My stepfather is clinging to his 2011 Apple Thunderbolt Display. Said Thunderbolt display has a frayed attached Thunderbolt cable (he gets around this by using the working Thunderbolt port on the display to connect to the computer). On top of that, he's eventually going to upgrade from a Thunderbolt 1 Mac to either the M1 MacBook Air, the M1 2-port 13" MacBook Pro, or a subsequent refresh of either product (suffice it to say, an Apple Silicon Mac portable with, most likely, only two Thunderbolt 3 ports and a headphone jack).
I'd like to find a decent monitor that is (a) 27", (b) the same, if not better screen resolution as the Apple Thunderbolt Display, (c) at least has a built-in Webcam and speakers (the former of which is at least comparable to what's in the Apple Thunderbolt Display) not as pricey as the 27" 5K LG Ultrafine display.
I don't need the charging or USB-C expansion that the LG Ultrafine has (as I'm sure I can get that functionality with a good USB-C or OWC Thunderbolt 3/4 dock). But it's going to be difficult to sway him toward ditching his Apple Thunderbolt Display in favor of something better with the price tag of the 5K LG Ultrafine. My main concern is that he's going to eventually get annoyed with the fact that both charging and docking his M1 Mac will use up both Thunderbolt ports and require dongle hell (only to get him 2 USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet jack [as he certainly doesn't use FireWire 800]). That and that compatibility with the Apple Thunderbolt display may one day be reduced on newer hardware.
Any recommendations given this?
I'd like to find a decent monitor that is (a) 27", (b) the same, if not better screen resolution as the Apple Thunderbolt Display, (c) at least has a built-in Webcam and speakers (the former of which is at least comparable to what's in the Apple Thunderbolt Display) not as pricey as the 27" 5K LG Ultrafine display.
I don't need the charging or USB-C expansion that the LG Ultrafine has (as I'm sure I can get that functionality with a good USB-C or OWC Thunderbolt 3/4 dock). But it's going to be difficult to sway him toward ditching his Apple Thunderbolt Display in favor of something better with the price tag of the 5K LG Ultrafine. My main concern is that he's going to eventually get annoyed with the fact that both charging and docking his M1 Mac will use up both Thunderbolt ports and require dongle hell (only to get him 2 USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet jack [as he certainly doesn't use FireWire 800]). That and that compatibility with the Apple Thunderbolt display may one day be reduced on newer hardware.
Any recommendations given this?