What's the Point of a Display Using Thunderbolt?

[soupking]

Hi Everybody,

For some reason this just escapes me. I understand that ability to chain-gang devices but it seems really odd to connect all this through a display as opposed to a basic hub like USB connectors.

Aside from it being ridiculously fast, what's the point in running it through the monitor making it the central hub as opposed to the console or external hub?

It's a display? What's wrong with HDMI? Is that not fast enough to deliver graphics?

What am I missing here? Are they trying to size down/out of the Mac Pro or something?

Just don't completely understand the reasoning/logic behind the infrastructure of their technology.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Gordy]

Hi Everybody,

For some reason this just escapes me. I understand that ability to chain-gang devices but it seems really odd to connect all this through a display as opposed to a basic hub like USB connectors.

Aside from it being ridiculously fast, what's the point in running it through the monitor making it the central hub as opposed to the console or external hub?

It's a display? What's wrong with HDMI? Is that not fast enough to deliver graphics?

What am I missing here? Are they trying to size down/out of the Mac Pro or something?

Just don't completely understand the reasoning/logic behind the infrastructure of their technology.

Thanks for reading.

The mba is your answer. One thunderbolt cable in and you get tons of connections to the monitor. A very fancy screen working as a dock.

There are tons of other reasons too. Thunderbolt is great technology and is only going to improve as more devices come along.

 

[jackrv]

Current HDMI only supports up to HD1080. (standards say more but not readily available)

Basically TB over displayport adds additional features like Dock capabilities as in the Apple Thunderbolt Display. As for chaining vs hub, I agree. Hopefully someone will release a TB "hub" that keeps the physical connections linear but allows the neat layout of a star topology like a USB hub.

 

[paulisme]

For the same reason printers use USB instead of parallel ports.

 

[wrinkster22]

gigabit ethernet for mac air users

 

[soupking]

Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. So a slogan that could be entertained for the device would be "don't call it a monitor" because it's more than that. It's more like a superior I/O device that happens to have screen capabilities.

What's an mba? Also, I can't remember the last time I used parallel ports so I can't really follow you quite there. I know USB is smaller, and faster I guess right?

Thanks for the responses. I know it's kind of a luddite question to begin with.

For a home setup I still don't quite see the advantages. It seems like it would be more suitable for a media office that has a lot of console-to-console transferring of data. Is this accurate at all?

Best,
-soupking

 

[mfram]

"MBA" means MacBook Air. The "monitor" is essentially a docking station for the laptop. Imagine you have your home setup... a big monitor, keyboard, mouse, gigabit ethernet, a printer, etc. Just like an iMac. You can't easily get all that attached to your MacBook Air. It only has 2 USB ports and a video connector.

With the display you connect the one Thunderbolt cable and you have access to video and your home setup all at once. Much like a laptop docking station. When you want to take your laptop with you, just unplug the TB cable and you're good to go.

The Apple Display is designed to be the perfect companion for your Apple laptop. That's the point of it.

 

[wrinkster22]

Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. So a slogan that could be entertained for the device would be "don't call it a monitor" because it's more than that. It's more like a superior I/O device that happens to have screen capabilities.

What's an mba? Also, I can't remember the last time I used parallel ports so I can't really follow you quite there. I know USB is smaller, and faster I guess right?

Thanks for the responses. I know it's kind of a luddite question to begin with.

For a home setup I still don't quite see the advantages. It seems like it would be more suitable for a media office that has a lot of console-to-console transferring of data. Is this accurate at all?

Best,
-soupking

Sorry about the confusion MBA is macbook air
Like firewire thunderbolt is not really for consumers mostly professionals but one day perhaps it will be used a lot.

 

[soupking]

ahhh I get it now. That makes tons of sense. Very intelligent.

Too bad I still need a powerbook since everybody out there doesn't have one of these. Hopefully in the future that will change.

Like somebody above mentioned, this is only the start. This will be exciting to see how this develops along with Siri technology.

Thanks guys!

 

[dpreuss]

For me, the decision was easy. A comparable monitor (Dell U2711) was already in the same ballpark. While I do like the idea of a matte finish the glossy is growing on me.

I work for a highly mobile company and take my MBP with me every time I leave the office and I didn't want to be bothered connecting/disconnecting my plethora of USB, gigabit ethernet every day. In addition to that I needed an additional power cord as I didn't want to have the weight of it with me every day. Those alone are 80 dollars (from Apple).

All that being said it as worth the few dollars more to save the hassle of the items above.

My only complaint is that it could use a little more vertical space 16:10 would be perfect as that is what my old Dell 2407 was.

 

[thekev]

For me, the decision was easy. A comparable monitor (Dell U2711) was already in the same ballpark. While I do like the idea of a matte finish the glossy is growing on me.

I've never been a huge fan of Dell as a company. Your point though leaves some things out which are probably unimportant to you but may be for some other users. The U7211 is aimed at prosumers and photo enthusiasts. For that purpose you'd be better off with the Dell. They use different panels, backlight designs, and finishes. The thunderbolt display lacks a certain amount of luminance control and doesn't profile well. That is what makes it an inferior choice. The older cinema displays were quite popular for a little while, but most of the ad agencies and places that used them switched to Eizo and Lacie long ago (although no one seems to pay attention to Lacie any longer).

The problem with using the Apple display for photo work is that it doesn't profile well. Newer colorimeters do a superior job with LED backlit displays compared to those from a few years ago, but it's still less consistent than ccfl in this regard. I am hoping that eventually changes as LED does have some advantages.

On coatings the LG coatings suck whether they're glossy or antiglare. It's either full gloss or a really strong antiglare that sparkles when light hits it. They're both quite annoying. The antiglare isn't bad in low lighting. In office lighting it's annoying.

 

[crumpler]

I recently took the plunge with a TB display because i wanted for screen space on a 27" monitor and the only way i could do that was with a TB display.

If i had gotten the U2711 instead, i would have used my TB/mini display port as the output from my mac mini and wouldn't be able to use TB on my system in the future.

 

[iVoid]

I recently took the plunge with a TB display because i wanted for screen space on a 27" monitor and the only way i could do that was with a TB display.

If i had gotten the U2711 instead, i would have used my TB/mini display port as the output from my mac mini and wouldn't be able to use TB on my system in the future.

Actually, you could use the thunderbolt port with multiple devices. Any TB devices get plugged into the TB port first (daisy chained together) then the last device would be the display port device (or a MDP to DVI/HDMI/VGA/etc adapter).

 

[thekev]

I recently took the plunge with a TB display because i wanted for screen space on a 27" monitor and the only way i could do that was with a TB display.

If i had gotten the U2711 instead, i would have used my TB/mini display port as the output from my mac mini and wouldn't be able to use TB on my system in the future.

It's a flaw with the lack of a real TB ecosystem. I don't expect to see bulletproof solutions for a full workflow through thunderbolt before 2013 at the earliest. Anyway the thunderbolt display isn't appropriate for judging color at a critical level. Nothing is going to change that in this display generation

 

[luke99]

ahhh I get it now. That makes tons of sense. Very intelligent.

Too bad I still need a powerbook since everybody out there doesn't have one of these. Hopefully in the future that will change.

Like somebody above mentioned, this is only the start. This will be exciting to see how this develops along with Siri technology.

Thanks guys!

What should be said is that Apple would have had to provide an usb3 port on the thunderbolt display. This would been very intelligent but intelligent things and the business not always go together especially in these times...

 

[crumpler]

Actually, you could use the thunderbolt port with multiple devices. Any TB devices get plugged into the TB port first (daisy chained together) then the last device would be the display port device (or a MDP to DVI/HDMI/VGA/etc adapter).

Yeah, i had thought of that too but when the TB display was launched, i believe apple apparently said that the TB display should be plugged in directly to the TB port on the mini and thereafter other TB devices from the TB display.

I was all ready to commit to a Dell U2711 and daisy-chain future TB devices with the U2711 at the end of the chain but after hearing what apple mentioned about TB daisy-chaining from the display instead, i wasn't so sure.

And i've had my eye on the TB display for a long while now. Oh well, christmas did arrive early for me this year!

 

[iVoid]

Yeah, i had thought of that too but when the TB display was launched, i believe apple apparently said that the TB display should be plugged in directly to the TB port on the mini and thereafter other TB devices from the TB display.

I was all ready to commit to a Dell U2711 and daisy-chain future TB devices with the U2711 at the end of the chain but after hearing what apple mentioned about TB daisy-chaining from the display instead, i wasn't so sure.

That only applies to Apple's TB Display. Everything else about TB says that Display port monitors work fine at the end of the chain (really the only place they can be connected since they have no way to daisy chain).