What's the holdup on a new Thunderbolt Display?

[PatriotInvasion]

Ok, so I'm starting to get inpatient. The Thunderbolt Display hasn't been updated since 2011, and all portable Macs aside from the cMBP now have MagSafe 2, Thunderbolt, and USB 3.0.

iMac production is all caught up, and yet anyone with a newer Apple notebook who wants an Apple display is forced to buy a dated USB 2.0 hub that requires a dongle adapter to even connect it with their shiny new and expensive MacBook Pro or Air.

While I'm hoping the new/thinner Thunderbolt Display is announced at the next event, I'm not sure why we even have to wait for that. Apple has 1,000's of employees and $120B in the bank. Update the display and send out a press release. What is so hard?

 

[linds15]

gotta be grandiose, they are most probably waiting to show them off alongside fancy new mac pros

 

[PatriotInvasion]

gotta be grandiose, they are most probably waiting to show them off alongside fancy new mac pros

Perhaps, but Apple probably doesn't view the Mac Pro and the $999 Thunderbolt Display as needing a grandiose unveiling for the masses. Silent updates of both would be just fine.

Crazy that I'm trying to give this company $999 of my hard earned money and they can't figure out how to take it from me in a timely fashion!

 

[thedeske]

Something between what you guys are thinking and the fact that Apple is just getting the panel process under control on iMacs.

If there is to be an updated Thunderbolt spec in the Pro, that might contribute to the delay.

I had friends buying Retina MBPs and Thunderbolt displays 2 months ago, and I warned that a new panel was "Any Day" so wait for a USB3 Display. They didn't wait and I was wrong

 

[PatriotInvasion]

Something between what you guys are thinking and the fact that Apple is just getting the panel process under control on iMacs.

If there is to be an updated Thunderbolt spec in the Pro, that might contribute to the delay.

I had friends buying Retina MBPs and Thunderbolt displays 2 months ago, and I warned that a new panel was "Any Day" so wait for a USB3 Display. They didn't wait and I was wrong

Well, I was this close to biting the bullet on the Thunderbolt Display when I bought my 13" Retina MBP in October (I sold my 27" iMac for the portability of the 13" notebook). Could have even paid it off interest-free on the Barclay Card I bought the rMBP with, but chose not to assuming a refresh was around the corner. Had I known there still would be no display in April, I would have just bought the old one and moved on with life. But now, I've come so far that I have to wait for the new one.

 

[old-wiz]

maybe they are going to replace it with a combo thunderbolt display/TV?

 

[ColdCase]

Crazy that I'm trying to give this company $999 of my hard earned money and they can't figure out how to take it from me in a timely fashion!

I think its taking them awhile to decide how to price the new display to get the mostest of our hard earned dollars (or euros). They may be arguing about if they could get away with charging $1500.....

Ideal for the business area is to wait out your patience and you buy the $999 display, the next month they release the $1500 display and you must have it... and now they get $2500 of your hard earned cash... geniuses..

 

[thedeske]

Well, I was this close to biting the bullet on the Thunderbolt Display when I bought my 13" Retina MBP in October (I sold my 27" iMac for the portability of the 13" notebook). Could have even paid it off interest-free on the Barclay Card I bought the rMBP with, but chose not to assuming a refresh was around the corner. Had I known there still would be no display in April, I would have just bought the old one and moved on with life. But now, I've come so far that I have to wait for the new one.

Rumors on the Mac Pro coming soon, so who knows, the new display would almost have to release along with it.

I don't envy your waiting game.

 

[TRAV9614]

I almost guarantee that it will be released alongside the new Mac Pros.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I almost guarantee that it will be released alongside the new Mac Pros.

Probably. Maybe they just don't shift enough to make it a priority.

 

[TRAV9614]

Probably. Maybe they just don't shift enough to make it a priority.

That could be it too. Apple probably just has more things to work on that are more important.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

They have enough people working there to initiate the update to take people's $1,000 who also bought a rMBP recently.

 

[theluggage]

gotta be grandiose, they are most probably waiting to show them off alongside fancy new mac pros

Except that the Cinema and Thunderbolt displays are firmly in the "pro-sumer" category and have always been marketed primarily as accessories for MacBooks - hence the power supply, Firewire and Ethernet functionality. The Thunderbolt display doesn't even work on the current Pro.

A lot of Pro customers are going to want specialist third-party displays, possibly 'wide gamut' models - another chunk using Mac Pros as servers will only want a minimal display. Most will already own decent displays. Not saying that nobody wants a Mac Pro + Apple display - but it will only be a small fraction of an already reducing market.

Personally, while I'd go for a 27" with 'dock' features as a companion to a laptop, with a full-sized desktop I'd prefer a pair of 24" monitors.

So I'd tend to agree that any delay in the new TBD is due to wanting the iMac supply chain to settle down first.

My other theory is that a 2560x1440 display doesn't make much sense as a companion to a retina display (even though it is 'almost retina' when you take viewing distance into account). You really want something with similar pixel density (but maybe larger area). Its going to be a while before 5129x2880 27" panels come along, but maybe a 17"-19" retina panel/dock would be a better match to the rMBPs?

 

[sammich]

There's a new revision of the TB spec that includes DisplayPort v1.2 (supports 4K displays) coming at the end of this year built into the next-gen Haswell CPUs. My guess is that's what's holding them up. It won't necessarily mean that the TBD will be a higher resolution display, but if the componentry to support it changes (say for passing through the DP rev 1.2) then it will be delayed until then

 

[PatriotInvasion]

There's a new revision of the TB spec that includes DisplayPort v1.2 (supports 4K displays) coming at the end of this year built into the next-gen Haswell CPUs. My guess is that's what's holding them up. It won't necessarily mean that the TBD will be a higher resolution display, but if the componentry to support it changes (say for passing through the DP rev 1.2) then it will be delayed until then

Not sure why they would wait until later this year to build in a port spec for higher resolutions and then not have the display support a higher resolution. Seems like they could update the display now and when the new port spec is ready, just include that in the factory when ready.

----------

Except that the Cinema and Thunderbolt displays are firmly in the "pro-sumer" category and have always been marketed primarily as accessories for MacBooks - hence the power supply, Firewire and Ethernet functionality. The Thunderbolt display doesn't even work on the current Pro.

A lot of Pro customers are going to want specialist third-party displays, possibly 'wide gamut' models - another chunk using Mac Pros as servers will only want a minimal display. Most will already own decent displays. Not saying that nobody wants a Mac Pro + Apple display - but it will only be a small fraction of an already reducing market.

Personally, while I'd go for a 27" with 'dock' features as a companion to a laptop, with a full-sized desktop I'd prefer a pair of 24" monitors.

So I'd tend to agree that any delay in the new TBD is due to wanting the iMac supply chain to settle down first.

My other theory is that a 2560x1440 display doesn't make much sense as a companion to a retina display (even though it is 'almost retina' when you take viewing distance into account). You really want something with similar pixel density (but maybe larger area). Its going to be a while before 5129x2880 27" panels come along, but maybe a 17"-19" retina panel/dock would be a better match to the rMBPs?

Fair point on the Retina vs non-Retina compromise when pairing a rMBP with a 2560x1440 Thunderbolt Display. However, I did own a 27" iMac before my rMBP and I can say that the difference isn't as dramatic as with the non-Retina MacBooks. Still, since the display is primarily marketed to MacBook Pro owners, I could see a delay being due to them wanting a retina res in the display before coming out with a new model.

Is it beyond realisic for them to make a 24" Thunderbolt Retina Display with a 3840x2160 resolution (pixel doubled 1920x1080) while keeping the price between the current $999 and say, $1,299?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Is it beyond realisic for them to make a 24" Thunderbolt Retina Display with a 3840x2160 resolution (pixel doubled 1920x1080) while keeping the price between the current $999 and say, $1,299?

I'd be all over that option. Wonder though if the HD4000 in the current Mini (and the HD3000 in the previous Mini) would be able to drive that resolution though?

 

[LuxoJunior]

Wwdc

 

[sammich]

Not sure why they would wait until later this year to build in a port spec for higher resolutions and then not have the display support a higher resolution. Seems like they could update the display now and when the new port spec is ready, just include that in the factory when ready.

Because then there'd be an extra stopgap SKU floating around. Not to mention that some people won't be happy they bought a 'new' TBD that gets a revision in another 6 or so months.

 

[macalec]

I believe they are waiting for the new Macbook Pros... I would not be surprised if it was a retina display.

Ok, so I'm starting to get inpatient. The Thunderbolt Display hasn't been updated since 2011, and all portable Macs aside from the cMBP now have MagSafe 2, Thunderbolt, and USB 3.0.

iMac production is all caught up, and yet anyone with a newer Apple notebook who wants an Apple display is forced to buy a dated USB 2.0 hub that requires a dongle adapter to even connect it with their shiny new and expensive MacBook Pro or Air.

While I'm hoping the new/thinner Thunderbolt Display is announced at the next event, I'm not sure why we even have to wait for that. Apple has 1,000's of employees and $120B in the bank. Update the display and send out a press release. What is so hard?

 

[Prodo123]

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

There's not much you can do to better the Thunderbolt display. They're not going to make it Retina lest they sacrifice the display gamut of the display. Remember, the color gamut coverage is one of the biggest selling points of the display, and to power such a high density LED they'll have to use a lower quality but brighter LED backlight.

They can't really make it any thinner than it is now. It's jam-packed as it is, and from what I see from iFixit's teardown it actually needs more room for the speakers to gain proper resonance.

The only updates that the ATD really needs are a matte option, USB 3.0, SD card slot and maybe an ODD but they're not really anything big enough to warrant a new model in my opinion. Just additional options, similar to the spec bumps that Macs get from time to time.

 

[LuxoJunior]

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

There's not much you can do to better the Thunderbolt display. They're not going to make it Retina lest they sacrifice the display gamut of the display. Remember, the color gamut coverage is one of the biggest selling points of the display, and to power such a high density LED they'll have to use a lower quality but brighter LED backlight.

They can't really make it any thinner than it is now. It's jam-packed as it is, and from what I see from iFixit's teardown it actually needs more room for the speakers to gain proper resonance.

The only updates that the ATD really needs are a matte option, USB 3.0, SD card slot and maybe an ODD but they're not really anything big enough to warrant a new model in my opinion. Just additional options, similar to the spec bumps that Macs get from time to time.

New thin iMac's 27" panel

 

[PatriotInvasion]

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

There's not much you can do to better the Thunderbolt display. They're not going to make it Retina lest they sacrifice the display gamut of the display. Remember, the color gamut coverage is one of the biggest selling points of the display, and to power such a high density LED they'll have to use a lower quality but brighter LED backlight.

They can't really make it any thinner than it is now. It's jam-packed as it is, and from what I see from iFixit's teardown it actually needs more room for the speakers to gain proper resonance.

The only updates that the ATD really needs are a matte option, USB 3.0, SD card slot and maybe an ODD but they're not really anything big enough to warrant a new model in my opinion. Just additional options, similar to the spec bumps that Macs get from time to time.

What? If then can make the iMac as thin as it is with a powerful computer inside, I'm pretty sure they can make just the display even thinner.

Forget about a matte option. It's never happening and the reduced glare of the new iMac helps with that concern anyway.

USB 3.0 is a big deal for a $999 display that markets itself as a hub/docking station for your MacBook Pro. Not to mention the fact that it can't event connect to any new Mac notebook post 2012 without a messy dongle adapter right out of the box. That's weak sauce.

 

[ColdCase]

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

I need USB3 and a cleaner way to connect to my rMBP. If Apple wants to provide a display/docking solution, they need to think about something like the the Sonnet Echo thunderbolt dock glued to a decent display panel, IMHO.

 

[Prodo123]

New thin iMac's 27" panel

What? If then can make the iMac as thin as it is with a powerful computer inside, I'm pretty sure they can make just the display even thinner.

Forget about a matte option. It's never happening and the reduced glare of the new iMac helps with that concern anyway.

USB 3.0 is a big deal for a $999 display that markets itself as a hub/docking station for your MacBook Pro. Not to mention the fact that it can't event connect to any new Mac notebook post 2012 without a messy dongle adapter right out of the box. That's weak sauce.

The new iMac 27" panel has a similar color gamut to that of the Retina MBP, i.e. ~70% Adobe RGB. Now that's a big drop in gamut from 95% Adobe RGB of the current panel, and a big boon to all who need that extra gamut. And quite frankly that's one of the biggest reasons why anyone would plunk down a grand for a professional display, and Apple has the sense to keep that selling point there.

Unless Apple wants to move away from the professional sector, and at that price point the Thunderbolt Display is there to stay, it's not putting a cost-ineffective component in an already great display.

Plus, how higher can you go from 2560x1440, when the ATD already outresolves the eye from the average desktop viewing distance (i.e. ~2 feet)? Apple didn't boost the resolution on the iMacs for a reason: it's a useless waste of graphic prowess.

 

[fpsBeaTt]

gotta be grandiose, they are most probably waiting to show them off alongside fancy new mac pros

Literally the exact same thought that occurred to me.