We can hardly believe it, but it’s already been over 2 years since the announcement of new NexDock. It’s time to take a breath and go over what we have done these two years and talk about the future of NexDock.
A Brief History of NexDock
Let’s go back to the very beginning: After shipping 3,000 first generation NexDocks to our backers over 60 countries around the world, it was January 2017 when we announced that we started working on the new NexDock based on innovative Intel® Compute Card. We became one of Intel’s official Compute Card partners to build the new NexDock from ground up – the first docking unit that supports the Intel Compute Cards in 2-in-1 laptop form.
Intel website showing Compute Card partners
Year 2017
Following the announcement, we started beefing up our engineering team and with Intel’s recommendation and also partnered with a reputable ODM in Taiwan. After hundreds of skype meetings and many more emails exchanged for about 7 months, we found out that the ODM can manufacture the new NexDock at no less than double the cost they originally committed.
Intel representative demonstrating the new NexDock mockup at Computex 2017
Year 2018 and NexPad
As this was not acceptable, we went back to the drawing board and partnered with a new ODM in China which was also approved by Intel. It did not take us a long time to finalize the mechanical engineering and the final hardware. The prototype was ready for Intel at CES 2018.
Intel showing NexPad at their private suite – CES 2018
In the meanwhile, we had decided to change the name of the product to NexPad…
Then came the hard part. Unnecessarily complicated encryption and authentication requirements of Intel Compute Card caught our ODM off-guard and pushed out the finalization date of the software.
After the ODM’s 8-month effort to no avail, we went back to Intel in August 2018 and asked for their support. It took them another 7 months to develop the software to make the Compute Card work with NexPad PCBA and finally it’s almost ready.
NexPad PCBA working with Compute Card
Bad news about the future of NexPad
Unfortunately here are the bad news. We just found out that the future of Compute Card is uncertain. Intel might not come up with a new generation Compute Card and their 7th generation CPU might be the last one to be manufactured.
This means that we’ve already lost the key feature: Upgradability.
After spending tons of personal capital and 2 years time to build a product for Intel Compute Cards, we are sad to announce that we are putting the NexPad project on hold until there is more visibility about the future of Compute Cards.
And finally, some good news – NexDock 2 is ready
We didn’t sit idly by while our ODM and Intel were working on NexPad’s software. We continued developing NexDock 2, which we had originally planned to announce together with NexPad.
Today, we are happy to announce that NexDock 2 is ready for mass manufacturing and has been upgraded in every way compared to the first generation NexDock.
Here are some of the improvements on NexDock 2:
- Aluminum body instead of plastic one.
- A better and more compact design with edge to edge keyboard and a bigger touchpad.
- A beautiful IPS screen with 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution.
- USB-C input to support smartphones with “desktop mode” feature, such as Samsung DeX or Huawei Easy Projection. The USB-C port can also charge your phone at the same time.
- A full sized HDMI-in port.
- USB-C charging port instead of the conventional DC charging.
- Another USB-C port and a specifically designed Y-Splitter cable with micro-USB and USB-A to provide power and data connection for Raspberry Pi and mini PCs so that they can use embedded USB keyboard instead of Bluetooth.
NexDock 2 is available now on Kickstarter
We are starting a new Kickstarter campaign for NexDock 2 with prices starting at $179 (the estimated retail price will be around $279).
Don’t miss our super early bird pricing at Kickstarter
