Thunderbolt Display refresh

That would satisfy me.

But by waiting this long it looks like something more than that will happen.

 

I don't really think the price will stay at 1000$, because if they use a 4K IPS panel it will be placed in a higher price range.

 

What are the odds that Apple will have an updated ATD display (i.e. 27", 2550x1440 resolution with USB 3 and TB2) and a 4K/higher res display?

 

I would be surprised if there is a business case for both.

 

I still hope that they will have a 'lower-end' 2560x1440 monitor for the mac mini/macbook air/matching monitor for the iMac, and a 'higher-end' 4K monitor for professionals/new MacPro.

 

Instead of buying beats, Apple should just buy Toshiba. They need to make displays faster....

 

At this point I wouldn't hold your breath... Apple has consistently been dastardly slow with display updates.

 

At this point, I don't know what is more likely: a new, non-4K ATD - or a new "Classic iPod".
Apparently, people still buy the "current" ATD, which must create an insane profit for Apple (someone said the panel is from 2009?).
But doing all the testing, speccing etc. for a new, non-4K display that would already be outdated if it hit the market today seems pointless.
Apart from the glare, there's admittedly little Apple could do to actually make a substantial improvement over the current model - AFAIK, it still compares very well to other models. Just not on price ;-)

I'm OK with my old Dell 24" display for now. But I'm not going to spend almost 1k on a pre-2011 panel in 2014. For a bit more than 1k, I can get the Dell U3014 and for a bit more than half the price of an ATD I can get Viewsonic's 27" model, which also gets very nice reviews.

 

These are exactly the reasons, why i don't wanna buy the ATD.
But i also don't wanna buy a non-apple display, because i want it as a docking station...

At this moment we can just hope apple will announce or hint at something at WWDC.
But i actually think there is a good chance something will happen, because of the 10.9.3 60hz 4K changes and because the ATD is soo outdated.

Let me dream okay?

 

The other thing is, that TB 2 has the necessary bandwidth for 4K@60 Hz and for USB 3.0 ports on the Thunderbolt Display, AFAIK

 

It saddens me there's been no refresh of the TBD for so long, although I can understand why given the conundrum as discussed above. I hung on and hung and hung on, but gave up waiting, bit the bullet, and bought the current one in October last year once it was pretty clear there wouldn't be one coming along with Mac Pro at launch.

I had to grit my teeth buying such old tech at such an inflated price - I don't upgrade that often, but when I do, I always buy within the first month of a refresh - but I got sick of using an old Dell U2711 with my late 2012 Mac Mini, the delay resuming from sleep, the occasional power cycling I had to do because it wasn't recognising the DP, bah, drove me insane. I also really missed the brightness controls and, yes, built in speakers (for podcasts 99% of the time, for which they are fine).

I did think long and hard about the purchase, and came to the conclusion two things that bugged me most about the current TBD are USB 2.0 and the crazy price for an old display. The 1440p resolution is fine for me, in fact I still adore the display, and as I intend to use my maxed 2012 Mini with it for several years to come, I doubt that'd handle 4k very well anyway. I'm fortunately reasonably well off so the stupid price didn't kill me, and I use the crappy USB 2.0 ports for all the non-speedy stuff like mice/keyboard/lightning cable etc. Around the same time I bought a 15" rMBP, but I've no intention of hooking that up to it anyway.

I did consider the alternatives at the time, came very close to buying a Dell u3014, 30'', far better specced, USB 3.0, 1600p, ports up the kazoo. But I only wanted a display for my mac mini, my old 1440p Dell is used for my PC (where it actually works perfectly) and sits beside it. Plus, amongst all the reviews I pored over re: the U3014 at the time, there was some mention of occasional problems with sleep/resume and the DP, gah, which put me right off.

What is really annoying is that several years ago, for some inexplicable reason, I sold my old 24" LED Cinema Display. Incredibly dated now obviously, but if I hadn't sold it, I'd probably have stuck with it till 2015/16 or so when, presumably, there may be another Apple Display.

Oh yeah, don't shoot me, but I love glossy. I don't do colour sensitive work and can control the lighting. The panel in my u2711 is identical to the TBD iirc, but the Dell has a very aggressive anti glare coating and the TBD looks soooo much nicer for my usage.

Sorry for the ramble.

tldr; bought ATB when it was FAAAAAR from a good deal (actually a complete rip), wouldn't recommend anyone else doing it, especially now, but nonetheless love it and don't regret it in the slightest.

 

I have an old 23" Apple Cinema Display. And I mean *old* - I got it in either 2004 or 2005. But it just keeps going. And the image on this screen has always been beautiful even though the technology is 10 years old. I like the 16:10 form factor and 1200x1920 resolution.

Currently using it with my 2013 MBA, and will continue doing so until it dies. When it finally does, maybe Apple will have updated the Thunderbolt Display.

 

Nice one, I'm sure it's still great, and I agree, 16:10 is my preferred ratio. I do actually keep monitors for years and years normally, I've no idea why I sold my old 24", likely a space issue. It was the really nice experience with that - brightness controls, volume, very quick resume - that ultimately spoiled my experience with non-Apple displays hooked to macs since.

As each month goes by with no refresh, my arguably ill advised purchase isn't looking quite so bad - I long since swallowed the cost, I *truly* love it still more than any other display I've had, but I was seriously torn when I first bought it considering it's age. As someone said previously in this thread, I think Apple are in a no mans land between a very expensive 4K display or a simple update of the current TBD to thinner, USB 3.0 etc. Two sku's just seems incredibly unlikely when it's debatable Apple are still interested in even selling ONE of their own branded displays. Plus, like I said, my current hw (rMBP aside) is largely incapable of handling 4K that well anyway.

Edit: Actually, I think I sold the 24" LED because for a very long period I used a late '08 MBP exclusively and never hooked it up to the display. It just sat there unused and was taking up space.

 

Thanks for your insightful posts on purchasing the ATD. I hope you are wrong about Apple not selling two display models, but it does make sense.

If I see no ATD updates after the WWDC, I will purchase the old one anyways.

 

I hope I'm wrong too!

Not so much for myself, I'm out of the game for years now, probably 2017+ when my Mac Mini starts ailing, but I really don't like to see Apple neglect the mac.

 

I'm surprised you guys feel this way. I actually don't see a reason for Apple to go 27" 4K at all. 27" is too small to use 4K in all it's glory and way too big for it to be retina. Apple should probably go 30"-32" a la Sharp for full 4K glory or 24" where 1080p is more commonplace for "retina"

most importantly, I find it hard to believe that with only two products supporting 4K at 60FPS, you guys can't think of a business case to refresh the old one. I mean, I can think of many, namely that only the 15" new rmbp and mac pro support it, neither are top sellers. The rmbp probably will struggle to even support it. iMacs probably would also struggle to drive them since they use mostly notebook parts. Also their new mac mini definitely won't be able to drive it.

the worst case is apple keeps old TB around and reveals new 4K. I think I'm hopeful that Apple releases a large 4K display (32") and a refreshd (27")

 

Your opinions are reasonable as well and similar to my post on May 8.

I can't speak for others but I think the opinion is that since Apple likes to keep their products fairly streamlined with few options, and they haven't been focussing on the stand-alone display recently, it is entirely possible that they will have only one display in the future. I hope they will have different sizes and resolutions when they had the Apple Cinema Display series. Not much longer to the WWDC, assuming that something will happen .

 

If the new TBD displays end up being 4K I feel as though Apple would have to include a similar technology as the nVidia G-Sync. That way even a base Macbook Air could take advantage of a 4K display without having to have 100% of the GPU power needed to fluently run all of those pixels.

G-Sync has been around for awhile and I don't think it impossible for nVidia, who is already well acquainted in Apple devices, to come up with a solution for machines with lower GPU capability the option of using high pixel density displays.

Aside from that, TB2 obviously and a thinner design. Perhaps if Apple decides that they want to keep Aperture as a pro Photography tool, a method of proper colour calibration. These are the things I want personally, I don't think any of them are impossible as they've all been done before.

 

How would g sync enable an MBA to drive a 4k display smoothly?

 

Yeah that was a mistake. I still have two of them and love them, and they get plenty of use. I used them to flank a 27" CD with my old Mac Pro, then I upgraded to two TB Cinemas. Sure the colors are off somewhat with the 24", but they also have the exact number of pixels as my 17" MBP's so I have a perfect match for them.

 

Yeah, definitely a mistake.

It was an absolute joy getting the TBD, despite it being so old in tech terms for a new purchase, as it just works so much better than the experience I'd been having previously with an otherwise decent Dell. It's a long time since I've seen the old 24" ACD, but I remember it being a great panel (again, I'm happy with glossy and don't have need for amazing colour accuracy), and in my mind the TBD is just a continuation of it, albeit bigger and higher res.

Sounds daft, but it kind of exorcised a ghost when I got the TBD, it really grated that I'd sold the older one. In fact, every blooming time I had to scrabble around the back of my Dell u2711 to power cycle the DP as it wasn't 100% bulletproof at resuming from sleep, I cursed the day I sold it, heh! It was a known fault with that Dell model, long threads about it on Dell forums and equivalent, they didn't want to know. No matter, it's still works perfectly as a pc monitor over Dual DVI.

 

I really hope it will be 16:10 as the retina notebooks!

 

I don't think a 4K update is anywhere near around the corner. They will probably release 4K iMacs first, at least there are rumours on that.

I just bough a new sealed TBD for half the price (500€). Now I just can't wait for my nMP to arrive!

 

My concern is that I want to buy the macbook pro broadwell refresh when it comes out. I'd be buying the ATD for it's docking station like features. Would the charger be compatible with the upcoming macbook pro broadwell refresh?

Obviously that's impossible to know but that's what has me holding off. This is why apple does need to leak information. At least things like "the next macbook pro will support the current ATD" *shrug