It was well past time to stick a fork into the 27" TB display. Under powered ports, high mortality rates and price/performance yawner.
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Apple Thunderbolt Display (Thunderbolt 3)
- Thread starter Marx55
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Apple discontinued the Thunderbolt display without announcing a replacement, and they're telling people to buy third-party displays instead. Why would they do this if they intended to stay in this market and had a new display in the wings? Silly rumors never die.
Would be really nice move from them, but if they could not sell current one under $1000, then one with 5K screen and built-in eGPU would run for about $2000. How many would buy this?
It's a pity of course. Apple has the panel, the GPU and the housing. It would go so well alongside any Mac.
It appears that they will announce the new Thunderbolt display will the refreshed Mac lineup in September/October. The new Macs announced will have Thunderbolt 3 and almost all if not all USB A ports will be replaced by the standard (USB 3.1) type-C connectors as Apple see type-C as the immediate replacement to type A and want to make sure the market transitions that way. However this does not mean the 5K display will be USB-C only as it requires a bandwidth over 10Mbps to accommodate the other ports. As well as this, it will require the TB3 40Mbps bandwidth for the GPU.
Who knows, there may be multiple models of the new display including a 4K one that works of USB C only. I don't believe Apple has given up on the Mac at all; they are waiting to release the display with the new Macs. This likely didn't happen at WWDC because either the new MacBooks or the display itself wasn't ready and it makes sense to introduce it when the other Macs are getting refreshed.
Who knows, there may be multiple models of the new display including a 4K one that works of USB C only. I don't believe Apple has given up on the Mac at all; they are waiting to release the display with the new Macs. This likely didn't happen at WWDC because either the new MacBooks or the display itself wasn't ready and it makes sense to introduce it when the other Macs are getting refreshed.
It appears that you suffer from pessimism. Introduction will almost certainly be within the next 9 months with WWDC 2017 at a stretch. We'll see who is correct.
Furthermore it appears that Aperture Pro X will be released alongside the new Thunderbolt Displays.
Because Apple aren't known for saying "We'll have one out later this year so wait for that one.". Of course they would tell people there are alternatives because what else are they supposed to do?
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I never thought about that but it is obvious now, all the rumors point towards the revival of Aperture and i'm sure you must have sources that back this up. Always loved Aperture, can't wait for the new one!
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No that is absurd pricing, even for Apple. The 5K iMac itself begins at $1,799 so I don't know how that would fit in.
I think it will be around the current price since the panel isn't extremely expensive and there is a possibility that the GPU will not be extremely powerful, but instead be used to maintain and slightly enhance performance (hopefully it is more than that). I think it is guaranteed to not step over $1,500 and hopefully they have multiple models. Maybe $899 for the standard 5K and $1,199 for the one with a GPU?
They're supposed to keep their products up-to-date rather than neglect them for half a decade. If Apple had intended to stay in the displays market, they would have introduced a 4k display alongside the Mac Pro in 2013, and they would not have discontinued the Thunderbolt Display without first announcing its successor.
You may have a point with that. However, at that time Apple were already working on the 5K iMac and the panel for it so they knew the next 27" display would be 5K in order to be consistent with the iMac, nicely pixel double from the last gen, and be able to be classed as 'retina'. 5K could not have been done over a single connection then so they had to wait for TB3. However if they did introduce, for example, a 4K model back then it would have potentially lowered sales of the iMac and it would have also not been compatible with all Macs at the time. It looked like the plan was to announce it at WWDC so maybe they were always going to discontinue it around this time-frame and may have stopped production before deciding to instead announce it later in the year. We'll have to wait and see what they do later this year.
I wish that I believed any of this, but my common sense and wisdom gleaned from having used Macs since 1988 tells me that Apple is out of the displays business, and will soon be out of the Mini and Pro businesses too. It bums me out to say that, and I hope I'm wrong.
Well it is possible, they are definitely shifting towards mainstream consumers who likely don't use displays (or ports). Mac updates have been really fractured in recent years due to fractured component releases combined with the fact that the do not want to cannibalize their own product line.
The Pro hasn't had a reason to update as they have had to wait for TB3, Skylake Xeons, DDR4, faster storage, new GPU architecture, etc. As well as this, it wouldn't make sense to update a professional computer that costs $3000+ every year so their refresh cycle is probably 3 years now. Officially, Apple see the 3-4 year mark as the time to upgrade a computer and this is particularly true for the Pro.
As for the mini, I hope Apple doesn't give up on it but it might be a similar situation to the Mac Pro a few years ago - Apple doesn't give it significant attention until they release a completely overhauled model with a new design. That could happen this year but I don't think it will.
I absolutely hate Apples shift away from the Mac but this year looks very promising. Nevertheless I also hope you're wrong about the future of the Mac as I fear for it. It may end up turning out like the iPod which I would see as a plausible fate in the next 10 years given their current approach.
If we don't see a new Thunderbolt display with the introduction of the upcoming USB-c MacBook Pro's, then I think it will be safe to conclude that Apple has quietly exited the display business.
How many here are still waiting for Apple to "refresh" their printer line….?
How many here are still waiting for Apple to "refresh" their printer line….?
Could it simply be that Apple is late due to manager and development team shakeups?
Too many new managers come from the iPhone and iOS successes, and mistakenly thinking that MacOS and Mac Pro and MacBook development is easy, without understanding the years of finessing it took to make these great.
Perhaps the experienced, good people just aren't at Apple anymore.
One data point: PC manufacturers have been shipping Skylake computers with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 for almost 6 months. Those computers have been getting good reviews too.
I will admit, though, that lots of work still needed to make Thunderbolt 3 mature. Perhaps that is Apple's obstacle: getting it right.
One thing still not available us a simple Thunderbolt 3 to 1 or 2 adapter to permit use of existing devices. Lots of announced Thunderbolt 3 products, but small number of actual shipping products
Too many new managers come from the iPhone and iOS successes, and mistakenly thinking that MacOS and Mac Pro and MacBook development is easy, without understanding the years of finessing it took to make these great.
Perhaps the experienced, good people just aren't at Apple anymore.
One data point: PC manufacturers have been shipping Skylake computers with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 for almost 6 months. Those computers have been getting good reviews too.
I will admit, though, that lots of work still needed to make Thunderbolt 3 mature. Perhaps that is Apple's obstacle: getting it right.
One thing still not available us a simple Thunderbolt 3 to 1 or 2 adapter to permit use of existing devices. Lots of announced Thunderbolt 3 products, but small number of actual shipping products
Late for what? If their target is a next generation ADT that is 5K, then both the display and the corresponding Macs need TB3 and chipsets to do 5K via one cable. The ADT would be late only if it is not launched along with any Mac that does TB3.
Sorry, I wasn't clear.
I know very well that Thunderbolt 3 would be required for a new 5K display.
My comment was broader in that Apple is very late with new Macs as well as new displays.
Lots of challenges with getting Thunderbolt 3 working reliably. Same goes for real USB 3.1 gen2 as well as Power Delivery.
My bet is that Apple thought they would have introduced the new macs required to announce a new display by this point. They may have the display ready to go and just waiting on the required chips from Intel to announce a new MacBook Pro to drive the new display.
The chips have been ready since the Fall of 2015.
The issues are firmware and spec related. Have to have reliable connections and interoperability.
Also, testing/certification requirements are tough to implement. 40Gbps is not child's play.
I'm not under NDA, but can read the tea leaves.
The issues are firmware and spec related. Have to have reliable connections and interoperability.
Also, testing/certification requirements are tough to implement. 40Gbps is not child's play.
I'm not under NDA, but can read the tea leaves.
My guess is they do have one in the wings, but it requires TB3 and therefore will not work with any current model Mac. So they are waiting until the new Macbook Pro with TB3 is ready to ship and then announce it at the same time.
Honestly, with the margins a monitor can bring in, I don't see Apple not offering a new 5K display with TB3.
To drive a 5K display, USB-C needs to dedicate all four lanes to video, which means it cannot also provide data and/or power. Now on an MBP / MP / iMac they can put more than one USB-C port in the machine, but then the 5K ACD would be a display only and offer no "hub connectivity" capability like the ATD did. Hence I think it will be TB3.
This is exactly my point but some people don't understand and think it is the end for the monitor. Why would Apple release a TB 3 monitor when they don't have any Macs with TB3?! The reason they did not introduce it at WWDC was likely because the MacBook Pros weren't ready so there would be no point in introducing it then but rather in the Fall when a lot of the Mac lineup will get TB3.
what Aperture revival rumours pls? I thought they ceased years ago
for the record I still use it as a DAM for my pics...been doing so since version 2.0 no I'm asking without being sarcastic, I would love to see that revival but I haven't read anything lately about it happening
There are even more margins to be gleaned from getting people to buy new 5k iMacs.
No there are definitely higher margins in the monitor but of course it will depend on their pricing. They must have been making a ridiculous amount from the last gen tb display.
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No I was being sarcastic. There are unfortunately no rumours of an Aperture revival. I also hope they do it as I currently hate their move away from professional customers.
damn you man!
))) that's not sarcasm anymore...it's like rubbing salt into still bleeding wound!))I played yesterday with Photos in that Sierra crap and I could not believe my eyes - it's like some demented aliens are in charge of that app at Apple... the whole philosophy, UI, functionality and controls layout make no sense at all. Did they suffer from some weird amnesia that they did have a perfect products for photo editing and storing in shape of iPhoto and Aperture? sadly it's no sarcasm on my part
Should they release new ATB and not make it running under OS X 10.9 I will wave them as I pass by and get an LG 4K screen