27" Apple Thunderbolt Display

[evilsofa]

Apple released its 27" Thunderbolt display yesterday:

http://www.apple.com/displays/

Thunderbolt, which you can learn from wikipedia, is essentially mini-Displayport with PCI-Express. If you have heard of Intel's Light Peak, this is it. It's fully backwards compatible with mini-Displayport, supports hubs, and can daisychain. Two high-resolution displays may be daisychained, and each daisychain can support up to 7 devices.

According to this review, the Thunderbolt Display almost certainly contains the same panel as the 27" Apple Cinema Display, but adds not only the Thunderbolt connector, but also a Firewire 800 port and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The Gigabit Ethernet port could allow it to do a lot of interesting things, none of which have been confirmed yet.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display costs $1000.

 

[ToddW2]

Loving my non-TB ACD

These will be great for some, but I don't see benefit for those of us who don't attach storage devices to our "desktops".

The ability to run 2x27" Displays from a Macbook Pro is def. awesome though for those who use them as their desktops. (I currently use my MBPro with my 30" Dell and 21" Dell side monitors, I can't imagine having 2 huge monitors talk about an eye killer)

 

[Grentz]

What "interesting" things can a monitor do with a network port?

Hopefully not widgets and shit.

 

[450]

If I had a 2k budget for monitors I would get 2 of these! Now you don't need a docking station, you can plug in your laptop into the TB port and have gig-e, FW800, and your peripherals all in one cable.

 

[Grentz]

If I had a 2k budget for monitors I would get 2 of these! Now you don't need a docking station, you can plug in your laptop into the TB port and have gig-e, FW800, and your peripherals all in one cable.

Oh I see, as an input for the laptop. Makes sense.

 

[450]

Yeah, they pretty much make these for the MacBooks, it even comes with a charging cable so you can charge your Macbook.

 

[deanx0r]

What "interesting" things can a monitor do with a network port?

Hopefully not widgets and shit.

It gives your a wired connection when you are docking your MBP or MBA through thunderbolt. You only need the power connector and the thunderbolt one to get ethernet, usb, firewire, audio and isight connectivity.

Pretty nifty if you ask me, but I wish it was backward compatible with displayport.

 

[evilsofa]

From the Apple 27" LED Cinema Display thread:

Well, at SID 2011, LG's promotional material seems to suggest they DO have a 27" 3840x2160 panel in their pipeline. http://flatpanelshd.com/pictures/lgsid2011-1l.jpg

And considering Apple now has Thunderbolt in the ACD27", and Lion is moving towards resolution independence with HiDPI, I wouldn't be too surprised if we saw 3840x2160 in the next year or two.

 

[450]

I wonder if we'll get a Hi Rez 3840x2160 iMac soon.

The iMac 27" has two thunderbolt ports, and you can daisy chain two 27" ACDs... Does this mean the iMac now supports 5 screens?!

 

[Grentz]

I wonder if we'll get a Hi Rez 3840x2160 iMac soon.

The iMac 27" has two thunderbolt ports, and you can daisy chain two 27" ACDs... Does this mean the iMac now supports 5 screens?!

I think the issue is still going to be GPU limitations.

 

[tk-don]

I wonder if we'll get a Hi Rez 3840x2160 iMac soon.

I'll believe it when I see it.
Medical display manufacturers would be the main/first customers and opt for a real backlight rather than cra*** edgde-mounted LEDs that everyone else would probably opt for (yes I'm tired of edge-lit displays).

I think the issue is still going to be GPU limitations.

3840*2160*3*60(1/s)*8(bit) = 11.94 Gbit/s (+ a bit more). Should be possible with most modern GPUs with the proper interface. Or drop the refresh rate or resolution.

 

[GuyClinch]

No one wants those thick displays. I saw a couple of those professional NEC type displays - they are CRAZY thick - much thicker then your standard screens..over at B and H the other day.

Yes realisitically that thickness doesn't impact you much but it seems old fashioned in the eyes of consumers. Only people who need that thickness would get it. Apple OTOH are experts at selling expensive things to rich consumers. So a super high rez monitor thats thin is natural for them.

 

[TerraPhantm]

Does anyone have any idea if this display works with a 5870 (1GB model - full size display port). I know this car had problems with the 24", iMac, and 27" non-TB displays. Based on the track record I'm going to guess it's still a no-go.... I really don't feel like upgrading my video card though.