14 DAY TRIAL // The main problem with laptops of all kinds is that they don't have expansion options, not in the way of PCI Express interfaces anyway, so HighPoint decided to use the Thunderbolt technology and do something about that.
There are plenty of external and/or portable storage devices out there, as well as audio capture cards, various networking devices, etc.
Most of them use USB technology though, and they don't really hold a candle to, say, video boards and other PCI Express expansion cards.
So HighPoint decided to make something that will allow owners of laptops to use full-size PCI Express cards with their systems.
But instead of using a Universal Serial Bus like on other docks, it utilized the much faster, if less prevalent, Thunderbolt.
So behold the NA211TB and NA211TB-LD Thunderbolt Expansion Stations, which allows you to connect such cards to notebooks.
Well, most laptops actually don't have Thunderbolt at all, but Apple MacBooks do, and considering the white color scheme, it's pretty clear that HightPoint is counting on them for sales.
The NA211TB is the small one and can hold up to two 3 Thunderbolt Aware full-length and full-height PCIe cards. The NA211TB-LD has three slots.
That includes networking support and external storage expansion for business applications, video and audio capture cards, standard SAS/SATA or USB 3.0 connectivity cards, Thunderbolt Enabled Rocket & RocketRAID series controller cards, etc. Hot-swap personal backup solutions, high-speed storage, even RAID configurations are supported.
Unfortunately, HighPoint did not say what prices the NA211TB and NA211TB-LD have. Too bad, since it can be a deal breaker.
Thunderbolt is rare on non-Apple products because, right now, it's “only” twice as fast as Universal Serial Bus but not, well, universal. Still, these two stations can enable RAID storage on laptops, something rarely found there, and businessmen / professionals may appreciate it greatly.