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mini displayport to Thunderbolt Display

M

murdock25

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 5, 2006
48
0
I have an older macbook pro with the mini displayport and have purchased a new Thunderbolt Display.
Where can I purchase a mini displayport to Thunderbolt connector?
How do I get this working?
I have a blank screen so far connecting the thunderbolt cable to my macbook pro mini displayport.:mad:
 
The computer must have a Thunderbolt port to use the Thunderbolt display. There are no adapters.
 
You're telling me a two-year old MacBook Pro can't connect to the new Thunderbolt display with any sort of adapter! what the hell! Apple doesn't even sell the older displays any more. Is there any workaround? any connector I can purchase?
 
murdock25 said:
You're telling me a two-year old MacBook Pro can't connect to the new Thunderbolt display with any sort of adapter! what the hell! Apple doesn't even sell the older displays any more. Is there any workaround? any connector I can purchase?
Click to expand...

Before you get upset, you should realize you probably should have read the requirements clearly listed on the home page. The ThunderBolt connector does not only supply video to the display, but also data for the hub (3 x USB, FW800, Gb Ethernet), so allowing a minidisplayport connection through adapter would be much too difficult (as it would require a way to increase the data throughput). Furthermore, the 27" ACDs are still being sold alongside the 27" ThunderBolt Display as well.
 
murdock25 said:
I have an older macbook pro with the mini displayport and have purchased a new Thunderbolt Display.
Where can I purchase a mini displayport to Thunderbolt connector?
How do I get this working?
I have a blank screen so far connecting the thunderbolt cable to my macbook pro mini displayport.:mad:
Click to expand...

Dear Murdock, I am currently in the same situation as you, however I have not yet purchased the Thunderbolt Display.

I do think I have the solution. Obviously, there múst be a way to connect the monitor to a MiniDisplay Port MacBook Pro. However, you must realize that there is no way the 'thunderbolt' connector / ethernet / usb ports will work, since all this information is transmitted by Thunderbolt, and this hardware is not inside you MBP.

What probably will work, is the monitor / speakers / webcam itself, since this data is transmitted via a MiniDisplay Port signal.

To test if the monitor itself (so not the hardware, but only the monitor) will work, you need to purchase 2 MiniDisplay Port to HDMI switches (from Belkin or w/e) and link the display via HDMI to your MBP.

So the setup will be:

Display - MiniDisplay Port to HDMI - HDMI cable - HDMI to MiniDisplay Port - MacBook Pro.

The display should transmit the monitor signal. I cannot tell you this with certainty because nobody in the world seems to have tried this and the display is still not in stores for me to try this method out. But since atm your monitor is not responding, this might be the only way to actually get your screen to work. Again, note that the back ports on the screen (Thunderbolt/Ethernet/USB) will likely not work since this data is not streaming through the MiniDisplay Port signal, but through the Thunderbolt signal.
 
TH.Architecture said:
Dear Murdock, I am currently in the same situation as you, however I have not yet purchased the Thunderbolt Display.

I do think I have the solution. Obviously, there múst be a way to connect the monitor to a MiniDisplay Port MacBook Pro. However, you must realize that there is no way the 'thunderbolt' connector / ethernet / usb ports will work, since all this information is transmitted by Thunderbolt, and this hardware is not inside you MBP.

What probably will work, is the monitor / speakers / webcam itself, since this data is transmitted via a MiniDisplay Port signal.

To test if the monitor itself (so not the hardware, but only the monitor) will work, you need to purchase 2 MiniDisplay Port to HDMI switches (from Belkin or w/e) and link the display via HDMI to your MBP.

So the setup will be:

Display - MiniDisplay Port to HDMI - HDMI cable - HDMI to MiniDisplay Port - MacBook Pro.

The display should transmit the monitor signal. I cannot tell you this with certainty because nobody in the world seems to have tried this and the display is still not in stores for me to try this method out. But since atm your monitor is not responding, this might be the only way to actually get your screen to work. Again, note that the back ports on the screen (Thunderbolt/Ethernet/USB) will likely not work since this data is not streaming through the MiniDisplay Port signal, but through the Thunderbolt signal.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the detailed reply I'm gonna try this set-up you described. I don't care about ethernet or the other ports I just need the display part to work with my work MacBook Pro when I bring it home.
 
TH.Architecture said:
Dear Murdock, I am currently in the same situation as you, however I have not yet purchased the Thunderbolt Display.

I do think I have the solution. Obviously, there múst be a way to connect the monitor to a MiniDisplay Port MacBook Pro. However, you must realize that there is no way the 'thunderbolt' connector / ethernet / usb ports will work, since all this information is transmitted by Thunderbolt, and this hardware is not inside you MBP.

What probably will work, is the monitor / speakers / webcam itself, since this data is transmitted via a MiniDisplay Port signal.

To test if the monitor itself (so not the hardware, but only the monitor) will work, you need to purchase 2 MiniDisplay Port to HDMI switches (from Belkin or w/e) and link the display via HDMI to your MBP.

So the setup will be:

Display - MiniDisplay Port to HDMI - HDMI cable - HDMI to MiniDisplay Port - MacBook Pro.

The display should transmit the monitor signal. I cannot tell you this with certainty because nobody in the world seems to have tried this and the display is still not in stores for me to try this method out. But since atm your monitor is not responding, this might be the only way to actually get your screen to work. Again, note that the back ports on the screen (Thunderbolt/Ethernet/USB) will likely not work since this data is not streaming through the MiniDisplay Port signal, but through the Thunderbolt signal.
Click to expand...

This will not work, for a host of reasons.

1. The only way to connect a computer to the TB display is to have a computer with TB.

2. HDMI doesn't even support the full resolution of the display

3. Even if it did, a MDP-> HDMI adapter cannot convert a HDMI (DVI) signal back into a DisplayPort signal.

OP, you need to return the display and order one of the older models online.
 
Chatting with an Apple Employee on the online store said I could use my 2008 unibody (late 2008) with mini displayport would work with the thunderbolt display just supplying video USB, FireWire and all else would be non-existant.

But again it was probably some person who didn't know what was going on. Although I don't see why it wouldn't be compatible with just the video signal anyway???
 
murdock25 said:
I have an older macbook pro with the mini displayport and have purchased a new Thunderbolt Display.
Where can I purchase a mini displayport to Thunderbolt connector?
How do I get this working?
I have a blank screen so far connecting the thunderbolt cable to my macbook pro mini displayport.:mad:
Click to expand...

From Apple's Mac Mini web page...
• HDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolution

Even if it did work - you're not even getting the correct resolution for that display. Return it.
 
The Thunderbolt display REQUIRES a Mac with a Thunderbolt port, even just for the display image, saying nothing about the extra ports. Period, end. No two ways about it. No adapters. No cables. No drivers. No praying to flying spaghetti monsters.

Apple, however, STILL SELLS the 27" mini-display port Cinema Display. If you want a 27" screen for your non-Thunderbolt Mac, buy that one instead.
 
Seems crazy that Apple doesn't just add a displayport port on the thunderbolt display, which would eliminate the need to maintain 2 different displays in their inventory. I understand the desire to move towards new standards, but this is just nuts.
 
is it possible to get a mac pro '09 modded to support a thunderbolt display?

if not, is it clear yet if a thunderbolt display would work as a display only through the mini display port on an '09 mac pro?

r.
 
mac mini??

I am also looking to buy a new 27 inch display and want a solution to use the thunderbolt display now until I can afford to upgrade my (mid 2010) macbook pro..

I also often need to process a lot of video material and having an extra computer would be handy. The Mac mini is pretty affordable.. and correct me if I am wrong.. but would it not be possible to boot up off my macbook pro HD through the new mac mini via firewire which does have a thunderbolt port and thus be able to use the thunderbolt display whilst showing the system from my macbook pro???
 
Its quite simple. The thunderbolt display requires your computer to have a thunderbolt port. If you don't have a thunderbolt bolt you need to buy the older (but still available) cinema display. No amount of adapters are going to change this.
 
Either swap out the laptop for one with thunderbolt....which you would be doing at some point in the future anyway.....or swap out the ATD for ACD.

In either case, accept that Apple is doing thunderbolt and USB 3 as the main external I/O transports. Get off of minidisplay ports and FW as soon as possible. Neither has a future.
 
jimmychimp said:
I am also looking to buy a new 27 inch display and want a solution to use the thunderbolt display now until I can afford to upgrade my (mid 2010) macbook pro..

I also often need to process a lot of video material and having an extra computer would be handy. The Mac mini is pretty affordable.. and correct me if I am wrong.. but would it not be possible to boot up off my macbook pro HD through the new mac mini via firewire which does have a thunderbolt port and thus be able to use the thunderbolt display whilst showing the system from my macbook pro???
Click to expand...

Even if it could be done, firewire has totally inadequate bandwidth. The 27" iMac requires a bandwidth of 5.3Gb/s for full resolution, vs the firewire's 800Mb/s. MiniDisplayPort has 3 lanes with a bandwidth of 5.4/Gb/s for each lane.

There's no way to connect a non-Thunderbolt Mac to a Thunderbolt device with any kind of adapter. Thunderbolt is an extension of the PCIe 2.0 bus, and also carries the DisplayPort signals. Also, the Thunderbolt display has no electrical connections to the MiniDisplayPort pins.
 
drambuie said:
Even if it could be done, firewire has totally inadequate bandwidth. The 27" iMac requires a bandwidth of 5.3Gb/s for full resolution, vs the firewire's 800Mb/s. MiniDisplayPort has 3 lanes with a bandwidth of 5.4/Gb/s for each lane.

There's no way to connect a non-Thunderbolt Mac to a Thunderbolt device with any kind of adapter. Thunderbolt is an extension of the PCIe 2.0 bus, and also carries the DisplayPort signals. Also, the Thunderbolt display has no electrical connections to the MiniDisplayPort pins.
Click to expand...

Makes sense... but seems odd that the 2 current versions of the 27 inch displays are essentially identical other than the connection.. another clever way to try to get us to buy everything?!

----------
MCAsan said:
Either swap out the laptop for one with thunderbolt....which you would be doing at some point in the future anyway.....or swap out the ATD for ACD.

In either case, accept that Apple is doing thunderbolt and USB 3 as the main external I/O transports. Get off of minidisplay ports and FW as soon as possible. Neither has a future.
Click to expand...

I will for sure be buying a thunderbolt equipped macbook pro at some stage, but not until they get rid of the horrible shiny displays... hopefully the new iMac antiglare display will be on the next gen of retina macbook pros
 
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