Apple Thunderbolt Display 27in monitor
After Apple’s hoo-ha about the Thunderbolt port on its newest Macs and MacBook Pros, it’s great to finally have something to plug into it. But I began testing this monitor with tainted expectations: less ‘OK show me what you can do’ and more ‘oh lordy, yet another locked-in connectivity standard’. It ended with tainted love. …
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Maybe I'm missing something but...
What's wrong with a plastic monitor case? It's cheaper, a plain black monitor goes with just about anything, and it really shouldn't need to be moved all that often (especially one that's 27"). Do a lot of people have trouble with dropping their monitors? If so, I suspect the aluminum still wouldn't help much.
Evidently you haven't been educated in the ways of the barista, er, iAffictionado...
Aluminum GOOD. Every other substance BAD.
(Subject to change to a different 'GOOD' material when Apple decides to build their stuff from something else - See 'Titanium')
Ask an Apple fan and they'll blather on about how much stronger and less flexible it is or something equally of no use in the real world.
Oh so expensive!
It's very nice but complete overkill for me. I'll probably go for one of the smaller Dell IPS displayed for my MacBook Air. As for Thunderbolt accessories, well other than the Thunderbolt display, these are as rare as rocking horse ---t at the moment (there's a portable HDD but its availability is questionable) but a Belkin dock that provides USB, Firewire and so on is on its way (soon, I pray).
So, unless you want display reviewed here, Thunderbolt is currently the ultimate in bleeding edge uselessness.
Vesa mount?
No Vesa mount, and a crappy non height adjustable stand.
Also why are all the ports on the back, surely it would be useful to have at least some on the edge to make plugging and unplugging easier.
£250 more than the equivalent Dell or HP with the same panel and a 3 year onsite warranty. It's a lot of money to pay for something that looks nice.
"...why are all the ports on the back?... Some on the edge..."
Ports on the edge would spoil the lines. It would look less pretty. Practical, sure, but Tarquin ain't paying a grand for practical. Practical is for plebs.
Consumer display.
With non-consumer connectivity and price. And an Apple badge.
It's not as if Apple make the screens, they just make the case.
I'm still using my old 30" Cinema Display from 2006, which cost twice as much as this thing. Pros will pay nicely for sensible options (i.e. matte, calibration).
Shame HP Dreamcolors are so expensive. Still more tempting than one of these.
Oh oh so lovely?
And what? Accurate? All of the big special effects houses still use CRT's! I've never seen a good LCD monitor and I've seen a great many. There are huge swathes of colours missing or boosted so they all look like cr*p glossy magazine pictures! All of the colours are ALWAYS wrong. I'll stick with my Lacie Electron Blue 22 with Lacie Blue Eye Pro till they make OLED's with some longevity or some other screen technology that doesn't completely SUCK.
I've had one for about a month
And love it ... but there is a glaring omission not noted here. I use it with my core i7 Macbook Air, and just wish it had a DVD drive as well.
Or get the 27" Hazra display for half the price (at least) which is just as good.
Um... wot about Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30"
Now if I was gonna spend some money I would go for the Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30"
2560x1600
As for the tit who said the dell was lower res than the ipoo, sorry, no your are both inept and wrong. Both panels have the same resolution. Um... try googling it next time if you have the skills.
The 30" dell screen is in the same price bracket as the crapple. Price: £948.00inc vat.. u can probably get it cheaper too.
Personally, the extra vertical resolution is appealing, I use the 24" dell and have 1920x1200, I wouldn't bother with the 27's, go for 30, its all about the size you know!
As for the monkey with the budget brand 27" TN panel. I'm glad you are happy with your purchase, DO PLEASE ENJOY THOSE EXTRA BIG PIXLES YOU WILL BE STARING AT! LMFAO. What a waste of screen/realestate. Do you drive one of those Toyota MR2's with the Ferrari kit on it too? :-p
Just to finish, why oh why oh why oh why does almost every bloody 24" panel now come with the DOWNGRADED 1080p resolution!!!
E.G. They are mostly all now 1920x1080... the NATIVE resolution for a 24" screen is 1920x1200.... we're all being robbed of pixles....(well you are, I have my 1200 :p)
you dont understand...
native to the screen size and ASPECT ratio.
my current 24" are both 1920x1200 but most are now at a lower aspect ratio.
my next one will be 1920x1080 so i can dual monitor with my TV. its a pain in the arse to keep swapping around i want my games etc to work on both screens and have them duplicated and not extended. the new one will also be nvidia 3d vision 2.0 when they come out at 24" with IPS panels.
i guess they are just using industry standard resolutions, who can blame them?
Lovely, but too much gloss
As a 2-decade Apple 'investor' I appreciate the fine products, with the exception of the move to 'gloss' monitor screens. My glossy MBPro 13 is 'O.K.' as I can maneuver the screen to fit most lighting. On the desktops I 'suffer' with the matte screened 'old' Apple displays. I tried the 24" iMac, but could not find a placement in the office that did not result in a light-show going on in peripheral vision while trying to work.
It's truly ashamed that Apple has not offered the matte option (even at a premium) on their lovely new IPS displays.
Effect on ethernet speed?
Did using thunderbolt vs onboard effect this?
Is £899 actually that expensive?
Last time I looked, Dell were asking over a grand for their 30" display. OK, that's higher resolution, but it doesn't do half what this one does. And I suppose the other side of the coin is a wide range of 24" full HD displays for £150-200. But still, it seems to me to be quite reasonably price, unusually for an Apple computing product.
Paris, of course, because she knows the value of a big appliance (sometimes these comments just write themselves).
GJC
The quality is absolutely stunning. I've yet to see a better screen ANYWHERE. But 900 quid? Seriously? And it's only 27 inches.
I regularly blow money on Apple products but even I couldn't justify this.
Anyone know of a screen with comparable quality for less?
What a delicious comment:
"It’s an Apple product, which means it’s built to a standard that makes you wet your pants but priced to tighten your scrotum."
further displays
It's a shame that you can't daisychain another display from the thunderbolt port on the monitor (according to the internet - no guarantee it's right, of course). I thought that Thunderbolt actually ran two 10gb/s channels, so not sure why, but it would have been handy.
"It’s an Apple product, which means it’s built to a standard that makes you wet your pants"
That's the reason Apple people can't be taken seriously and can only be considered bias and "nuts".
Keep your Apple, I'll remain sane.
Glossy
Readers should be made aware that this display has a glossy screen, not matte. It's a matter of personal preference, but if you intend to use the screen in an environment with awkward lighting then a glossy screen may not be suitable for you.
So apt a description if Apple kit
"built to a standard that makes you wet your pants but priced to tighten your scrotum"
Honestly, I have never heard it describe better than this. My compliments, grin, for achieving the Best Description Ever award (BDE)..
glossy glass
I've got an iMac 27. I imagine it does depend on your home lighting, but really I've never noticed any glare.
And you're talking to a bloke who took back his MBP17 for a matte version because the glossy one was unusable.
The difference from a laptop is it is in one place - and in that regard it's no different from the CRT monitor that used to sit on the top of yer PC - you placed it in the room with reflections in mind.
High def colour would be nice
Apple still claims to be the preferred solution for photographers and video editors yet it still hasn't released a high-colour gamut screen to rival HP's DreamColor displays.
And I'm with the folks above, those high gloss screens are a nightmare to work with in most offices.
Docking station setup?
A question to the reviewer: do you need to open your macbook in order to wake it up? Or simply plugging the thunderbolt cable is enough?
I want to be able to come to the office, plug 2 cables, press something on the screen or move my mouse and have my computer wake up. If not, it's hardly a "docking station"...
KeyPi
On a 2011 MBP that is sleeping, it will wake up from a keypress, "magic" tablet press, and in the case of a displayport monitor (Dell), just turning on the monitor.
Guys, could you say if comments are closed on a topic; saves us writing long hopefully-non-offensive replies that just disappear into the ether...
@ Erik Borgo
Did you fall out of the stall and into the stack of horse poo, coz you seem to be talking like someone who has swallowed some....
There are actually some pretty good LCD panels that professionals use, they are NOT for sale to the general public on major websites and you won't be finding them in dixons....
There are also tools that calibrate monitors, and these professional panels employ minimal post processing and have the functionality to be tuned accordingly.
I think you have spent too much time in dixons.
Whilst not a professional spec panel, even my 24" dell (think I paid £435 for it back when) is capable of decent callibration and has the colour depth, range and contrast control to reproduce damm fine imagery.
I think you have spent too much time in dixons, you need to get out more.
Urgh
We have a few of those LED cinema displays on Mac Pros for video editing, and a similar IMac, and the main thing I notice is that I hate hate hate hate HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE the glossy coating.
Sure, it gives you an appearance of more saturated colours, but unless you're dressed like a ninja and sitting in the dark, the reflections are hell. The widgets on final cut pro are quite tiny, and the browse window so fiddly, that it's really horrid to use for editing in a shared office where it's not safe to turn the lights off.
Thank Bob that the two older displays on my Linux box have matte finish screens, really. I just don't get it, I'd actually pay a little extra not to have those bloody reflective finishes.
overworked eyes
The good old square screen did the job fine. Most websites have 2 big blank borders on the side with widescreen so thats a waste. Apart from the odd widescreen film whats the point as you move your eyes miles to look at anything on the other side of the screen. My 24 led widescreen monitor has all these faults and more but it was cheap and uses 20w. Meanwhile in apple world its 250w.
Glossy - Fail
Glossy, despite glare and reflection problems. Form over function again. Fail.
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