Can my 2008 Macbook use a Thunderbolt Display to full Resolution

[itsky]

Hello -

I have a 2008 Macbook Aluminum (non-pro) that I have upgraded to 8GB of RAM and put in a 256GB SSD. It still works fantastic but I would like to add an external monitor for photo editing. I am considering an Apple Cinema Display or a NEC MultiSync PA271W-BK-SV 27" Widescreen LCD PA271W-BK-SV.

My question: Can my older macbook use the display at full resolution? If so, will be horribly slow?


Here are my specs:

Processor Name:Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:2 GHz
Number of Processors:1
Total Number of Cores:2
L2 Cache:3 MB
Memory:8 GB
Bus Speed:1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:MB51.007D.B03

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor:NVidia
Product:MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed:3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed:1.5 Gigabit
Description:AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

Thanks for the advice!

 

[AppleMacFinder]

If I am correct, your MBP is this model:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.0-aluminum-13-late-2008-unibody-specs.html

It has NVIDIA 9400M inside.

The following threads should be very interesting for you:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/813827/
http://superuser.com/questions/265125/27-apple-cinema-display-slows-my-macbook

EDIT: It looks like it could drive 24" just fine, but has some problems with 27".
Probably, there is a tweak that could help to solve this problem.

For more information, you need to learn NVIDIA 9400M specifications, especially the graphic modes.

 

[itsky]

Thank you for the info, that is helpful. Maybe I look for a used "24 display.

 

[itsky]

And YES you were exactly right on the model.