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apple thunderbolt display mba vs mbp
- Thread starter tim100
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The MBA & 13" MBP can only power 1 Thunderbolt Display, while the 15" & 17" MBPs can power 2 Thunderbolt Displays because they have dedicated graphics cards.
I would argue there are other differences.
I had the base 2011 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM a couple months ago with the Thunderbolt Display. I would hook the Air up to the display and within five minutes the computer's fans would fire up. I could let the computer sit there and the fans would fire up without anything running in the background.
I sold my Air a month ago and grabbed a refurbished 13" Early 2011 model. I have yet to have the computer's fans fire up with the display plugged in and nothing going on in the background.
Maybe I had a defective 11" Air, but overall, I am happier with the Pro because it is a lot quieter and cooler.
I had the base 2011 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM a couple months ago with the Thunderbolt Display. I would hook the Air up to the display and within five minutes the computer's fans would fire up. I could let the computer sit there and the fans would fire up without anything running in the background.
I sold my Air a month ago and grabbed a refurbished 13" Early 2011 model. I have yet to have the computer's fans fire up with the display plugged in and nothing going on in the background.
Maybe I had a defective 11" Air, but overall, I am happier with the Pro because it is a lot quieter and cooler.
I have a 2011 MBA and my fans scream when I attach it to my Thunderbolt Display, however they do not get loud when I attach it to a Cinema Display.
The MBP has a faster Thunderbolt connection and larger fans (thus they don't have to spin as fast as they do in the MBA).
The MBP has a faster Thunderbolt connection and larger fans (thus they don't have to spin as fast as they do in the MBA).
The MBP does not have a faster Thunderbolt connection! The speed is the same the difference is the number of channels the Thunderbolt controller supports.
In either case this has nothing to do with how much heat the computer will make. Any heat would be related to the extra demands of outputting a display signal for the Thunderbolt display.
What I mean by faster is that the MacBook Air has only 2 thunderbolt channels vs 4 Thunderbolt channels in the MBP, which technically equals higher bandwidth.
You can liken "faster" by comparing quad cores vs dual cores. The 2011 13" MBP has a faster clock speed with a 2.8 i7 dual core, but the 15" 2.4 i7 quad core is by all means "faster".
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1201323/
You can liken "faster" by comparing quad cores vs dual cores. The 2011 13" MBP has a faster clock speed with a 2.8 i7 dual core, but the 15" 2.4 i7 quad core is by all means "faster".
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1201323/
What are you doing on the display? Are you comparing the Air with a 13"MBP, as both have Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics. Step up to the 15" and you get a much more powerful discrete GPU.
My Late 2011 15" MBP connected to the TB display is silent, with fans at idle, using the Radeon 6750. It gets louder when playing a game or using a graphic-intensive application such as Lightroom.