A display for my collection...

[dandeco]

Today at work I made another acquisition for my collection of older operational Macs. This time though, it's not a Mac computer, but a pretty nifty accessory...

A 27" Apple LED Cinema Display, the 2008-2011 model! It works pretty well, despite some small scratches and some chips around the bezel. We've sold quite a few of these during my time there. Generally I'll use it hooked up to my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini, or my 2012 15" unibody MacBook Pro (the MagSafe charger will especially be useful for that!) The built-in speakers are also WAY better than the tinny speaker in my Mac Mini. I don't expect to use this as my main display for a long time, but even if I start using an even better Dell display I'll still want to keep it for my Apple collection, as an interesting piece of Mac history.

 

[kate2kate]

I have this display and it is still my primary display. I would love to replace it but I have no idea what to get. I edit photos and have an Etsy store. I do a lot of social media. Any suggestions?

 

[Amethyst1]

Today at work I made another acquisition for my collection of older operational Macs.

Congratulations on your find! Your collection includes the last Cinema Display, mine includes the first. The first was pretty rare to begin with since it was only sold for a couple of months.

 

[MikeDr206]

I purchased this display for my mom’s older Mac Mini that doesn’t have TB. I use it when i visit. It’s still a solid monitor, and I’m surprised how good everything looks (And my main monitor is a Dell 5K). It’s not Retina, but overall a solid monitor.

if Apple updates this with USB3 or C and got rid of the Magsafe, I think they could still sell a bunch.

 

[dandeco]

if Apple updates this with USB3 or C and got rid of the Magsafe, I think they could still sell a bunch.

That's for sure! The Thunderbolt Display that replaced this particular model looked especially nice, also providing Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports on the display that were powered via Thunderbolt (just like the current Ethernet and FireWire Thunderbolt adapters), but the USB ports were still 2.0. A version that would work via USB-C or possibly Thunderbolt 3 would be great, maybe even provide additional USB-C and USB 3.0 ports on the back of the display.

Speaking of which, I recently got an Answin HDMI(male)-to-MiniDisplay(female) adapter I ordered off Amazon, I can use my M1 MacBook Air with it!

One thing I can do is have it set up as a secondary display; especially handy for when I want to watch something on a streaming service, Blu-Ray or DVD, or as one of my digital files, and still browse the web and check email and stuff as it plays!

And of course, I can also run it in Clamshell Mode! I will admit the MacBook Air's 13" screen did start to feel a little cramped recently, and for when I am working at my computer desk, I feel more comfortable working this way. Plus, when editing video (like the Halloween YouTube Poop I'm editing there on Final Cut Pro 10.6) I seem to prefer working with a mouse more than the MacBook Air's trackpad.

 

[dandeco]

Well, I decided to make an exchange at work. I'm swapping that 27" LED Cinema Display for the Thunderbolt version!

This one has a more noticeable crack on the front bezel, but I can still overlook. And when hooking it up to my M1 MacBook Air to run in clamshell mode, it's all a matter of just hooking it to my Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter.

It also makes for a nice way to connect my Air to a Gigabit Ethernet connection! And I can use the FireWire port if I want to archive anything from my DV tapes! A shame it continued to be made with USB 2.0 ports, even after all of Apple's Macs were revised to use USB 3 ports from 2012 onward! But it'll be hard to use that alongside my Falwedi USB-C hub and my 4 TB Thunderbolt 3 G-Drive. But I'm going to soon be getting a Thunderbolt 3 hub/dock to use when running my Air in clamshell mode.

 

[Amethyst1]

A shame it continued to be made with USB 2.0 ports,

At least that makes it fully compatible with Snow Leopard. The display’s USB 2.0 ports are ridiculously slow BTW, so it’s best not to use them for external storage anyway.

 

[dandeco]

At least that makes it fully compatible with Snow Leopard. The display’s USB 2.0 ports are ridiculously slow BTW, so it’s best not to use them for external storage anyway.

Of course I don't plan to use the Thunderbolt display's USB ports for external storage. I'm already using it to charge and sync my iPhone SE, along with charging my Magic Keyboard and Mouse when their juice gets too low, and I can hook up my LG external Blu-Ray burner that plugs into two USB 2.0 ports to the display as well.

 

[dandeco]

Another neat thing about this Thunderbolt display is how I can use the build-in Thunderbolt port for if I want to do Target Disk Mode between my M1 MacBook Air and my 2012 MacBook Pros...

It's still twice as fast as USB 3.0.

Trying out capturing footage from my Canon Vixia HV40 HDV camcorder via connecting the FireWire cable to the Thunderbolt display. It worked pretty well in iMovie, though QuickTime Player would just show a solid green screen as the camcorder audio played.

Additionally, I also now have a CalDigit TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 dock! You get two Thunderbolt 3 ports (one to connect to the computer), two USB-C ports, five USB 3.0 ports, DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet, an SD card slot, Digital Optical audio, and analog audio in/out jacks! I was able to connect my Thunderbolt display to this using my Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter. This I definitely plan to only use here at my home desktop setup, and once I get a beefier Apple Silicon Mac (possibly a higher-end Mac Mini with the M1 Pro chip), I'm definitely going to use that TS3 Plus dock with it! (I'm still going to use the Falwedi USB-C hub with my MacBook Air for when I am on the go.)

 

[dandeco]

Oh, great! The built-on Thunderbolt cable has failed! But for the time being I can hook it up using the spare Thunderbolt port, thanks to the daisy-chaining technology. But I often use the spare Thunderbolt port for when I transfer large files to my other Thunderbolt-enabled Macs via Target Disk Mode...

I especially need to do this now with my Thunderbolt-enabled Macs running Ventura due to that SMB network file sharing bug, but MacOS Ventura 13.3 appears to have fixed that, and it looks like the finished version may come out next week, so...
Regardless, once I've saved up enough money, I'm going to buy a replacement Thunderbolt Display TB cable and replace it myself, following this guide:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Apple+...hunderbolt+&+MagSafe+Cable+Replacement/112355
Given I do stuff at my workplace like this all the time, it shouldn't be too difficult for me.