Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
Hi Guys,
I can confirm 2014 Macbook Airs' have Thunderbolt 2. I just bought my Macbook from the Apple Store and looked in the User Guide to be surprised that it said Thunderbolt 2. I personally thought it was a typo until I removed my daisy chain linkup of my 2 Dell U2412H's from my HD6850 of my Desktop and connected it to my Macbook. Then, I saw both my screens mirrored. I thought it was typical of my MBA to do that considering it was Thunderbolt 1. I went to the display options and to disable my second monitor because it was wasting electricity to find that I could extend the screens. I couldn't believe, it worked. Considering that this is only possible with DP 1.2 and Thunderbolt 2 is the only controller capable of DP 1.2 at the moment, I can conclude that this 2014 MBA has Thunderbolt 2. THANK YOU APPLE! Now I can offload my work to my MBA. By the way, I have the i7-4650u model.

Will be posting proof in a week or two. Waiting to get my 3rd Dell U2412H :).
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
DP 1.1 can drive two 1080p displays.

DP1.1 can drive "Two Thunderbolt Displays" not "Two Displayport Daisy Chained Displays". Also, U2412H requires DP1.2 to Daisy Chain the monitors taking advantage of the MST Technology of DP1.2.
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
MBA 2014 still comes with Thunderbolt 1. Apple's specifications are very clear on that:



(https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs.html)

I don't that matters for me because I loaded up ubuntu 14.04 and entered the command lspci in terminal make sure and it showed

PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5520 Thunderbolt Controller [Falcon Ridge]

with the rest of my pci devices. I had to make sure that it was Thunderbolt 2 before I bought my 3rd Monitor
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,492
6,981
I don't that matters for me because I loaded up ubuntu 14.04 and entered the command lspci in terminal make sure and it showed

PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5520 Thunderbolt Controller [Falcon Ridge]

with the rest of my pci devices. I had to make sure that it was Thunderbolt 2 before I bought my 3rd Monitor

Sorry, you do not have Thunderbolt 2.
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
Apple wouldn't keep a major new feature a secret if they'd changed it. The boards in the 2014 aren't any different than those in the 2013 Air.

Well, I guess I am lucky to be able to Daisy Chain my 2 U2412H then
 

ctyrider

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2012
1,024
590
looked in the User Guide to be surprised that it said Thunderbolt 2

Post an image of your MBA User Guide where it says "Thunderbolt 2". I just looked at my MBA User Guide - it doesn't have a word "Thunderbolt" anywhere.

I loaded up ubuntu 14.04 and entered the command lspci in terminal make sure and it showed

PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5520 Thunderbolt Controller [Falcon Ridge]

How did you load Ubuntu on an MBA? Apple Bootcamp doesn't support Linux. Post a screenshot with full output from 'lspci' command.
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
Apple wouldn't keep a major new feature a secret if they'd changed it. The boards in the 2014 aren't any different than those in the 2013 Air.

Post an image of your MBA User Guide where it says "Thunderbolt 2". I just looked at my MBA User Guide - it doesn't have a word "Thunderbolt" anywhere.



How did you load Ubuntu on an MBA? Apple Bootcamp doesn't support Linux. Post a screenshot with full output from 'lspci' command.


I installed ubuntu 14.04 on an external drive, as well windows using waik (WindowsToGo). You don't need bootcamp to install other OS's. Bootcamp is only there because it is more of an assistant rather than requirement to install other OS's. Macbook's are no different from any other laptop. It is just installed with OS X. When I have time, Ill log into Ubuntu again and Ill copy and paste the whole terminal commands.

looks like this, but in english. I am not going open my box just to prove it to you. I already put away my box. Believe me or not believe me. I don't care, I didn't want to create a debate about this. I just wanted to announce it.

http://i.imgur.com/IsqpMHj.jpg
 

ctyrider

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2012
1,024
590
looks like this, but in english. I am not going open my box just to prove it to you. I already put away my box. Believe me or not believe me. I don't care, I didn't want to create a debate about this. I just wanted to announce it.

That image has to be doctored. What is your source of it??

Here's the page from official Apple's user guide for 2014 MBA 11" (source: http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1670/en_US/mb_air-11-inch-early2014_qs.pdf)

mba-11-manual_zpseff262b2.jpg


Are you seriously expecting anyone to believe your MBA magically comes with Thunderbolt 2, while all Apple's published documentation points otherwise? This is absurd.

EDIT: here's a thread, that mentions this typo in French manual, that has since been corrected. There is no Thunderbolt 2 in MBA 2014. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1730380/
 
Last edited:

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
Whatever, I don't care what you think, I am Happy with my Apple macbook. This means i don't have to purchase a ****** laggy usb to hdmi converter. That is all I care about. I could care less what you think. I am just happy to daisy chain my dells'. My source is my damn user guide.
 

Sneakz

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2008
1,217
332
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
There is some serious ignorance in this thread. Regardless of what Apple says, linjac951 is saying that the 2014 MBA actually does have TB2 as evidenced by listing the PCI devices in Linux which is worth noting as it means Apple is likely using TB2 because it's cheaper for them though they don't want to admit that the lower end MBA is TB2 compatible like the higher priced rMBPs.
 

ctyrider

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2012
1,024
590
There is some serious ignorance in this thread. Regardless of what Apple says, linjac951 is saying that the 2014 MBA actually does have TB2 as evidenced by listing the PCI devices in Linux

linjac951 is a user with no posting history, who just joined MR today to make this post. He provided no real evidence of his claims, other than a link to a previously uncovered French user guide, which was concluded to be a typo. So forgive me for being a tad incredulous about his claims, which run contrary to everything else published on the Internet about the MBA 2014!

Apple is likely using TB2 because it's cheaper for them though they don't want to admit that the lower end MBA is TB2 compatible like the higher priced rMBPs.

So let me get this straight.. Apple is intentionally lying about the hardware specs of the latest MBA, because they want us to believe in some artificial differentiation from the higher end MBP? Thank you Sneakz for uncovering this great conspiracy! :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:

Chatran

macrumors member
Jun 29, 2013
96
3
Hi Guys,
I can confirm 2014 Macbook Airs' have Thunderbolt 2. I just bought my Macbook from the Apple Store and looked in the User Guide to be surprised that it said Thunderbolt 2. I personally thought it was a typo until I removed my daisy chain linkup of my 2 Dell U2412H's from my HD6850 of my Desktop and connected it to my Macbook. Then, I saw both my screens mirrored. I thought it was typical of my MBA to do that considering it was Thunderbolt 1. I went to the display options and to disable my second monitor because it was wasting electricity to find that I could extend the screens. I couldn't believe, it worked. Considering that this is only possible with DP 1.2 and Thunderbolt 2 is the only controller capable of DP 1.2 at the moment, I can conclude that this 2014 MBA has Thunderbolt 2. THANK YOU APPLE! Now I can offload my work to my MBA. By the way, I have the i7-4650u model.

Will be posting proof in a week or two. Waiting to get my 3rd Dell U2412H :).

Could you tell me what "About this mac" shows pls? (2013 mid or 2014 early)

Thanks in advance.
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2014-06-02 at 5.00.57 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2014-06-02 at 5.00.57 AM.png
    59.1 KB · Views: 569
Last edited:

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
There is some serious ignorance in this thread. Regardless of what Apple says, linjac951 is saying that the 2014 MBA actually does have TB2 as evidenced by listing the PCI devices in Linux which is worth noting as it means Apple is likely using TB2 because it's cheaper for them though they don't want to admit that the lower end MBA is TB2 compatible like the higher priced rMBPs.

I don't think they would intentionally not update it. I think they are waiting to announce it officially in wwdc or possibly forgot to update it. Another one is that maybe be they were trying to update the thunderbolts to thunderbolt 2 and I may be the many of the few who have it, but I'm sure they realized its too costly and they can't replace the old macbook airs boards. Like the way they sampled samsung and sandisk ssds.
 

kwijbo

macrumors regular
Jan 28, 2012
249
131
I don't think they would intentionally not update it. I think they are waiting to announce it officially in wwdc or possibly forgot to update it. Another one is that maybe be they were trying to update the thunderbolts to thunderbolt 2 and I may be the many of the few who have it, but I'm sure they realized its too costly and they can't replace the old macbook airs boards. Like the way they sampled samsung and sandisk ssds.

This is interesting because the original manual Apple posted online referenced Thunderbolt 2 like yours (there was a thread about this a few weeks back) and there was another thread where someone tried the daisychain with a 2013(?) model and they couldn't get it to work. Seems like a smoke/fire type of situation.

You're also the first I recall seeing with an i7 model where system info says Early 2014.

With a 3rd display I think you would be over the bandwidth of a TB1 connection so that would be a good test to check, also if you have any sort of TB storage you could see what xfer rates you're getting.

Just out of curiosity, are you getting USB data transfer over your DP connection?
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
This is interesting because the original manual Apple posted online referenced Thunderbolt 2 like yours (there was a thread about this a few weeks back) and there was another thread where someone tried the daisychain with a 2013(?) model and they couldn't get it to work. Seems like a smoke/fire type of situation.

You're also the first I recall seeing with an i7 model where system info says Early 2014.

With a 3rd display I think you would be over the bandwidth of a TB1 connection so that would be a good test to check, also if you have any sort of TB storage you could see what xfer rates you're getting.

Just out of curiosity, are you getting USB data transfer over your DP connection?

I would love to test the TB Storage, but I don't have any at the moment. I have only usb 3.0 externals because its most versatile amongst other OSs. if Thunderbolt was as common as USB, I would get TB Storage, but at the moment, Ill stick to USB. I hope my 3rd monitor works too ;). If not, I still will chain it to my desktop. Its not a total loss.
But i prefer to use my laptop considering it uses much less power. My killawatt says idle it takes 8W and While I'm using it for work around 20-25W whereas my desktop idles at 140W and 200W while working. CPU performance is comparable between the two. Kudos to Intel. BTW my desktop is only 4.5 years old. What intel can do in 4+years is amazing. Got to love Moores law.
 

friedkimchi

macrumors regular
Aug 13, 2011
182
95
Good to see Apple slowly updating their laptops to be consistent with each other.

Hopefully, this means rMBA isn't far off.
 

Chatran

macrumors member
Jun 29, 2013
96
3
Shows early 2014

Combined with these two threads,

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1730380/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1736994/

I could imagine why the manual was changed intentionally, to avoid confusion.

Maybe they used two different logic boards to assemble 2014 MBA. The old one, (2013 mid in "about this mac") got thunderbolt 1 (But the other one might have thunderbolt 2?). Just wild guess.

The only question now is, how to buy a customized version with 2014 early in "about this mac".
 

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
Combined with these two threads,

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1730380/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1736994/

I could imagine why the manual was changed intentionally, to avoid confusion.

Maybe they used two different logic boards to assemble 2014 MBA. The old one, (2013 mid in "about this mac") got thunderbolt 1 (But the other one might have thunderbolt 2?). Just wild guess.

The only question now is, how to buy a customized version with 2014 early in "about this mac".

That makes a lot of sense. Thats probably whats going on. Mine was built in china and was shipped directly to my door. I was probably the lucky ones. Got it in less than 5 days since ordering ;).

I really hate Apple in terms in consistent hardware. They keep sampling products. Sometimes its a good thing because they are phasing out the thunderbolt 1 ports, but SSDs are definitely disappointing. I had a Samsung for my 2012 version writes were at 450mb/s now with this supposedly faster pcie based, it dropped, because I have the sandisk. Annoys the **** out of me. Read speeds went up only 200mb/s but i lost 125mb/s in write speeds. It was a give or take thing. Samsung is much more reliable too. I had this computer for a month and the ssd life dropped 1%. I had the 2012 model for almost 2 years and it only dropped 6%. Not only that, I had a Samsung screen on my 2012 model and now I have the LG model, which is noticeably crappier. I have to tweak the contrast to make it equivalent to my Samsung Screen. Due to their quarrel with Samsung they are making crappier unreliable products. This not only affects the air line but the pro lines as well. Apple needs to get their **** together. They can't keep pulling fast ones on people before most people begin to notice.
 
Last edited:

linjac951

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2014
30
0
My model number on my box is weird too. it is z0nz0001u instead of the usual one that starts with md...ll/a

Also, for those who wanted a picture, there you go. geez.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20140602_093737593_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20140602_093737593_HDR.jpg
    1,015.2 KB · Views: 757
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.