Apple Discontinues Thunderbolt Display

[iReality85]

Well I refuse to put a Samsung or Dell monitor on my desk, so I guess it's just iMacs from here on out.

Well that's unfortunate, because Dell puts out some truly gorgeous, high quality, and highly professional monitors these days. In fact, they are the most well-regarded in the entire industry, along with NEC.

Case in point, check out their newly released UP3017 monitor: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=210-AJGT

See that capability?
Color Support
Color Gamut (typical):
99% Adobe RGB (DeltaE < 2)
99% sRGB
99% REC 709
99% DCI-P3

Yeah, professionals haven't been using Apple displays.

 

[pat500000]

I guess Tim want us to use tv as a monitor.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

He's running Apple into the ground, and making Windows/android more appealing by the day.

I'm not a TC fan, and I do agree he is much more interested in $ period than making cool products that make $, but I wouldn't go that far. It's still a long day before I find either Windows or android appealing.

That said I do wonder if it's time for Apple to spin off the Mac division like it spun off ARM or Claris (Filemaker). Mac seems to be the redheaded stepchild these days and Apple seems unsure what to do with it.

 

[blacktape242]

wow did not see that coming.....might as well buy another one on the cheap!

 

[bladerunner2000]

Sounds like you never used the port. Once you see those speeds, nothing else compares.

I see the same speeds from USB 3.0 for 1/3 the price.
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Professionals use it, at work I'm using it everyday and all the pros I'm working with it use it everyday.
If you don't use it you probably are not a pro or support specialist, target mode for example is a must in support center like mine.

I'm a professional. I work in media. Nobody in our building of 100 people uses thunderbolt. Theres no reason to pay $400 for an external drive just to get TB when you can buy a $130 USB 3.0 drive that delivers the same speed.
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Because Thunderbolt is not for the average consumer, its meant for professional use. Consumers have the cheapy USB 2.0/3.0 if they need to use it.

Explain why or how USB 3.0 is cheap.

 

[truettray]

[doublepost=1466778538][/doublepost]
Oh, so its all about the looks for you...? I guess that's why Apple is happy to charge you $999 for 2011 technology.

Yeah, pretty much.

 

[pat500000]

Somehow Apple is starting to lose ground on software and hardware.
Oh well, if there's no great MacBook in September, things are getting weird.

A 5k display would be strange to run standard hardware (other than Apple), I would love a TB3 display in standard 4k and great design.

But ... it won't happen.

Sad ... and the above poster saying it's not the discontinuing, it's the lack of new products, is absolutely spot on.

Sad addition ... I want a new MacPro.

Sad Big Emoji.

Maybe Mac Pro for emoji products.
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and next up to be discontinued is the Mac Pro...and then the iMac. Eventually Apple will focus on iPhone and iPads.

I wonder what the board members are say
Ing about this.

 

[thisismyusername]

I'm not sure why anyone would have ever bought one anyway, especially within the last few years. They've always been overpriced.

 

[RobertMartens]

Skylake Retina MacBook Pros, which are rumored to be in the works for late fall.

September isn't actually really part of fall, just the last 10 days.
Fall is better described as October, November and December (3 weeks of December)
Late Fall translates into December, which is better described as "in time for Christmas"

 

[iReality85]

I'm not sure why anyone would have ever bought one anyway, especially within the last few years. They've always been overpriced.

They have, and by about $200-$300. And it's worse- there was never anything "professional" about this monitor, other than people thinking it was because it carried the Apple logo. It's a monitor capable of only producing 16.7 million colors. That means it's a cheap 8 bit panel; Apple simply put it into a fancy enclosure and marketed it at a high price.

Real professionals, doing color critical work and content creation, have been buying professional-grade 10 bit, 1.07 billion color-capable monitors at the same size and resolution for $799-$999 for at least as long.

 

[TXCherokee]

Okay. So this is the direction Apple is taking.
Unless Apple exceeds my expectations with the MacBook Pro refresh, I'm done with this company. There's nothing for me here anymore.

Be careful with that statement. After building my son's PC (for gaming), we decided to give MS a try. Windows 10 Mobile, MS Band, Surface Pro 4, etc. With the exception of Windows 10 running well on a custom PC (albeit with what can only be described as MS-built spyware everywhere in the OS) and the speed and reliability of OneDrive, the experience is TERRIBLE.

Apple has their faults, but they are still the best game in town, IMHO.

 

[Exhale]

Don't forget colour accuracy. That is worth paying for

Problem is colour accuracy was not something the TBD was strong at even when it was new. And without assistance of a calibration tool, colour accuracy was outright terrible (and not suited for professional use). Today even gaming oriented displays (like Asus Swift) has better colour accuracy out-of-box, but its not even marketed for that - but rather its 144hz refresh rate.

 

[TonyTech]

Discontinued but not discounted. We might see a little discount from Apple resellers but not from Apple. No matter how old the technology or the product is, Apple's prices remain the same. Good for resale value but something that definitely pushes people into looking for other alternatives. Too bad that the alternatives usually don’t offer the same level of industrial design and taste.

 

[kingtj]

I don't see the big deal with Apple discontinuing this display, really? I think it bothers people more from a symbolic sense than anything practical. (EG. It means Apple doesn't have a single LCD display to sell you with their logo on it anymore.) Does that really mean the company is getting away from building computers you want to use?

Practically speaking? Everyone I know owns *several* monitors.... often even having spares lying around the house or office. Especially when you're talking about displays smaller than 20" or so, you practically have to give one away to get rid of it. You can find 17" and 19" LCDs on Craigslist all day long that are only $40 or so and still have no buyer after being listed for a month or more.

One of the *selling points* when the Mac Mini was introduced was the fact you'd buy it without any keyboard or mouse bundled, and you could just use it with whatever USB keyboard/mouse combo AND display you already owned.

People on the opposite end of the spectrum, who are super picky about color accuracy and display sharpness, lack of screen glare, etc. have high-end monitor options out there that were never sold by Apple. So they've usually gone that route, denying Apple a sale.

IMO, the biggest argument for this Thunderbolt display was the way you could utilize it as a pseudo "docking station" for your Macbook Pro. That's become much less of a benefit over time, as 3rd. parties have introduced alternative solutions (several Thunderbolt docks out there now). And moving forward, if Apple adopts USB-C like it dabbled with on the new Macbook, this display won't support the connector at all.

What I personally think Apple *should* do is release a 5K monitor with a built-in high performance GPU (one of the new mobile versions of the latest generation of GPUs from nVidia or ATI) and provide a software driver so it works with any existing Mac that it can connect to via Thunderbolt. That could be a HUGE seller, since it would enable existing Macs (even older Macbook Airs!) to have enough graphics power to play the latest 3D games on them. And when you upgrade computers, that capability stays with you for the next Mac you replace it with.

Okay. So this is the direction Apple is taking.
Unless Apple exceeds my expectations with the MacBook Pro refresh, I'm done with this company. There's nothing for me here anymore.

 

[Ethosik]

I'm not a TC fan, and I do agree he is much more interested in $ period than making cool products that make $, but I wouldn't go that far. It's still a long day before I find either Windows or android appealing.

That said I do wonder if it's time for Apple to spin off the Mac division like it spun off ARM or Claris (Filemaker). Mac seems to be the redheaded stepchild these days and Apple seems unsure what to do with it.

Blame it on the fact that Apple is a public company where you only go where the money is. Shareholders would have a fit if they focused on Mac vs iPad/iPhone instead since iPad/iPhone is most of their revenue these days.

 

[brinary001]

How, exactly, was it sad?

Yeah I wouldn't go as far as to say it was sad. I mean if you had the money to burn then go for it. But a thousand dollar monitor (especially in the post-4k era) was ridiculous. Like you could buy a whole other Mac for that price lol.

 

[Ethosik]

September isn't actually really part of fall, just the last 10 days.
Fall is better described as October, November and December (3 weeks of December)
Late Fall translates into December, which is better described as "in time for Christmas"

Nope. September is part of the fiscal fall I believe.

 

[DVNIEL]

Sad that people still bought these

This post makes absolutely no sense. Why would it be sad if people bought these? These are amazing displays and still are.

 

[Tech198]

Perhaps Apple just wants u to buy a 5K iMac..... anyway

(just throwing it out there, i'm all over the place tonight)

 

[MCAsan]

http://www.macworld.com/article/308.../apple-discontinuing-thunderbolt-display.html

So now just maybe we will not see any more threads about folks worrying if they should spend a grand on a 2K monitor. It was great 5 years ago. But way out of date now.

Will we see a 5K ATD when Macs with TB3 are released later this year?

 

[xSinghx]

Why the outrage? There are loads of better quality & cheaper displays available. Move on.

Maybe try reading the thread before posting something glib and worthless.

 

[Wild-Bill]

I'm sure the Mac Pro is next. Writing's on the wall.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I'm not a TC fan, and I do agree he is much more interested in $ period than making cool products that make $, but I wouldn't go that far. It's still a long day before I find either Windows or android appealing.

That said I do wonder if it's time for Apple to spin off the Mac division like it spun off ARM or Claris (Filemaker). Mac seems to be the redheaded stepchild these days and Apple seems unsure what to do with it.

Why are they going to spin off a crown jewel critical to creating even their own apps and apps on other crown jewels such as the iPad, iPhone and Apple TV?

I think this decision is just part of realizing Steve Jobs vision of the Mac as being a Truck. Not a lot of people will be using them in the future, there will be of course a lot of persons using them in the sense of, you have one for heavy grunt work. Its just that your every day go device will be your smartphone.

Not everyone uses Creative Apps or does development. The user base is miniscule in comparison to Apples mobile devices.

 

[tampageek]

It's about time they killed this thing off, but not to replace it? What happened to apple being a one stop computer shop?

They suck, seriously.

Who want's to bet the Mac Pro will be next?

It's starting to look like Tim really wants to get out of the computer business and focus on pretty watch bands and pink iPhones.
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I'm sure the Mac Pro is next. Writing's on the wall.

Yup. You got that right.

 

[knigma]

Apple, can we now have DisplayPort daisy chaining in Sierra?