If you’ve been waiting anxiously for a Thunderbolt 2 accessory, good news: we have one to show you… sort of. Sonnet has announced its Echo Express SE II ($499), a Thunderbolt expansion chassis for PCIe cards. It’ll be available on September 23, and at that time, it’ll ship with a standard Thunderbolt connection. Whenever Apple ships its new Mac Pro this fall, Sonnet will allow you to upgrade to Thunderbolt 2, for free.
Along with the chassis, you’ll get a coupon for “one free exchange for an easy-to-install upgrade to 20Gbps Thunderbolt 2”—free after shipping and handling, of course. Echo Express SE II can hold up to two half-length, full-height, single-width PCIe cards, and has two Thunderbolt ports, allowing you to daisy chain accessories. While not quite an ideal cosmetic match for the new Mac Pro itself, the industrial design will be familiar to users of past Mac accessories.
