Show us your Thunderbolt/Cinema Display setup!

[truthiness]

Originally Posted by deafgoose

I got my dual Thurderbot displays mounted.

Image

you need to mount a camera outside and make it look like a couple of windows looking out.

[Aneres11]

Here is my setup:
Apologies for the not great quality pics!

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[theprophe]

Love the desk, who makes it?

[duffer6]

Originally Posted by deafgoose

I got my dual Thurderbot displays mounted.

Image

My favorite setup by far. Question for you, do you find the distance from where you sit to the monitor to be a bit far. For me it looks like about 3 feet?

[crumpler]

Originally Posted by deafgoose

I got my dual Thurderbot displays mounted.

Image

Another thing about the dual mounted display, are they exactly aligned? Seems to be somewhat out of whack from what i'm seeing but it could be angle the photo was taken.

[apunkrockmonk]

Originally Posted by Aneres11

Here is my setup:
Apologies for the not great quality pics!

I really enjoy your setup! The room looks beautiful!

[deafgoose]

Originally Posted by duffer6

My favorite setup by far. Question for you, do you find the distance from where you sit to the monitor to be a bit far. For me it looks like about 3 feet?

One of the reasons I mounted them was because they were too close. The distance is perfect. My desk moves as I lean back in my chair. It's also made by Herman Miller and its called the Envelop desk. By far the most ergonomic desk in the world.

Originally Posted by crumpler

Another thing about the dual mounted display, are they exactly aligned? Seems to be somewhat out of whack from what i'm seeing but it could be angle the photo was taken.

One of them is slightly lower than the other but my wall mount can compensate for that. I have since adjusted them and its perfect.

[Fastball32]

Originally Posted by Apple Expert

Just received my TBD and its very nice. However my fan on my MBA is running a lot faster then the normal 2k rpm. It's roughly at 4k rpm. Hopefully it settles down.

My 11" 2011 MBA i7 fans spin loudly whenever I play HD videos. It never did this on my Cinema Display, but consistently does this with my Thunderbolt Display. I started another thread in this forum about this issue, but it seems most people don't experience or notice the fans.
I would say a $850 refurbished Cinema Display is a better deal than a new Thunderbolt Display.

[Fastball32]

Originally Posted by revelated

Counter angle.

My company gives a rather nice discount on Apple products. Not the highest, but still nice. I think I got my Display for around $890 with tax - I had expected $930. Does not apply to refurb or used products - only new.

The thing about Thunderbolt, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, is that if your MacBook Pro or Air is 2011, then you can use Thunderbolt as a single passthrough for Ethernet, Firewire, and USB. I don't believe the old Cinema Display had this full capability. IN my case the monitor is persistently connected hardwire to my work network, and then my MacBook Pro connects via Thunderbolt, so I don't have to keep plugging and unplugging the Ethernet cable. We do have a corporate wireless that I'm attached to, but obviously it's not nearly as fast as a hardwire network. I don't get any elevated fans when connecting in this manner - but then again, it operates closed in a BookArc for what it's worth.

The other benefit of this monitor is that I can use it as a switch for high speed file transfers to or from my personal MacBook Pro or Air, which are both 2011. So you connect an Ethernet cable between the Display and one machine - thus creating a Gigabit LAN - and then connect the Display's Thunderbolt cable to the other machine. Works a treat. Or if you have a standard switch you could connect Ethernet to the switch, connect a NAS or something on another port, then your computer to the Thunderbolt, all with only using the Thunderbolt port on the MacBook Pro.

I'm not upgrading any of my machines to Lion (the Air was forced to have it, so it's already done, I use it to assess progress of fixes) until (A) the bugs are worked out and (B) they fix silly things like the icon colors and whatnot, so I don't use AirDrop.

For audio I really don't understand the issue because you can configure your computer to send audio wherever you want it. So just redirect the output to the MacBook rather than to the monitor, and use its headphone jack. Or get USB headphones and/or speakers which bypass the problem entirely. Am I missing something?

For the whole "older computers" argument, I get it. Some people still have their 2008 MacBook Pros. My question to them is why they're just now getting around to buying a Display. They're crazy expensive...but financially Apple is positioning them to be bought at roughly the same time. Worst case you could probably just buy a used 27" iMac and set it to Target Display and get the same benefit for the same or less price.

Wouldn't an Apple USB Ethernet adapter connected to the rear of a Cinema Display accomplish the same thing?

[LevMac]

deafgoose & Aneres11,

Loving your setup guys, so inspiring, I'm currently running 1 x 27" Cinema Display connected to my MacBook Pro, but thinking of running another one by changing up my setup, after seeing these pics it's making me wanna do it

Keep up the setup pics guys !

[Aneres11]

Originally Posted by LevMac

deafgoose & Aneres11,

Loving your setup guys, so inspiring, I'm currently running 1 x 27" Cinema Display connected to my MacBook Pro, but thinking of running another one by changing up my setup, after seeing these pics it's making me wanna do it

Keep up the setup pics guys !

Thanks!

I have really enjoyed looking at this thread so glad i finally got round to posting!

Will keep posting when and if things change up at all!

[convergent]

Originally Posted by Fastball32

Wouldn't an Apple USB Ethernet adapter connected to the rear of a Cinema Display accomplish the same thing?

No, the TBD has gigabit ethernet and the adapter is 100BaseT... so the TBD is 10x faster (assuming you have an Air and don't have a gigabit port on your machine). It would depend somewhat on your usage and needs in that regard. I have a NAS that I use a lot for photograph work so the 1K vs. 100 speed difference is a bit deal. Since USB2 is slower than gigabit, it is impossible to accomplish this without a thunderbolt connection.

Also, the display has a FW800 and 3 USB ports, so you have a "dock" with one cable which is a convenience factor for connecting your peripherals. I also dissevered that the external SuperDrive will not work on a USB hub, but will work with the TBD, so if you have a SuperDrive it would always be an extra connection to the Air. Plus, you pick up FW800.

Originally Posted by Fastball32

I would say a $850 refurbished Cinema Display is a better deal than a new Thunderbolt Display.

I think you are comparing apples to oranges, no pun intended. If both are new, they are the same price. Eventually there I would think the refurbs would be the same price. So the TBD is a much better deal... particularly if you are connecting to an Air that has limited ports on the machine which you gain via thunderbolt. In the future when thunderbolt hubs are available, I'm sure they'll be at least $150 initially.

[entatlrg]

Originally Posted by Apple Expert

I love my TBD! However I'm not sure if I will be keeping it. With this monitor the fan is always running loud. I've done the PRAM rest and smc reset. Still same result. When my MBA is not hooked up the TBD, my MBA is very cool and silent. I guess I will be returning it and waiting for next years display or revised MBP that will hopefully power it a lot easier than my MBA.

Yea, an Air being cool and quiet when using as a desktop may be asking for a bit much.

FAR better to run two computers, with Dropbox, iCoud etc it's very easy to keep everything in sync.

Plus there's the lock up's when disconnecting the display, hassles of repeatidly unplugging especially if you move around a lot and use your laptop as a laptop.

Don't see the benefit, or cost savings, TBD's aren't cheap. Buy a lower end laptop and desktop instead. Even if you pay a few hundred more it's easily worth it for the benefit you get.

[convergent]

Originally Posted by entatlrg

Yea, an Air being cool and quiet when using as a desktop may be asking for a bit much.

FAR better to run two computers, with Dropbox, iCoud etc it's very easy to keep everything in sync.

Plus there's the lock up's when disconnecting the display, hassles of repeatidly unplugging especially if you move around a lot and use your laptop as a laptop.

Don't see the benefit, or cost savings, TBD's aren't cheap. Buy a lower end laptop and desktop instead. Even if you pay a few hundred more it's easily worth it for the benefit you get.

I think this is just a personal preference thing, but I couldn't disagree with you more. I have had no issues with my MBA being "cool and quiet" using it as a desktop and running a full suite of apps. Syncing two machines, while not the end of the world, is certainly not as simple as pulling the thunderbolt and power cables when I go mobile. Never had a lockup doing that. I do wish both cables were on the same side of the machine, but not a huge problem either way. And using Dropbox/iCloud to sync two computers isn't a viable option for some... our company forbids the use of public clouds to store company data of any kind. I have used ChronoSync to do this in the past, but still find having one machine to be way more convenient. Even things as trivial as "open recent" can be a convenience factor that goes away with two machines. And with the Lion versioning of files, I'm not sure how syncing will handle that.

[Gordy]

Well after a bit of work on Saturday, I've mounted my 27in ACD onto a Humanscale M7 Monitor Stand. I've done this for two reasons, one is that by default the ACD is a touch too low for me. With the Humanscale I can adjust it to suit my needs. Also the stand whilst an ok place to put my Macbook Air, it cause the Air to move too easily when pulling cables etc out.



I already had the Humanscale M7 mount in the loft, so the only thing I needed was the Apple VESA adapter. I've fitted one on the previous generation of Cinema Displays and that was very hard. The current ones are so much easier. The hidden screws are such an clever bit of engineering. Something only Apple would do.



I don't use the full adjustment on the mount as I don't need it all at present.



With this setup I'm down to so few cables under the desk. It's crazy how far Apple have come with thinning out the cable mess over the last few years. My cable try underneath the desk looks rather sparse now.

More Pics can be found here on my flickr
http://gordy.me/v

[jbjones85]

That looks great, details on the stand?

[SuperMiguel]

Originally Posted by cgk

Image

I do work here.

running linux?

[bobpensik]

Recently replaced my 2008 Mac Pro and 20" ACD with a 2011 Mini Server and 27" TB display and I am loving it

[tills24]

Aneres11, where did you get those lights / lamps? I like those a lot.

[Floris88]

those are Ikea lamps, the most common ones around

[pat park]

Originally Posted by bobpensik

Recently replaced my 2008 Mac Pro and 20" ACD with a 2011 Mini Server and 27" TB display and I am loving it

this is my dream Mac rig. LOve that table too.

Where did you get that table?

[Floris88]

Got it

[pat park]

Originally Posted by Floris88

Got it

Image

Nice! Love that set up.

[mohsy90]

Refurbished thunderbolt displays just became available at the Apple Store for the first time.
Just some info for you guys.

[zemaker]

Originally Posted by mohsy90

Refurbished thunderbolt displays just became available at the Apple Store for the first time.
Just some info for you guys.

Figures a week after I purchased mine.