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Apple Said to Be Working on Lower-Priced External Monitor to Succeed Thunderbolt Display

I think what we are clearly seeing is a course correction of their ignoring the Mac for several years.
While they will never admit it, I think they were considering axing the Mac before deciding to double down.

During that period, they got rid of things that were no brainers, like monitors that could connect to the ONLY port they shipped on their machines.... while at the same time shipping 4 versions of a failed keyboard design before finally getting around to replacing it with a traditional keyboard. No improvements to touch bar during that time either.... and letting their "Pro" machine go what, 6-7 years before an upgrade? It doesn't take 7 years to design a new motherboard, especially when you are one of the richest companies on earth.

It really does feel like to me they decided to pull back on the Mac, and something happened about a year and a half ago that suddenly made them decide they cared again. Maybe it was when they started seeing apple silicon macs in the lab starting to look as a success... Or maybe it was the slowing of iPhone growth to where they didn't want to throw away their other revenue streams.

Whatever it was, the last year or so has been really good for the Mac, and it really looks like they are focussed on it now.
 
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Mike_Trivisonno said:
Finally. I got 3 aging thunderbolt displays that need replacing. I bought an LG 27UK850-W 27" 4K UHD IPS Monitor with HDR10 with USB Type-C Connectivity and FreeSync because I read an article that said it could be hooked up to the old trashcan MacPro. It just sat there doing nothing. It did work when I connected it to the HMDI port but the image was so flickery, it was unusable. Hopefully the new monitors will work on with my old MacPro...or I will be forced to buy one of the new MacPros.
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I got an ASUS PA328Q 32-inch 4K monitor to use with my trashcan Mac Pro. It also just sat there doing nothing and would only work on HDMI, but only after I'd already booted into macOS by typing in my password with a completely blank monitor screen. I don't think it's the monitor's fault. I think macOS or the Mac Pro was being a d!ck.
 
I'm glad to see Apple choosing to re-enter this market, but I hope they make something really good.

There are a lot of very good monitors made by a variety of manufacturers for really good prices. I don't think Apple will sell something at a low price point, so they're going to have to include some premium features to justify the price. It won't be enough to put the same panels sold by Dell and LG in an aluminum enclosure if it costs a lot more than the Dell/LG displays.
 
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Mike_Trivisonno said:
Finally. I got 3 aging thunderbolt displays that need replacing. I bought an LG 27UK850-W 27" 4K UHD IPS Monitor with HDR10 with USB Type-C Connectivity and FreeSync because I read an article that said it could be hooked up to the old trashcan MacPro. It just sat there doing nothing. It did work when I connected it to the HMDI port but the image was so flickery, it was unusable. Hopefully the new monitors will work on with my old MacPro...or I will be forced to buy one of the new MacPros.

Now it just sits on the other desk along with other old Macs I never use. It taunts me. Stupid thing. Look at it.

View attachment 1713462
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I’ll take it off your hands....
 
MacBird said:
A new Cinema Display would be great and while we are at it, how about a new router?
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The AirPort kits are just not worth it to Apple.

1. The router market is saturated

2. Apple never supported AirPort configuration on Android devices and stopped updating AirPort for Windows years before discontinuing their products.

3. AirPort Utility released with Lion lost a lot of features compared to the old version.

4. Cost of staffing AppleCare specialists for these kind of products diminishes the profit margin when taking into consideration the lifespan of the product rather than just profit at point of sale VS manufacturing and distribution cost.

Source on #4, I worked in the AirPort division of AppleCare for 2 years and supporting it is a ****ing mess, and requires very long calls from grandmas and grandpas who have to go under office furniture in order to unplug this and that and then plug it back in in the right spot.
 
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I don't know what changed, but Apple seems to be on some virtual speed and I am a fan. Craig has been nailing IOS, iPadOS & MacOS, and rumors of the new MacBook Pros and potentially new monitors has me stoked. It feels like the Mac is getting some much-needed attention...
 
Unity451 said:
Crazy that this hasn't existed yet. They could literally take one of their iMacs, rip out the brains, and sell it for $500.
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27" LG UltraFine 5K is exactly that and costs $1300. There's also a 24" 4K version for $700.
 
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Ooh, I came SO close to pulling the trigger on a third party monitor today too. Then again, this Apple one is probably a year away at least. "Early development" - weird they're only getting to this now, given the number of people who must need something for their M1 Macbooks.
 
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Star Brood said:
The AirPort kits are just not worth it to Apple.

4. Cost of staffing AppleCare specialists for these kind of products diminishes the profit margin when taking into consideration the lifespan of the product rather than just profit at point of sale VS manufacturing and distribution cost.

Source on #4, I worked in the AirPort division of AppleCare for 2 years and supporting it is a ****ing mess, and requires very long calls from grandmas and grandpas who have to go under office furniture in order to unplug this and that and then plug it back in in the right spot.
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:)
 
skippermonkey said:
I'm still rocking my 11-year-old 27-inch LED Cinema Display which works as well as the day I bought it. Amazing piece of kit. But I really need to upgrade to something with USB-C or Thunderbolt (or whatever these new-fangled GPUs support), so this cannot come soon enough!
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Still using my 2009 23” Cinema Display!
 
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Putzytart said:
24 inch iMac with a matching 24 inch Thunderbolt Display. Now you are talking. I've had every possible combination of monitors in the past, and the sweet spot for me was 2 x 23 inch apple cinema displays. You know the old aluminium ones. Two 27s was just too big, and besides the new large iMac will be 32 or 34 inches. Two of those will be way too big. Give me an iMac 24 with a matching TB display and take my wallet
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Couldn’t agree more. 24” is the sweet spot for me - perfect size for cad work.
 
Please make sure all cables can be detached. Thunderbolt display's MagSafe + TB cable is directly attached to the frame and require opening the display to replace.

While user can attach another TB cable to workaround the aging cable, it's a pain to do it. Also make it lighter as well.
 
Magsafe on MacBook, No more touch bar, Cheaper price display, will they bring the Airport router back next?
 
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Apple should make a Thunderbolt 4 display 27-inch with 4-Thunderbolt ports and 4-USB 3.2 Generation 2.x2 (20 Gbps) ports for less than 1,000 USD.
 
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I had been looking for a decent monitor for a while and realized that almost nothing on the market comes close to the 5k iMac monitors that have been used for the past 5 years, so I decided to get a used 27" 5k iMac for a bit more of what an ugly 4k monitor would have costed. The 5k iMac displays always have been absolutely amazing. I am very surprised Apple hasn't released one for sale without the computer internals.
 
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dguisinger said:
I think what we are clearly seeing is a course correction of their ignoring the Mac for several years.
While they will never admit it, I think they were considering axing the Mac before deciding to double down.

During that period, they got rid of things that were no brainers, like monitors that could connect to the ONLY port they shipped on their machines.... while at the same time shipping 4 versions of a failed keyboard design before finally getting around to replacing it with a traditional keyboard. No improvements to touch bar during that time either.... and letting their "Pro" machine go what, 6-7 years before an upgrade? It doesn't take 7 years to design a new motherboard, especially when you are one of the richest companies on earth.

It really does feel like to me they decided to pull back on the Mac, and something happened about a year and a half ago that suddenly made them decide they cared again. Maybe it was when they started seeing apple silicon macs in the lab starting to look as a success... Or maybe it was the slowing of iPhone growth to where they didn't want to throw away their other revenue streams.

Whatever it was, the last year or so has been really good for the Mac, and it really looks like they are focussed on it now.
Click to expand...
I suspect the things that changed was market saturation in the phone market coupled with the M series chip bringing increased performance, profit and possibly market share in the computer market.
 
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