Thunderbolt Display - worth getting for me now?

[Kuei]

Hey everyone,

yes, it's another of these "should I?" questions. I do hope you can bear with me though, and give me some advice on this.

For quite a while I was happily skimming along with an old 2009 macbook. I am now doing more and more work at home (I work as a computer games designer) and find that I am now lacking the power and comfort to be as productive as I'd like to be.

After scoring a new well-paid job I will now be able to get myself a new laptop (need to be mobile) and an nice screen to link it up to at home. I'm pretty much settled on a full specced MBA as I will need to carry it around a lot. For display I was looking at the Thundebolt for quality, speed and (hopefully) long life. I'm not sure, however, whether it's worth investing as

a) there seem to be no recent updates but also no announcements, as in: should I wait?
b) how well it compares with similar other brand's screens (no recent reviews found)
c) would it be an overkill for what I do (main purpose: entertainment, games, some editing/photshopping)

Thanks in advance for answering,

Kuei

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Plusses, compared to other brands - the TBD is not only a screen but a docking station (Ethernet, USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt passthrough, camera, speakers) with a simple two-cable connection (TB and power)

Minuses, versus waiting for the next generation TBD - you have to use an adapter for the MagSafe2 connection to the new MBA, and your USB ports are 2.0

So if you want the docking features, and don't want to wait, go for the current TBD. If you don't need docking, consider other brands. If you can wait for the next gen (open-ended wait time of course), then that's OK too.

 

[MCAsan]

Both the wife are glad we went ATD at Christmas. Wonderful screen for photo editing.

 

[iAppl3Fan]

If you need it for you job, then you should get it. It's worth it.

 

[Kuei]

Thanks everyone, that has been quite helpful.