Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Reviews for Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 238 reviews

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    No regrets. I am enjoying the Display.

    • Written by from phoenix

    Initially, the negative reviews posted gave me pause before I purchased Thunderbolt.
    Spoke to the Apple sales people several times about the posted complaints plus
    they assured me about the return policy.

    Purchased the monitor and it performs great. The color is amazing. I use it everyday.
    I have so much more real estate to work with.

    Fantastic job Apple.

    7 of 8 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Think carefully before buying

    • Written by from Auckland

    The sound from the inbuilt 2.1 speakers is poor and there is no headphone port, so now I have to keep my old desktop speakers and plug them into my MBP every time I work at my desk. I guess I shouldn't have expected much for their size, but with the rather large price tag I hoped for better and was looking forward to de-cluttering my desk by removed the old desktop speakers. -1

    USB 2... why no USB 3 Apple? Again, I have to use the port on my MBP if I want to get the most out of my USB 3 external drive. -1

    No matte display option. -1

    Otherwise, it's a nice clear display. +2

    1 of 2 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Monitor and Dock

    • Written by from Truro

    I bought this shortly after discovering its ability to connect to the Thunderbolt port on my Mac and I have not been disappointed. Even though I would say it's a little on the pricy side, I was not sorry about my purchase.

    The hardware quality of the screen feels solid and acts as the perfect dock compliment, only requiring me to plug one Thunderbolt plug in after coming back from using my laptop away, to access all my desktop accessories which are connected into the back of the monitor. The integrated webcam is a lovely touch, and the image quality is superb - sharp, crisp and colourful. The MagSafe power adaptor is also a lovely touch, meaning I no longer require a separate power adaptor.

    My main gripe is the the lack of USB 3 connectors in the back as they are all USB 2. It would also be nice if there were audio out adaptors (the screen has inbuilt speakers, but no audio out ports). But these are minor, and I would still recommend this product.

    6 of 6 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Horrible - Forced to "ONLY" use new mac

    • Written by from EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP

    The targeted display mode was removed in this monitor forcing me to purchase a second desk for my room to run my other devices. Total waste of space that this feature was removed. The display is nice and bright but for the first 7 months of ownership it stayed on the floor unplugged gathering dust. Only this week have I pulled it out to start using it on a cheap fold up table I got from BJs.

    4 of 34 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great match for Mac Mini

    • Written by from West Bloomfield

    Purchased to match my 2012 Mac Mini. Works great but need to get use to the smaller font with this high resolution monitor. Also, the ethernet port on the display was labeled incorrectly when hooked up to my router. Had to delete and rename to "display ethernet port" and all is now correct. I like having the hub on the back of the monitor to hook up my firewire 800 Time Machnine hard drive and another USB hub.

    11 of 12 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    USB 3.0?

    • Written by from Manhattan Beach

    For this much money I don't see why it still uses USB 2.0 from 2001.

    40 of 48 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    less than 60 days two die

    • Written by from Westerville

    I too have had a thunderbolt 27″ fail, in fact two of them. The first one was less than 60 days old. Smack dab in the middle it had subpixels fail with a line running vertically and horizontally and everything below the horizontal line was flickering really bad. Made an appointment with the gunnies bar and ended up with an exchange for a band new unit. I felt really good about how well they handled it. However, in less than one week the second monitor from the exchange died! This time no video, however, the display sound, ethernet, and other ports still worked. Again, made an appointment with genius bar. This time they didn’t even remove the monitor form the box to look at it. They just took my word and brought back another brand new monitor. I’m now on my second day on the third monitor and continuously have my fingers crossed. Yes, apple support was excellent and kodos to my local genus bar, but the reality is I’d just would like a monitor that works!

    16 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Thunderbolt display vs iMac

    • Written by from CARDIFF

    I was stuck deciding between the 27 inch Thunderbolt display (for use with a 2011 Macbook Pro) or a brand new iMac, and what made it more difficult was knowing that Apple could be about to release an updated Thunderbolt display. I use a new iMac in work, which makes the Macbook's screen feel very cramped (despite being the now-discontinued 17 inch model).

    In the end, I went with the Thunderbolt display. I get the display size of an iMac with the occasional portability of the Macbook Pro, without the Macbook Pro becoming more or less redundant (even though the iMac has target display mode, no doubt the iMac would put the MBP to retirement). There is no performance slow down in general use, and games take a surprisingly small performance hit compared to playing solely on the Macbook Pro. The Macbook Pro's screen becomes a secondary monitor too.

    The USB ports and connections on the Thunderbolt display help keep the desk tidier - there is less cabling running around the desk which would otherwise route to the Macbook, and the display size forces you to keep the display towards the back of the desk.

    Note that the small envelope that comes in the box also has the Magsafe converter for newer devices.

    Though a small feature, the display's ability to power the Macbook makes it noticeably convenient when taking the Macbook on the road - everything else is already in the bag.

    I haven't noticed any display problems which others have been reporting - no differences in brightness across the screen, etc.

    In short, iMac's supreme display quality and size, but for less than a grand - providing you already have a Mac with a Thunderbolt connector.

    15 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent

    • Written by from Burnaby

    I replaced a 30" Cinema Display with the Thunderbolt Display I miss the slightly larger screen.

    Other than size I really like the monitor for it's quality and features such as the iSight camera and the multiple ports including ethernet on the back of the monitor. The colour output is excellent and I found it calibrated easily.

    7 of 7 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Worst. Monitor. Ever.

    • Written by from San Francisco

    The Thunderbolt Display looks gorgeous, but don't let the looks deceive you this: this monitor is actually a steaming pile of garbage. I've gone through three in less than a month. The first was shipped with a giant crack in the glass panel. The next two have constantly flickered when plugged into my 13" MacBook Pro, and sometimes shut off completely until I plug them back in. Save yourself some time and money and just buy a cheaper display from another manufacturer.

    I don't know what's going on with Apple, but I've been a Mac user for 20 years, and I've noticed a significant decline in the quality of their hardware over the past five years or so.

    42 of 62 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    They just work

    • Written by from barrington

    Just purchased a second TBD. The look on the salesman's face when I said "I want a Thunderbolt Display" was pretty funny. Transaction took about 12 minutes. He said it was the easiest sale he has had in a while.
    Take it out of the box, plug it in, hook up the MBA and it just works. I generally use it for photography work. Resolution is astounding. I just became a better photographer.

    21 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    It's so beautiful!

    • Written by from Berkeley

    ...but this product joins the trunk full of apple products I'm accumulating that needed repair barely 1 month out of warranty. In any case, the cable assembly that splits into a TB connector and power supply is defective. A few weeks ago the display went dim. Then the monitor went semi-comatose: Speakers worked but not the screen. So I tried using a separate tb cable to the open port on the back. That brought the screen back to life. So now I have to wait 3 days for an appointment at the local 'genius' bar (sounds so silly to say that, doesn't it?) and then a likely $150 repair bill.

    29 of 41 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Blacked Out within 1 Hour with NEW 2013 iMAC

    • Written by from Mission viejo

    Plugged in the 27" Thunderbolt Monitor. Got a very Dimm screen, Searched everywhere to find out how to adjust the brightness. BECAUSE THE DISPLAY PREFERENCE DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE THUNDERBOLT DISPLAY!! So i shut down and tried to setup my powerbook with the new display... It NEVER turned back on AGAIN. Will be returning this 1st thing in the morning. May try swapping for the Cinema Display as thats what i thought i was buying to begin with!!! Maybe it will work.. Just Want to Add that Apple Products are NOT as nearly as stable or solid as they once where before selling out to the INTEL chips. My G4 laptop still works without ever crashing in 9 years. However my 2011 iMac completely Died out after 2 years of use and NOW this Thunderbolt box is absolutely USELESS... A huge Disappointment..

    25 of 37 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    2 of these failed on me

    • Written by from LONGWOOD

    I've had two of these monitors completely fail on me now. One was a bad LCD panel ($962 to fix) and 6 weeks past the warranty period. Thanks good ness for extended warranties with the credit card company I purchased it with. The second just failed today. A loud pop and the screen is dead. Not the computer as I have another monitor and tested the computer.

    Apple's quality control has gone down so much over the last year or so. Sure it si great while it works, but 2 monitors in 2 years is a pretty lousy track record.

    Avoid it!

    17 of 20 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Do not purchase

    • Written by from EAST ROCKAWAY

    This display looks nice and when it works, it is good. Problem is that it doesn't work very well. Constantly flashes and turns off requiring it to be unplugged from the MacBook and plugged back in. USB ports do not have enough power for much of anything and the Ethernet adapter on mine does not work. Wish I could return...
    Out of all the Apple products I own, or have owned, this is the only one I am completely disappointed by.

    29 of 45 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Should I be worried?

    • Written by from Tauranga

    Just took delivery of my new display, purchased from a store here in New Zealand. Perhaps a minor issue, but my son bought one a couple of months back (different store, same city) and the picture within the display featured on the box is quite different - both "Milky Way" images but one is markedly different from the other.

    That apart, one annoyance is that, using it as I do with my MacBook Pro, any time the monitor goes into sleep mode I have to unplug the monitor from the MB and re-connect. I use bluetooth keyboard and mouse and neither is able to shake the display from its slumber. Any way to overcome this?

    22 of 27 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Almost Perfect

    • Written by from Sumter

    Comparing this to a typical display is like comparing a car to a building. Two completely different things. Yes, this is a display, but it's more than that. I tried several display options for my 15" MacBook Retina and all of them had horrible color and were unusable for design work no matter how much tweaking I did to the colors or how much calibration I did. They just weren't there. Looking at the Thunderbolt display is no different than looking at my MacBook Pro. Except it's huge. The colors are spot-on and text and graphics are crisp and clean. In my opinion, it's a LITTLE too pricey for what it is, but you do get excellent quality, a large, bright display that matches perfectly and a one-all solution for external hard drives, etc. One cord and a power cable and you're good to go.

    Pros:
    • One-cord simplicity with integrated charging keeps me from having to mess with a bunch of cords and from having to keep up with my power cord
    • Perfectly matched display with my MacBook Pro
    • Plenty of inputs
    • Excellent build quality (fit and finish is absolutely superb)

    Cons:
    • A little pricey, but a good long-term investment
    • No USB 3.0 support
    • No audio out means that you have to run a speaker cable to your computer or use the integrated speakers in the display, which leave a bit to be desired

    32 of 35 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    use it all day, every day

    • Written by from Tucson

    I'm a scientific programmer working in the field of astronomy. I program all day long and the Thunderbolt display is absolutely wonderful. It is wide, crisp, and has exceptional contrast. It syncs perfectly whenever I remove and reattach to my MacBook Pro, never any hassles. I also have an older Cinema display for my home system. It is good also, but it has lower contrast and runs quite a lot warmer than the Thunderbolt. Three cheers for Apple on this one.

    11 of 12 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Worked for one week

    • Written by from Abbotsford

    Now blacking out constantly. Each time, I must unplug the display and plug it back in to get a picture back.

    23 of 32 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Why does it have an old fashioned Magsafe connector?

    • Written by from ROMSEY

    Why does my brand new Thunderbolt display have the old Magsafe connector?

    Not very impressive - shame, the screen is fantastic, but for £800+ I expect better.

    Apple - this is why you shouldn't mess around with power connectors - you make things incompatible and your customers mark you down...

    31 of 50 people found this useful

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