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Acer and Lenovo Debut First USB-C Monitors, Compatible With Retina MacBook

"The monitors will be able to charge the MacBook, transfer data and display content over one USB-C cable"
This is pretty fricking neato. I couldn't imagine that USB C would enable this...

Too bad I'm only interested in an upgrade to my ultrawide LG
 
cambookpro said:
What we all thought in 2011 when the first Thunderbolt Macs were released...

Hopefully the adoption of USB-C will be much quicker and more widespread. If so, I think Thunderbolt might see a little revival with the USB-C-shaped TB3 connector. One can only hope.
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I hope so too. My first-gen rMBP is still a fairly powerful machine, but something as tiny as the MacBook would be even more fantastic. Right now I've got most of my stuff running over USB 3 with two attached hubs. Not too tricky but still a little bit of a pain. I never bought a Thunderbolt hub even though I intended to do so. First they were delayed, then the first models sucked—they either didn't have enough ports or they were really flakey. Later models seemed more stable but always had a cable combo that was off for me. By the time I saw one that I liked on MR, I couldn't justify the price since I had essentially built my own system using USB audio adapters, eSATA to USB 3 adapters, a 7-port 3.0 hub and a 4-port 3.0 hub.
 
Mac 128 said:
I'm actually surprised Apple hasn't released a new retina Thunderbolt Display yet. They're already making the panels for the 27" iMac.
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My guess is they can't get rid of the current display because they feel compelled to offer a holistic solution as long as the Mac Pro and Mac mini are around, but there must be a political faction within Apple that's blocking progress on developing and/or releasing a new display. So the current display becomes more and more an anachronism.
 
petsounds said:
My guess is they can't get rid of the current display because they feel compelled to offer a holistic solution as long as the Mac Pro and Mac mini are around, but there must be a political faction within Apple that's blocking progress on developing and/or releasing a new display. So the current display becomes more and more an anachronism.
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Maybe there's a sound reason why this can't happen, but if they simply created a display with ports for everything, as well as a dedicated power port, could the USB-C, Thunderbolt, and Thunderbolt 3, all be used to both drive the display, and/or be a data port? So regardless of what kind of connector your Mac had, you could drive the display, and everything but the USB-C port would require a separate power cord?
 
I'm only interested in the Lenovo if it also comes with a unidirectional Creative Labs microphone pointed at my face.
 
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Excited! I've used my Retina Macbook far more than any other device and I am in sore need for a external monitor. i use the HDMI adaptor and it works great for TVs and such, but would love a hi res 27" computer monitor that connects direct to USB-C
[doublepost=1451963973,1451963211][/doublepost]Excited! I've used my Retina Macbook far more than any other device and I am in sore need for a external monitor. i use the HDMI adaptor and it works great for TVs and such, but would love a hi res 27" computer monitor that connects direct to USB-C
 
KPOM said:
Interesting. The producer of the KickStarter project Hydradock said that the DP port won't work properly if the Hydradock is plugged into a Dell XPS 13 (which has a Thunderbolt 3 port in addition to 2 USB-A).
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Oh dear. Hopefully either HP or Hydradock have a teething problem - if TB3 is only going to support some USB-C features then it is going to be as much use as a chocolate teapot on mass-market laptops. That would leave Apple in a spot: the majority of buyers will be more interested in USB-C compatibility than Thunderbolt, but imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the minority of "pros" who really need Thunderbolt if Apple dropped it...
 
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ThunderSkunk said:
Hm. I daydreamed that we'd have engineered human hunger and poverty out and implemented those solutions, and enjoy lives of relative ease thanks to technology, begun repairing the damage our youthful exuberance and ignorance caused the rest of the world, and moved on to all be regularly shuttling out to a busy space station, and from there departing for construction operations & research work on the lunar surface and out to other planets and moons and stations.

Instead we seem to have gotten the opposite of all those things, and our vision seems limited to a perpetual state of war and a string of electronic toys promoting escapism to avoid dealing with reality.

Guess I'm not sold on the tradeoff being worth it.
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What a downer you are. Now I'll have to watch an episode of "I Love Lucy" take my mind off things.
 
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petsounds said:
My guess is they can't get rid of the current display because they feel compelled to offer a holistic solution as long as the Mac Pro and Mac mini are around, but there must be a political faction within Apple that's blocking progress on developing and/or releasing a new display. So the current display becomes more and more an anachronism.
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Thing is, I'd have expected most MP and Mini customers to go for a third-party display. The main strength of the TB display was always as a MacBook accessory - the docking facilities are far less important for a desktop setup (esp. with USB2 and Firewire in a USB3 world) and the integrated MagSafe is pointless.

Maybe whatever large customer is still buying the 13" MacBook Pro Classics is buying Thunderbolt displays to go with them?

The real mystery is why the display was not updated several years ago with USB-C and the new screen surface when the iMac design last changed.

Why it isn't being updated today is pretty obvious: the 27" would need to be 5k to provide an optimal "retina" mode to match the old 27" and no current macs can drive 5k without using a dual-cable kludge, and Apple also have a dilemma to resolve as to whether they're going to go all-USB-C or all-TB3 with future Macs (there's a lot we don't know about how TB3 will work with USB-C displays - see other thread).
 
Mac 128 said:
And is it just me, or does anybody else want a 32" display monitor? I use my 32" LCD TV at work as an extended desktop display. If it were higher resolution, it would definitely be my primary monitor. It would also be a great investment for a second TV with an ATV box.
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No, it's not just you. Lots of people use 30"+ displays like the ultra wide 34" monitors from LG/Dell.
Personally i use a 4k 40" TV. The DPI is decent (slightly better than a 27inch non retina iMac) and it's basically as big as a 4 20" monitor setup without the annoying bezels. :)
 
Mac 128 said:
I'm actually surprised Apple hasn't released a new retina Thunderbolt Display yet. They're already making the panels for the 27" iMac.

And is it just me, or does anybody else want a 32" display monitor? I use my 32" LCD TV at work as an extended desktop display. If it were higher resolution, it would definitely be my primary monitor. It would also be a great investment for a second TV with an ATV box.
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I'm disappointed but not surprised anymore. Apple seems to have abandoned everything but the laptop or all-in-one form factor for OSX. Mac Mini is a joke and mac pro is dying on the vine with zero updates since its groundbreaking introduction. Apple's single display choice is not even considerable at this stage.
 
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