to your Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and have an extra three USB ports on hand.
9to5Mac went hands-on with the DualRole today during Macworld, and we definitely want one for ourselves. Anyone who travels knows how nice it is to connect via Ethernet when hotel Wi-Fi gets sketchy, and it’s certainly nice to be able to carry around an additional three USB 3.0 ports in your pocket at the same time. DualRole also provided an optional 5V power adapter to offer a little extra power to the USB ports, and the built-in cable tucks away nicely when not in use. DualRole is selling for $69 through the Kanex website, but it should also land next to the company’s lineup of other solid products on Amazon shortly.
Kanex just released an AirPlay mirroring adapter for VGA projectors that streams content wirelessly from computers and iOS devices to TVs and projectors through Apple TV.
The Kanex ATV Pro is geared toward legacy projectors lacking HDMI ports. The new tech connects to Apple TV’s HDMI output port, as well as other device’s HDMI ports, and offers a mini D-sub 15-pin VGA port and 3.5mm stereo minijack audio connection for aging projectors and sound systems. It is also power plug free and supports up to 1080p with vertical refresh rate range of 50 Hz to 60 Hz.
The result allows teachers and presenters with an iOS device to stream or mirror content directly to a VGA projector through an Apple TV without additional equipment, power, or infrastructure.
“Kanex is excited to be delivering a product that supports an interactive learning experience. We listened to the concerns surrounding technological modernization and designed a high-quality adapter that grants facilities an unmatched HD solution for iLearning with their iOS devices and Apple TVs,” explained Kanex President Kelvin Yan in a press release.
The ATV Pro is available now for $59. Additional details are available at Kanex’s website, and the presser is available below.
There are tons of accessories on the show floor at CES 2012 this year, many of which were designed specifically for our iOS devices. Earlier we brought you some of the best audio devices and accessories announced at the show, and now we have compiled all the other interesting docks, cases, and peripherals being unveiled for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Displayed below are a couple multi-docks that provide various methods of charging multiple iOS devices simultaneously, a new “wireless HDMI” solution for beaming content to the big screen, and a couple iPhone cases that do much more than simply protect your device.