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pls clarify: 27" imac+27" apple display = how many wires?

G

gagaliya

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
466
394
If i buy the latest 27" imac and the latest 27" apple thunderbolt display. How many wires are we talking about?

Is it the imac wire going to the power plug, and the thunderbolt display wire going into imac, and THAT'S IT?

Please confirm there is NO power wire going from the thunderbolt display to the power plug too hence justifying the $1000 price tag for this display.

thanks
 
You'll need:

Power to iMac
Power to TB display
Thunderbolt from iMac to TB display

the TB display has a 1k price tag because it has gig-e, usb ports, high res, etc - and it is an apple device.


I very much doubt thunderbolt supplies enough power to run a 27" display off without AC. it is not what it's for.
 
oh man that's a fail then, i will just get a dell 27" for 50% off. hate wires
 
gagaliya said:
oh man that's a fail then, i will just get a dell 27" for 50% off. hate wires
Click to expand...

And the display will still have wires too, one for transmitting the video signal to it, probably one for the built in USB hub, if you want to use it, and one for the power. But then gain, it costs less.
 
Not really, it's the same panel as you find in just about every other 27" 2560x1440 display, even the $280 Korean Shimian monitors on eBay. The significantly cheaper Dell U2711 has a better colour gamut and connectivity too.

Apple's prices and quality are not directly correlated. The price might make sense for other reasons (Thunderbolt display plays nicer with MBPs than the U2711, default calibration profile is reasonable, has FaceTime camera, built-in MagSafe, better look etc.) but as far as the panel goes, same *****.

And OP, you do need a power cable to the monitor as well. That sucker can't run off a TB cable! Impossibru!

flopticalcube said:
The display also has a power wire. You are paying $1000 because its one of the best 1440p 27" panels around.
Click to expand...
 
gagaliya said:
oh man that's a fail then, i will just get a dell 27" for 50% off. hate wires
Click to expand...

which 27' are you looking at? a 1080p Dell - S2740L 27-inch Full HD Monitor with LED cost $399. But a 1440p resolution 27' inch cost significantly more than the 1080p one (DELL Ultra Sharp U2711 69cm Monitor with PremierColour @ $899)
 
Oh and a wire for ethernet (wifi stinks), and one for your keyboard (cut-in-half keyboard stinks), and one for your mouse (mighty stinks), and one for your Wacom (Mouse stinks anyway), and one for your backup drive (you need off site backups) and one for your stereo (we want serious beats).
So iMac+27 inch TB display is 9 cables.

If you grabbed the faster Mini with 2 displays, it is just 6 cables.
 
gagaliya said:
oh man that's a fail then, i will just get a dell 27" for 50% off. hate wires
Click to expand...

You'll have the same number of wires with a Dell (or any) monitor - a wire to provide power from a wall socket and a wire to provide Video+Audio - as you do with an Apple Thunderbolt Display.

I have both an iMac and an ATD. I use the ATD's Thunderbolt+MagSafe wire to connect to one of the TB ports on the iMac.
 
okie thanks fellas, i just remember seeing an apple video a while back where it showed connecting 1 monitor to another using just a single cable without mentioning power cord at all, guess that's not the case.
 
gagaliya said:
okie thanks fellas, i just remember seeing an apple video a while back where it showed connecting 1 monitor to another using just a single cable without mentioning power cord at all, guess that's not the case.
Click to expand...

That was a very oldschool Cinema Display that used a special Apple Display Connector that supplied power from the GPU's port (and ultimately, the PowerMac's internal PSU). They dropped it pretty quickly in favour of DVI because it was simply too niche and overcomplicated the GPU choice - you needed a special one made just for Macs, instead of just loading a custom firmware onto a standard PC board.
 
joe-h2o said:
That was a very oldschool Cinema Display that used a special Apple Display Connector that supplied power from the GPU's port (and ultimately, the PowerMac's internal PSU). They dropped it pretty quickly in favour of DVI because it was simply too niche and overcomplicated the GPU choice - you needed a special one made just for Macs, instead of just loading a custom firmware onto a standard PC board.
Click to expand...

ahh thanks for clarifying, so i did remember it correctly. I wish they still did that.
 
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