Apple's Thunderbolt Display

A monitor that did everything

35 'Thunderbolt Display' stories September 2011 - June 2013

As the sequel to Apple’s LED Cinema Display, the Apple Thunderbolt Display (Orig. $999, now on Ebay for much less) was originally introduced in July 2011, and had not changed until it was discontinued in June 2016. Measuring 27″ on the diagonal, the metal and glass Thunderbolt Display uses the same 2560×1440 screen found in the original 27″ iMac and the LED Cinema Display, with a chassis thickness somewhere between the last two iMac generations. Three speakers are inside the frame for 2.1-channel audio, along with a basic FaceTime HD camera and a microphone.

The display is different because it has a Thunderbolt connector, which makes a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, or Mac Pro easy to hook up. After plugging the monitor into a wall outlet, you connect your Mac via the Thunderbolt cable to gain access to three powered USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire 800 port, a Thunderbolt port, and an Ethernet port. There’s also a MagSafe plug to supply up to 85W of power to a MacBook, as well as a packed-in MagSafe 2 adapter for newer MacBooks. Thunderbolt is required for the video connection; no other video standard is supported.

The Thunderbolt Display has not been updated for roughly four years, and shows its age in physical thickness, non-Retina display resolution, the age of its ports, and pricing. It’s very hard to recommend right now, and we’d expect Apple to release a new version in the not-too-distant future.

Need extra cash to upgrade? Sell your Thunderbolt Display to Gazelle.

40.714513-74.005122

Review: 29-inch 21:9 Philips Brilliance 298P4QJEB LCD monitor creates new MacBook/Desktop opportunities

Seth Weintraub Jun 14 2013 - 6:41 am PT

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I’ve been curious about the 21:9 display format since it started to creep into mainstream displays last year. Originally developed to display cinema grade movies natively, computer users are now snapping these up to give themselves a sort of wide ‘Bloomberg terminal’ without the break (and the swivel between displays).

I received the Philips 298P4 29-inch 21:9 display a few weeks ago and have set it up as my display at my desk. It has an unusual 2560×1080 pixel display which is the same amount of pixels across as traditional 30 inch 16:10 displays or 27-inch 16:9 displays (like Apple’s 27-inch iMac or Thunderbolt Display). The 1080 pixels high however matches up with a typical 1080P display. I didn’t use it like a traditional desktop computer or with a laptop off to the side.

For me, I saw an opportunity to add a display on top of my Retina MacBook Pro whose keyboard/trackpad layout I find more usable than anything else out there including Apple’s Wireless Keyboard/Trackpad combo. The Philips’ stand (and this is the key part) allows the display to grow over the top of even the 15’inch Retina MacBook Pro so that I can continue to use the MBP keyboard and display even while looking up (for much improved posture) at the Philips display. It is also great for watching movies while working :D, unless productivity is a priority.

For this it was great, but how was the quality of the display?

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We might not see a 5120×2880 pixel iMac, but 4K displays this year from Apple make sense

Ben Lovejoy Jun 11 2013 - 8:49 am PT

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Philp-Schiller-4K-Mac-Pro-WWDC-01 .

A tweet by a German web design exec suggesting that the resolution of a piece of Mavericks wallpaper suggests a Retina iMac with a resolution of 5120×2880 pixels has been doing the rounds, spotted by bunch of publications.

The rationale is that the resolution is exactly twice that of the current-generation iMac, therefore suggesting a Retina iMac with double the resolution. The problem with this argument is that 5120×2880 pixel wallpaper images are not new to Mavericks. In fact, Apple has used them as far back as 2011, probably just for future-proofing purposes. There’s really no downside to including images which will display nicely on any larger monitors that come along …

What is more likely this year from Apple are 4K displays…
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OS X 10.8.4 code confirms new Macs incoming with super-fast 802.11ac Gigabit wireless support

Mark Gurman Apr 9 2013 - 7:41 pm PT

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Apple is preparing to soon release new Mac computers that support super-fast 802.11ac Gigabit wireless, according to code-findings inside of Apple’s latest OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 beta seed to developers. The code was located by a tipster inside of the operating system’s WiFi-frameworks folder. As you can see in the image directly below, the 802.11ac code is not found in OS X 10.8.3, which is the latest public release of Apple’s Mac operating system.

fasterwifi

Previous reports have claimed that Apple is working with wireless chipmaker Broadcom to produce 802.11ac chips for future Macs. Now, it appears, Apple’s software is ready to support the new wireless technology as well. More details below…

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Quick Review and Gift Guide: Synology DiskStation, AOC 27″ IPS Monitor, DLP portable projectors

Seth Weintraub Dec 16 2012 - 12:39 pm PT

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As we approach Christmas and the end of the year, we thought we would throw together some of the more interesting review items we received over the past months.

27-inch AOC LED IPS super slim monitor

First up is the $299 27-inch AOC LED IPS super slim monitor (I2757FH) that has a vague Mac aesthetic with a silver stand and ultra-thin bezel around the edges. This one comes with two HDMI ports, a VGA port, AUX audio ports, and some small speakers. The 27-inch IPS LED display is very nice, but it is obviously not as crisp as a Thunderbolt Display of the same size. And, after some adjustments to the default washed-out look, I was very happy with the color representation. Front capacitive controls are easy to deal with, and overall build quality is very nice, especially for AOC, but the downsides include: the lack of a USB hub, it is not easily wall-mountable, and the super small and poor tiny 4W speakers. You are definitely going to want to have separate speakers.

This AOC display would be best suited in an office/dorm room/bedroom doing double duty as a PC/Mac external display and perhaps display for an Apple TV/Cable box. Recommended at $299, or check out the USB Display link powered 22-inch display

Synology Diskstation NAS…
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iMacs delayed until 2013? Update: Nope

Seth Weintraub Nov 14 2012 - 2:11 pm PT

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Update: Our own Mark Gurman seems to have put the kibosh on this one.

French language website MacBidouille claims to have some bad news from its retail sources. While they were expecting to see iMacs arrive Nov. 27 (we also heard a similar time frame—with availability beginning around Black Friday) for the 21.5-inchers and later in December for the 27-inchers, both may now miss the all-important holiday shopping season.

The source blames a welding process for the delays, which would push the iMacs into 2013. The new iMacs also have a redesigned display that features a new thinner lamination process.

We first noted the delays in new iMac production in October and questioned whether the devices would be announced at the iPad mini event. Interestingly, we also heard that Apple might introduce an updated Thunderbolt Display in the not-so distant future that may be tied to the launch of the 27-inch iMac. Stay tuned for more information on that soon.

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Hands-on with Twelve South’s new HiRise adjustable MacBook stand

Jordan Kahn Nov 1 2012 - 12:52 pm PT

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Twelve South already has its HiRise stand for iMac that we recently went hands-on with, but that product is aimed at increasing the height of your iMac or Thunderbolt display to a comfortable viewing level. Twelve South is launching HiRise for MacBook today—aimed at users who pair their MacBook with a display and/or keyboard and mouse at home. The stand adjusts from 3.7 inches to 6 inches, allowing you to easily align your MacBook screen with a paired iMac or Thunderbolt display (as pictured above) for a dual monitor setup. We’ve been playing with the new HiRise for MacBook over the past couple days and have nothing but great first impressions.

You can adjust the $70 stand’s height easily by loosening a screw at the back and pushing down on the spring-loaded arms. The arms cushion your MacBook with a layer of soft silicone that also provides traction and keeps your Mac from slipping off. We didn’t have any problems with the MacBook sliding, even when adjusting and moving the stand around, but Twelve South does not recommend typing on the device’s keyboard when mounted on the stand.

The stand has thin Teflon rails on the bottom, allowing you to slide it or adjust left to right without scratching your desk, but it’s quite a solid chunk of brushed metal at 1.75 pounds. It also resembles an iMac stand, which makes it fit in nicely next to an iMac or Thunderbolt display. If aligned just right, the stand seems to disappear and leave your MacBook floating next to the display.

If you’ve been looking for a product like this, you won’t be disappointed dropping $69 for the HiRise.

You can order it on Amazon or through Twelve South’s website today.

Western Digital announces superfast Thunderbolt My Book VelociRaptor Duo and portable USB 3.0 drives for Mac

Seth Weintraub Aug 30 2012 - 8:03 am PT

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The fast keep getting faster. Western Digital announced two new speedy new platter drives aimed at Mac users today. The Thunderbolt “My Book VelociRaptor Duo” is a speed improvement on WD’s previous Thunderbolt Drives coming from the addition of two 10,000RPM internal HDDs (the speed of the drives is actually still the bottleneck here —Thunderbolt is very fast).

Extreme speed of WD VelociRaptor drives inside. With the extreme speed of two 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor drives inside united with the revolutionary speed of Thunderbolt technology your creative inspirations have never moved so fast.	Enhanced workflow efficiency. The dual Thunderbolt ports make it easy to daisy chain more drives for even greater speeds and higher capacity. Add peripherals to further enhance your productivity.	User-configurable for speed or double-safe data protection. Customize this dual-drive storage system to your needs – RAID 0 for speed, RAID 1 for data protection, JBOD to use the drives individually.	Did you know… My Book VelociRaptor Duo is a bootable external device supported by Mac OS X. For additional information, please click here.

Western Digitial also upped the speed of its Mac Portable Drives (which we’ve reviewed favorably) with USB 3.0 and sizes up to 2TB:

Ultra-fast USB 3.0 connectivity. With the blazing-fast connectivity of USB 3.0, this drive lets you access and save files in record time. Reduce transfer time by up to 3 times when compared to USB 2.0 transfer rates.**Performance may vary based on user’s hardware and system configuration.	Massive capacity in a small design. This compact enclosure offers up to a massive 2 TB of storage. It’s the ideal companion for anyone with lots of photos, movies, videos and files that they want to take with them.	Password protection secures your drive. Use WD Security utility to set password protection and hardware encryption and protect your files from unauthorized use or access.

Both Press releases follow:

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Retina MacBook Pros run three external displays, refreshed Airs get dual external display support

Jordan Kahn Jun 20 2012 - 12:25 pm PT

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Picture by Gabor Cselle

While Apple already recognized in its support documents for Thunderbolt that the new Retina MacBook Pro supports up to three external displays (as pictured above from Other World Computing’s recent tests of the setup), it has yet to confirm official support for the refreshed Ivy Bridge MacBook Airs. Today, we get word that the new MacBook Airs indeed support two external Thunderbolt displays thanks to the recent “Mac OS X Lion Update (Mid-2012 MacBook Air)” update that “improves external display support.” Apple has not updated the device’s specs page to reflect support for dual external Thunderbolt monitors.

The image below from OWC shows two iMacs running at 2,560-by-1,440 as Thunderbolt displays, and it shows an LG monitor at 1,920-by-1,200 via HDMI. The post noted “moving images and media didn’t create any lag and we were able to play video on all four displays simultaneously.” This makes the new MacBooks the first to support up to four displays at their native resolution. Note: You could theoretically add even more space with AOC DisplayLink displays.

The refreshed MacBook Air with dual external Thunderbolt displays is pictured above, while the MacBook Pro with three displays is below:

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Thunderbolt display: $900 + free shipping

9to5 Staff Feb 1 2012 - 12:01 am PT

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Today only, MacConnection has Apple’s Thunderbolt Display for $899.99+ free shipping. That’s $100 off list and the lowest price we’ve ever seen by almost $50. It features a native resolution of 2560×1440, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 12ms grey-to-grey response time, 375 cd/m² brightness, built-in iSight camera, 3-port USB 2.0 hub, Thunderbolt port, and Mini DisplayPort connectivity.
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AnandTech reviews the Thunderbolt Display

Seth Weintraub Sep 23 2011 - 12:57 am PT

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Anand, as per usual, does one of the more in-depth reviews we’ve seen of the Thunderbolt Displays. Some interesting notes:

The Thunderbolt Display uses less power than the previous Cinema Display at its dimmest setting (likely just panel efficiency variance) and draws a bit more at max brightness.
Pegasus hardware seems to cause serious audio issues which corrupts sound while large file transfers are happening. Expect a fix.
There are some nuances with display daisy chaining. For instance, in one configuration Anand had to put a Promise RAID array between the two displays in a daisy chain to get them to work.
Next year’s Ivy Bridge will bring more Display options to Macs (and likely USB 3 since the controller is built into the Intel chipset). The future may also hold displays with GPUs built in.
For a $1000 display, the speakers “were OK, but not great”. The Camera and Mic were both good.

If you are considering getting one of these displays, check out the full review which was very favorable overall. MacConnection also has the lowest price we could find on the new Thunderbolt display at $979.

Update: Macworld put up a review this morning as well. 4/5 Stars.

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