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Thunderbolt Display in 2026

S

stlwx21

macrumors member
Original poster
M4 Mac mini owner here...

I am searching for a monitor for the mac mini and keep going back and forth between the Thunderbolt Display A1407 and biting the bullet a picking up a 4k mid tier monitor.

At what dollar amount (factoring in the TB 3 to 2 adapter) would you consider the Thunderbolt Display not worth it and go for a new 4k monitor.

Monitors I have been also debating are the LG 27UP850-W, Dell S2725QC, and Dell U2725QE. Our use case is general web browsing, YouTube, and light office work. We are not web/graphic designers or gamers.

Any other monitors I should be considering?

Thanks!
 
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The Studio Display is properly scaled for Mac and the resolution and color calibration are very nice. I got mine on day 1 and will either get the new rumored one or buy a second one because I like it so much. I wouldn't even consider anything else. other brands are plastic and I dislike dealing with repair issues with other brands. AppleCare will take care of you. I bought an LG ultra fine and a Dell curved monitor in the past and both broke in some ridiculous way soon after, such as the Display cable port broke when I tugged on the cable. Its apple monitor or nothing for me these days.
 
I'd second the Studio Display suggestion.

I do personally use a LG 5K, which I've had since before the ASD was available. It's been good for me (touch wood) but I am aware of failures. ASD would certainly be my choice if it ever fails on me.
 
If you're only going to use a Mac, then the Studio is fine. I went with the Dell U2725QE, and can't say enough good things about it. I swap my MacBook with my work-issued Dell Latitude on the Thunderbolt Port, have a Nintendo Switch connected to the HDMI, and my a Windows desktop connected via the Displayport. It's great being able to swap inputs readily, and it has a built-in KVM.

I run macOS desktop at 1440, and then use BetterDisplay to fix the scaling issue.
 
Original TB display is 2K and works perfectly with M-series Macs. Have two myself. With TB3 adapter would not pay more than $350 in pristine condition.
 
ASD is not an option due to cost - so I'm researching these options. Leaning towards the S2725QC at this time.
 
stlwx21 said:
ASD is not an option due to cost - so I'm researching these options. Leaning towards the S2725QC at this time.
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Original TB Display has FaceTime camera, pretty good speakers, and 1GB ethernet. It does have other ancient connectivity options - USB 2.0, FW800 and TB downstream. I use the USB for keyboards/mice but never use the FW800 or TB downstream. If you can find one in excellent condition, I think it's a decent value considering Apple + low-cost 4K displays can be either love it or hate it w/ regard to HiDPI or native resolutions. The original TBD is 27" at the Apple sweet spot 2K resolution, which is the same as 5K HiDPI. The orig TBD compliments the new Studio Display when side-by-side. The TBD is not HiDPI, but the display is really nice, colorful, and bright. Obviously, I'm a fan 🙂
 
Lucas Curious said:
The Studio Display is properly scaled for Mac and the resolution and color calibration are very nice. I got mine on day 1 and will either get the new rumored one or buy a second one because I like it so much. I wouldn't even consider anything else. other brands are plastic and I dislike dealing with repair issues with other brands. AppleCare will take care of you. I bought an LG ultra fine and a Dell curved monitor in the past and both broke in some ridiculous way soon after, such as the Display cable port broke when I tugged on the cable. Its apple monitor or nothing for me these days.
Click to expand...
There is a lot to be said for being able to take the monitor to an Apple Store instead of shipping it.
 
As someone who owned a Thunderbolt Display in the past, the one I had only lasted a year in my possession before it died for no reason and never powered on again.

As much as it sucks to say, I don't think buying a 2011 one is worth it, given the age of them.
 
You should consider an A1407 only if you manage to find one relatively cheap at a thrift store or university tech surplus warehouse. They are priced extremely high by resellers that know what they have. The connectors are notorious for developing “eccentricities” that cause graphical glitches, weird buzzing sounds, and other fun gremlins to attempt figuring out but end up getting solved by unplugging and then plugging it back in (every time).

I lucked into one a few years ago at a surplus warehouse for $50 that had a dead Thunderbolt cable, but since daisy chaining them is possible I just bought an end to end cable and plugged it into my 27” iMac as a second monitor and it worked fine until it didn’t.
 
I personally wouldn't. So many of them have dying power supplies/bad capacitors that it's just a matter of time until it goes bad, I think. And if I remember correctly, they use a CFL backlight, not LEDs. So given the age of these displays, it's almost certain that the backlight strength will have degraded significantly by now.
 
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