Mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro

[Hungry Horace]

I have a mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro (non retina) I am thinking of buying a 27" Apple thunderbolt display for use with it.
Is my Macbook capable of outputing the 2560-by-1440 resolution that this display offers?

Cheers

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Yes but

I have a mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro (non retina) I am thinking of buying a 27" Apple thunderbolt display for use with it.
Is my Macbook capable of outputing the 2560-by-1440 resolution that this display offers?

Cheers

That display is old and way over priced, unless you need your display to work as a dock just get a newer cheaper version by someone else

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=27+inch+1440p+diplay

Or even a 30" 1600p one

http://www.amazon.com/CROSSOVER-BLA...qid=1427199965&sr=8-15&keywords=1600p+Monitor


From apples spec sheet


Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory (15-inch 2.3GHz configuration) or NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory (15-inch 2.6GHz configuration) and automatic graphics switching
Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

 

[Psyfuzz]

Yeah I have the exact same laptop and it's fine for outputting that resolution.

In fact our laptops can display two 1440p displays and the internal display at the same time without much issue. For two however you'll need the two ATDs or a pair of thunderbolt hubs daisy chained each with HDMI outputs.

And as noted above, can also run a single 1600p external display and internal display. Despite not having retina displays don't be fooled into thinking the video output is weak, you won't get 4k but you'll get a respectable amount out of them.

I also agree with Samuelsan2001, the ATD is beautiful but incredibly overpriced and it's IO options are embarrassingly outdated. There's no reason to chose one over a Belkin Thunderbolt hub and Asus PB278Q etc unless you're needing the Apple design, buying those two products over the ATD saves you money, gives you a better quality screen and faster IO.

Info: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204154

Go to "Using the Apple Thunderbolt Display: 3 - How many Apple Thunderbolt Displays can I use with my Mac in OS X?"

 

[Hungry Horace]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will consider the other displays.

 

[snaky69]

I have a mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro (non retina) I am thinking of buying a 27" Apple thunderbolt display for use with it.
Is my Macbook capable of outputing the 2560-by-1440 resolution that this display offers?

Cheers

Yes. It even says so on the spec sheet if you'd googled a bit.

 

[Hungry Horace]

Thanks Snaky69 your such a great help with all your Wisdom

 

[snaky69]

Thanks Snaky69 your such a great help with all your Wisdom

Why thank you.

When you learn something by yourself, you tend to retain it better than if it was spoon fed to you. I'm all for self-help. I guess you're not.

FWIW, Apple likes to think of its product as an ecosystem. With that line of thinking, all Apple computers will be compatible and output properly to the thunderbolt display as part of the whole "it just works" theme they've had going for a while.

 

[Hungry Horace]

Much easier to get spoon fed, its easier just to ask a question and get an answer without having to trawl pages of stat sheets etc.
Also if I had bothered to look it up myself I wouldn't have had the useful alternative suggestions provided by the other helpful posters, as I am sure Apple wouldn't provide this on their stat sheets.

 

[Psyfuzz]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will consider the other displays.

Sound good to me,

I was in the same boat, I loved the aesthetics of the ATD but the IO and price just felt excessive for 2014/2015 - I wish they'd have updated it but the larger question remains as to whether they're going to.

They're advertising the Mac Pro with Sharp displays etc, doesn't seem like Apple wants to be in the display business as much anymore.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I think

Sound good to me,

I was in the same boat, I loved the aesthetics of the ATD but the IO and price just felt excessive for 2014/2015 - I wish they'd have updated it but the larger question remains as to whether they're going to.

They're advertising the Mac Pro with Sharp displays etc, doesn't seem like Apple wants to be in the display business as much anymore.

They are waiting for DP 2.0 and HDMI standards to raise high enough for 5K screens before they make their own. Nothing can run them on a single connection yet. 5K makes sense for 4K media use as you can run the 4k natively and still have space for all your icons etc around it. This is why they came up with their own fix to get the 5K imac working....

 

[Psyfuzz]

They are waiting for DP 2.0 and HDMI standards to raise high enough for 5K screens before they make their own. Nothing can run them on a single connection yet. 5K makes sense for 4K media use as you can run the 4k natively and still have space for all your icons etc around it. This is why they came up with their own fix to get the 5K imac working....

It'd be a solid update if true.

I'd be interested on how many Macs could run the 5k display. If they found a way to integrate a dedicated GPU into the display and split the image processing between the Mac's GPU and the screen's that could provide more graphical power to older Macs, that'd be a fantastic product and instant-buy.