Apple Says Thunderbolt Display and Original iPad Air Now Obsolete

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Thank you so much!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

When it comes to searching for images, use image search (where you submit the image you want to find, not text descriptions of the image you want to find). That works very well.

 

[bladerunner88]

Thunderbolt was always obsolete. It's been over a decade since thunderbolt has been on the market and I've still NEVER seen anyone use it.

Me Me Me...27" Attached to my Trash Can that has Thunderbolt

 

[everlast3434]

Not for me! I use my Thunderbolt display every day and it works perfectly!

 

[Obioban]

Does not meant you have to stop using them. It only means it won't receive further Security Updates.

This is the biggest issue with the latest Apple monitors that run a version of iOS and require firmware updates. Once they're "obsolete" they'll likely be left unsupported. Probably isn't an issue for the average person at home, but is an issue for businesses and government.

WTF are you guys talking about? These aren't network/internet connected devices-- the OS on them just controls the brightness, cameras, speakers, etc. The thunderbolt display and studio display will continue to function, without any security implications.

 

[Burai]

well...just like human eyes can develop glaucoma, so too can displays become obsolete. LOL.

I have an Apple Thunderbolt display. It's running usually mostly well but very occasionally has a high frequency whine. I hope this display lasts me another 2 decades!

The whine is the power supply starting to fail, common with the Flextronics PSUs that Apple used in their displays and iMacs at the time. It'll get more and more frequent until it eventually dies. I managed to replace the PSU in my 2009 iMac a few years ago, but they are quite hard to find now. I'd say 2 decades is rather hopeful!

 

[iModFrenzy]

Still have my cinema display (2013) with mini display port and been working fine for a long time as my secondary monitor. I do not remember if these monitor have firmware updates or if they were, not sure how they were updated.

I bought cinema display’s recently and had to update them to solve an audio bug I was having.

https://k37.dev/firmwares.html , threw them on my website for the sake of preservation.

 

[msackey]

The whine is the power supply starting to fail, common with the Flextronics PSUs that Apple used in their displays and iMacs at the time. It'll get more and more frequent until it eventually dies. I managed to replace the PSU in my 2009 iMac a few years ago, but they are quite hard to find now. I'd say 2 decades is rather hopeful!

Yeah, I heard years ago it has to do with the power supply. It's been more than 4 years since the first whine started and it doesn't happen often, like less than once every 6 months (so far at least). I even once brought it into the Apple Store for a diagnosis -- this was some time before the pandemic started -- and they couldn't find anything wrong; no whine.

I heard one way to reduce the strain on the power supply is to not let the monitor power the laptop, so I don't use that cable that supports power to the laptop and rather just use the laptop's own brick.

So...maybe two decades I'll get? ;-) LOL.

 

[erikkfi]

A camera so good they couldn't top it when they released the Studio Display over a decade later!

 

[DaveTheRave]

I still occasionally use my iPad Air and that will continue, until it stops working.

My kid uses it all the time. Still has great battery life even though overall the device is sluggish. I blame the last iOS made for it. 12-point-something.

 

[Longplays]

WTF are you guys talking about? These aren't network/internet connected devices-- the OS on them just controls the brightness, cameras, speakers, etc. The thunderbolt display and studio display will continue to function, without any security implications.

Language!

I was speaking of the iPad.

 

[0339327]

WOW, if you take a look at the list, the Apple II (all models) is still listed. I had that computer for years.

 

[August West]

I didn't know displays could be "obsolete"

Don't tell my 2009, 24" Cinema Display.

 

[Wokis]

Thunderbolt was always obsolete. It's been over a decade since thunderbolt has been on the market and I've still NEVER seen anyone use it.

Not sure "obsolete" is the right word.

It was always heading to be a niche since the demand for high-bandwidth PCIe-class external interconnect isn't high among general consumers and it also came with a license cost and high QA-requirements for product development.

But people do use it. The film/tv/tuber-industry would be the common example. Low latency high bandwith external devices such as video reference monitoring tools, audio/video I/O converters. A more common household example would be docking stations for laptops, but I would guess most people who don't need attached storage, network and two screens over one cable can get by with just a simple USB-C dongle.

I think for Apple the push for Thunderbolt just came from the product vision of having as few cables as possible.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

Remind me to hug my Thunderbolt and tell it that I love it when I get home tonight.

 

[PsykX]

Right? I thought this happened already..

Level 1 is Vintage
Level 2 is Obsolete

 

[Solomani]

I didn't know displays could be "obsolete"

All displays will be obsolete. In future, the AI will be our eyes. We no longer need to stare at displays.

"Hey AI, show me the map directions to my cousin's house."

AI: "No need for me to show you a map. No need for you to look at anything. I already entered the route into your car navigation system. Just shut up and start driving. Oh wait. You don't even need to drive any more. I'll do it for you. You humans are terrible drivers anyways."

 

[Solomani]

Remind me to hug my Thunderbolt and tell it that I love it when I get home tonight.

And he strikes... like Thun..... der bolt!

 

[alexandr]

Level 1 is Vintage
Level 2 is Obsolete

OK, maybe that's why)) Tx

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

All displays will be obsolete. In future, the AI will be our eyes. We no longer need to stare at displays.

"Hey AI, show me the map directions to my cousin's house."

AI: "No need for me to show you a map. No need for you to look at anything. I already entered the route into your car navigation system. Just shut up and start driving. Oh wait. You don't even need to drive any more. I'll do it for you. You humans are terrible drivers anyways."

You know you might be onto something...

 

[jonnysods]

TBD isn't obsolete in my heart, its still my main monitor at my home office.

 

[daneoni]

Had the 27" LED Cinema display from 2011 until April this year and it was perfect, not a single issue in 12yrs of pretty much daily use.

It was a 'free' upgrade replacement from Apple. I won't ever forget it.

But i needed true retina and improved brightness. So i upgraded.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I bought cinema display’s recently and had to update them to solve an audio bug I was having.

https://k37.dev/firmwares.html , threw them on my website for the sake of preservation.

You are a saint for us oldies thank you.

 

[dandeco]

As in they no longer offer updates, support or repairs for it - it still works, but you're on your own.

Right. I have one that I use with my M1 MacBook Air in clamshell mode, and it's pretty nice, but I do need to replace the built-in Thunderbolt cable, since it's not that reliable anymore. For now I am getting by using the Thunderbolt port on the back, hooked up to a Thunderbolt 2-to-3 adapter connected to my CalDigit TS3-Plus dock. Shouldn't be too hard a replacement job for me, given I do this kind of work a lot at my job. Then once I get an M2 Pro-equipped Mac Mini, I can use the Thunderbolt display with it, but I won't need the dock, as I can just hook it up to one of the four built-in Thunderbolt 4 ports using my 2-to-3 adapter. (I'll most likely still have the dock hooked up to another one of the TB4 ports, for when I need to import from SD cards or analog line-in audio and whatnot.) Even the Display's built-in FireWire 800 port I find useful for when I am archiving/importing MiniDV or Digital8 tapes...

...such as this YouTube fursuit vlog I did demonstrating the older camcorders' tacky built-in effects. That way I don't have to always daisy-chain my TB 2-to-3 adapter to my FireWire-to-Thunderbolt adapter (and that method DOES work, by the way).

As for the first-generation iPad Air, I'm kind of not surprised. We're getting a LOT of them from school districts retiring them in favor of newer iPads and/or Chromebooks (just like a couple years ago when Apple announced the iPad 2 as being obsolete and we began getting hundreds of them from schools) and after a while we got so many that now I have to log any with noticeably physical damage (cracked front panels, heavy scratches, engraving on the back) as not worth re-selling online; once these damaged models are wiped and reset, I prepare them to be recycled. But still, it's amazing how the iPad Air replaced the "regular" iPad in 2013 and eventually influenced the "regular" iPad once that was revived, to the point where the current iPad Air is basically a "lite" version of the iPad Pro, and the "regular" iPad is like the original Air.

 

[poematik13]

The thunderbolt display was such a major status symbol in the 2010's, if you had one in your office you were definitely succesful