Yes it can. I'm sure it will play video fine, but don't expect good gaming results on anything larger than the built in screen.
I've been thinking about getting the same setup myself. The Air can drive it for sure. I'm leaning towards the Dell, since it has more vertical space, more input ports and a better, more adjustable, stand.
I'm more towards Dell as well as the height is adjustable ,more input and Matte screen but atd has gigabit port.... Damn slow to copy large files over e network via wifi
IMO a 27" display is just about as nice as a 30". I have a 27" iMac and Macbook Air 13"...and I don't feel the need for the extra 3". I would get the ACD.
It's not just 3", its a 16:10 instead of 16:9 display. You lose some vertical space with the ATD, and that is very valuable space lost IMO. It's like they've done with 24" screens nowdays, most are 1920x1080 instead of 1920x1200 like they used to be. Frankly that trend sucks, most people browse the web a lot or do other things that necessitate scrolling, and more vertical space means less need to scroll. Hence 16:10(Dell) is better than 16:9(ATD).
i run the 30 apple cinema. with an especially large display, i find it very important to have an anti glare display. the vertical space is quite nice too im gonna wait for the next gen apple thunderbolt display.. hopefully itll have usb 3.0 and audio out.
It's not just 3", its a 16:10 instead of 16:9 display. You lose some vertical space with the ATD, and that is very valuable space lost IMO. It's like they've done with 24" screens nowdays, most are 1920x1080 instead of 1920x1200 like they used to be. Frankly that trend sucks, most people browse the web a lot or do other things that necessitate scrolling, and more vertical space means less need to scroll. Hence 16:10(Dell) is better than 16:9(ATD).
convergent said:Its probably a matter of opinion but I just replaced a Dell 30" and MBP with the 27" TBD and MBA. The FW and GigaE ports were more important to me than 3" in diagonal size. I don't honestly notice the size difference in use after having the 30" on my desk for 4 years, so I wouldn't really worry too much about that. The glossy vs. matte is noticeable, but not that big of a deal. The extra ports and single thunderbolt dock cable are what sold me, and I loath Dell so happy to have that thing off my desk. Plus, by buying the TBD together with my MBA, I got it covered for 3 years with my AppleCare.