Ok so...
I have questions. First of all, why do apple state that a display has to be at the end of a thunderbolt chain? This would preclude daisy-chaining displays from working on any machine, regardless of graphics prowess. I know people are going to say that they meant with existing monitors because they didn't have any TB equipped monitors yet - but how many TB equipped devices did they have when making that statement? Zero. So you can't say one was true at the time but the other was not. This is not to say that this isn't possible, or even probable, just a bit tired of apple not providing facts, only flowery marketing dribble.
Edit: I should correct this, apple did state 'mini display port display', so my ramblings are ridiculously unfounded.
Edit 2: 'daisy chain up to 6 devices plus a display'. My point about this is not what it is capable of in any way shape or form, just Apple being so utterly vague in the name of consumer friendliness.
Secondly, for those who are looking at these and saying you only have to have one connector to the display now yay, what happened to the MagSafe connector? I thought this was a benefit, not having to plug in your power adapter when you 'dock' your MB/P/A? USB I can understand.
Thirdly, I don't understand why this new display shouldn't work with mini display port equipped macs? As I understand it TB does in line DP, USB, PCIe, FW etc but it is just a matter of a dongle being different for different devices and it is 2 way? Couldn't therefore the reverse be true? Albeit without USB etc to drive the built in hub?
Lastly, I still strongly believe the next iPad, or iPad Pro, will have TB, even if it is wrapped up in the 30 pin dock connector a la Sony Vaio Z's USB implementation. With Lion going full screen (which I hate btw) oriented, and touch oriented it makes the most sense. Having a TB iPad which then becomes a touch display (with 2k plus reolution) you can add on makes sense. There is other evidence too, with iOS 5 you can now use the device while syncing, so sync over USB wrapped in TB while feeding out display data using MDP and touch information over USB. They could even harness the processing capabilities of the iPad using grand central dispatch or whatever it's called, utilizing the PCIe component of TB. I also believe that apple haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory way of designing and iMac or MB to be suitable for touch, this has nothing to do with The tech, everything to do with ergonomics. One of the key reasons I bought an iPad is as a complimentary device to my Mac pro, as a controller for it, whether I am sitting in front of it or in another room. It is the best input device yet! Well maybe it's just a pipe dream...
