Apple Thunderbolt Display MC914LL/A Price Review

With fitted Thunderbolt technology the fastest, most adaptable I/O ever the 27 inch Apple Thunderbolt Display can do things other displays simply can not. Of course, it delivers a smart looking at experience. But connect it to any Thunderbolt enabled Mac and it becomes a plug and play hub for everything you do. Features are a high resolution 2560 x 1440 pixel LED backlit display, a FaceTime HD camera, high quality audio, three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt port for daisy chaining extra high performance devices. 27 inch display intended for Mac notebook computers
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of five stars Beautiful, designed and how to decrease the glare, September 22, 2011
By Hankk (Boulder, CO) See all my reviews This review is from: Apple Thunderbolt Display MC914LL/A (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) I pre ordered this and received mine two days ago. Some comments:

O The quality of the display itself is simply perfect . It is sharp, bright, and super responsive. The colors only shift somewhat when the screen is tilted.

O The real estate here is massive . It is a world of difference from my 24″ low end Acer display. Think about that when you are running it at the highest resolution (which majority of people will!), your menu bar and other parts of the OS X system will look a just bit smaller than they do on other displays. Those parts of OS X are a fixed pixel size. So smaller pixels means they will be smaller on the screen, and there is no simple way to expand them.

O Using it with Aperture in full screen mode: it is only now that I really see how sharp photos out of my camera are. There is more pixels than I had before, and the pixels are sharper, and both of these help to make photos look amazing.

O The display has a Thunderbolt port on the back. You may be able to use this to daisychain extra Thunderbolt displays, if you have another $1K to use up. But you may be able to not plug a regular DVI monitor into this port, with a DVI to Thunderbolt adapter. The second screen is black. The manual confirms that this does not work.

O The power, USB hub, speakers, camera, etc. Just work so easily to dock my laptop too. It is all auto and easy, and everything except for power goes through the Thunderbolt cable. So nice!

O The speakers sound full. In fact, a bit too much bass, but that is most likely because I am used to listening to everything through my laptop’s tinny speakers.

O I used my Huey Pro to calibrate it out of the box. The before and after calibration profiles are virtually same that’s, colors are perfect, with no modification needed.

O there is a , faint buzzing sound that comes from the lower right hand corner of the screen. Sounds like a transformer. It is not audible if my laptop’s fan is running. It’s goes away if the light is refused below 50 or so. It is faint I only hear it if it is totally calm.

O The glare from the glass front panel is pretty annoying. The glare is really worse on the black bezel than the major display: reflections against a black background are many easier to see than against the white. On the screen itself, particularly on light colored app windows, the glare’s not bad. (My office has indirect light from the outside right behind me.)

Still, I soon removed the glass panel and bezel from the display completely. This improves the glare situation immensely . The big part of glass is held on to the front by strong magnets, but you may be able to remove it by carefully put a couple of fingernails under the edge, and pulling it off toward the front. Or use suction cups (google around for info). No sticky, no screws just magnets, and it will come off easily. This will expose the real LCD panel itself. The panel is still quite reflective (it has a glossy finish), but then there is just one level of glass to reflect, rather than two, so you get half the glare or less, plus no multiple reflections. It also gets rid of all of the reflections from the bezel of course which were more annoying to me than on the display itself. There are then many magnets and screws and other hardware exposed, but so be it. I have seen others who have custom fit a matte bezel to cover the innards up again. With the inner panel exposed you have to be cautious about not dinging it accidentally.

But seriously Apple, offer this in a non glare version! The matte screen on my MacBook Pro is great to read all day, so I know you know how to do it!

P.S. A thousand bucks for a monitor? Looks like many, but I figure I will get at least five years out of this, which is less than a buck a day.

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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars costly and Worth It For many, October 18, 2011
By Glenn R. Howes (Nashua, NH) See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) This review is from: Apple Thunderbolt Display MC914LL/A (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) This is a great monitor, easily the best I have ever used. It is also an costly monitor, easily the most costly I have ever owned. Why I bought it came down to needs and wants.

I needed a big monitor because it is become harder and harder to do my job Mac and iPhone programming on my 13 inch MacBook Pro screen. The new variant of Apple’s Xcode is just screen hungry, and I have drifted into doing most of my development at my desk using an external monitor. This is a shame, but while I can not control Xcode’s interface, I can attempt to make my working life nice. I want to make life at my desk so enjoyable I will use up time there working and not finding ways to waste time. , I was wanting to use up for marginal enhancements.

All 27 inch displays aren’t made alike. The most liked 27 inch LCD monitor on at this writing is the ViewSonic VA2702W which bills itself as a full HD 1920×1080 (2.0 Megapixels, 82 pixels per inch display, at less then a 3rd the price of this Thunderbolt display. 1080p is good and extreme on a TV you’d be watching video on from ten feet away, but by using as a computer monitor from two feet away where you use up the day reading nine point text, the 2560 x 1440 3.7 Megapixels, 109 ppi) of this display makes a whole lot more sense. Coincidentally, I was sent for review an HP 2711x which is a 27 inch 1080p monitor, and while decent enough for what it’s, I could not want to use it as my main work monitor, text is blocky and web pages and source listings show less readable content, and off angle looking at is unattractive. The cheaper monitor is just just a TV, except without a remote although it is possible people with vision impairments may favor the bigger screen elements.

There are some competing 27 inch 2560 x 1440 monitors sold here on Amazon. The NEC PA271w bk is costly and is aimed at the professional photography market, the Dell U2711 is cheaper but has many of complaints about text output, and there are some number of others, so the Thunderbolt display is price competitive with other largish monitors with the same resolution; they all are pretty costly.

Also this is an IPS display, the same technology used in the iPad to let looking at over a large range of angles, other display technology will lose their color saturation when not looking at dead straight into the monitor. It is gorgeous. Gorgeous but tends to have many of glare, so I carefully angle it away from room lights.

I carry a 13 inch MacBook Pro, and I am transitioning my wife to using a new MacBook Air. Both devices have Thunderbolt ports, so attaching our laptops to the display involves inserting two cables: the Magsafe power cable and the Thunderbolt cable. The MacBook Pro has the benefit of having both ports on the left side, the Air has one on either side. I am more probably to use my desk environment if I am not pulling off USB and Firewire cables, and pinching Ethernet cables also to power and display. The Air, in specific, which has restricted ports becomes something akin to a “real” computer when attached to this display it is sweet having a real Ethernet port automatically connect particularly when using the display for streaming video. There are Thunderbolt hubs that third parties have declared, but having the hub integrated into the monitor is preferable. The Thunderbolt Display isn’t compelling for users of desktop Macs, as they’ll already have ports and won’t have to be unhooked usually.

My MacBook Pro has lots of ports, so the Thunderbolt Display is more of a convenience but the MacBook Air needs ports to function effectively as a desktop substitute. If I am going to attach external hard drives, I am not going to use USB 2.0 when I have Firewire available. Which brings up an oddity. The USB ports on the Thunderbolt display are USB 2.0, which makes them nearly born out of date. I understand that neither Intel (inventor of Thunderbolt) nor Apple cares for USB 3.0, but it looks as though there could be adequate bandwidth to offer at least one, if it could be non Apple like to have different flavors of USB on the same computer.

Once attached, the Air becomes a competitive desktop, with its i7 (or i5) processor and speedy SSD paired with a big display and adequate port selection. It is missing only a decent GPU, which brings up another missed opportunity. Many other manufacturers (e.G. Sony) provided an external GPU inside their docking box. One could imagine a future Thunderbolt display with an integrated GPU that could transform future MacBook Airs into almost full desktops, but that’s a possibility not the now.

When docked, I favor to not use either my laptop’s keyboard or trackpad. So an external keyboard is obliged. I’m not a fan of Apple’s current line of keyboards. They’re stylish and beautiful, but if I am going to use up the money, I may also get a typers keyboard with mechanical keys but ugly it may be, and a favored pointing device, which since my wife will be sharing this monitor will must be a thumb trackball instead of an Apple Magic Trackpad.

Sound is OK, Apple is stating there is a subwoofer in there, but I am in no danger of the neighbors complaining. I wish Apple had provided an optical (TOSLink) out port so as to take pleasure in movies completely. Presumably I can add one via USB though it may be hard to find such a device with Mac support as most Macs (not the Air) have TOSLink ports fitted. I have a decent desktop surround system the Logitech Z906 and it can do what speakers inside a monitor can not do.

This isn’t a adaptable device. Other monitors will have DVI, HDMI, Mini Display, and VGA ports. Not this. This is a monitor for use with Thunderbolt enabled computers like the current MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Mini’s. Note the missing Mac Pro. And while the monitor preference panel lets you to rotate the display, you will need many extra hardware to really use it as a tall portrait monitor. And good luck raising or lowering it. Be warned, you can not daisy chain two of these with the MacBook Air, its video circuitry is restricted to behind one. Really paying for two to prove this is an exercise for the reader. Daisy chaining is supported for MacBook Pros, or so I read.

This is a high end display that will probably become dated inside the next not many years. Retina displays will come to the desktop, I am quite sure of it, once Apple solves the problem of keeping user interface elements reasonably sized while rising their resolution and the new hardware becomes available. Joint with the lack of an external GPU and USB 3.0, and you could imagine a display coming out in 2013 which will blow this one away.

As a recurrent technology reviewer, I am frequently asked variants on “Will this device make me happy and fill my needs?” And this display is a tough call. I do not know if its worth it to me, and I bought one. On the one hand, it’s convenient to me as a MacBook Pro/Air user, and it’s stunningly beautiful, and big, and I’ll get back to doing my job without spending half my time moving windows out of the way. On the other hand, it’s costly, rigid and will soon become out of date. If you’re on any kind of a budget, then no; attempt to get an IPS display in the 24 inch range. If you have to attach a PC on occasion, then no. If you’re a computer “professional” who’s time is money and who spends your working life two feet from your monitor, and your computer has a Thunderbolt socket, then yes. I wrote this review, and most of it’s caveats, and still I am still giving this monitor five stars because it’s beautiful and it’s exactly what a MacBook owning professional needs (and wants).

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Eight of nine people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of five stars very clear Image Quality but lousy audio and tons of glare, October 3, 2011
By Lon J. Seidman “lon401″ (CT) See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) () This review is from: Apple Thunderbolt Display MC914LL/A (NEWEST VERSION) (Personal Computers) My reason for buying this display was the image quality which is certainly worth each one of the five stars I am ranking it.

Like all Apple merchandise the Thunderbolt display is very well built and intended, offering the same display parts as the beautiful 27″ iMac. There was totally zero configuration obliged beyond adjusting the light to my liking using the Mac OS X control panel. Once I plugged Thunderbolt cable into my Mac everything sprang to life, as well as all of the ports on the back. My Mac works great with the cover closed and it fits nicely underneath the display. It’ll turn itself on once the cable connects. The display also will include a power cable for Macbooks.

The Thunderbolt Display isn’t for everyone, but. Here are some cautions you may want to know about previous to purchasing:

1. Most important: This display is only for recent Macs that are equipped with a thunderbolt connection If you do not have a thunderbolt port on your Mac it’ll not work! Note that the connector looks same to the mini display port that may be found on most modern Macs, so it is vital that you confirm 1st that your machine does indeed have a Thunderbolt connection. It’ll not work with anything else, as well as PCs.

2. The display is , glossy and will give off a ton of glare if any light is inside line of sight to the display. It seems and operates beautifully in my home office but your mileage may differ considerably.

3. In spite of Apple’s claims of exceptional audio quality, the onboard speakers aren’t much better than the cheap pair that came with your Dell 15 years ago. Do not purchase it for the audio quality.

I’m happy to answer questions in the comments!

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