Questions & Answers for Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

No. The computer is necessary to control the Thunderbolt drive to share it on a network. If the computer is not connected to the Thunderbolt Display there is no connection of the drive to the network.

• Answered by James H from Portland
• Jun 11, 2012
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Yes you can. It is the same as watching them on the MacBook, just with a larger screen connected. I have watched videos from my library on my MacBook Pro and they look great on the large screen.

• Answered by Anthony S from Brunswick
• May 16, 2012
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The best way to do this is to plug all your devices in. Once plugged in, then goto the apple icon in the top right corner open system preferences, click on the sound icon, then you will see a drop down listing the availiable sound devices. select the device that you wish to output sound. Usually if the device you select is present after removing the device, when it it reestablishes a connection (plug it back in) it will change to that device again.

• Answered by Christopher B from Saline
• Jun 10, 2012
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No the thunderbolt display and all thunderbolt devices will only work on newer Mac's which have a thunderbolt port. The previous port, whilst a similar shape, is only a Mini DisplayPort socket used for connecting to external screens (TV, monitor, etc)

• Answered by Michael B
• Sep 1, 2012
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Short answer is yes. But you can also use it as an extended display or duplex display. It's pretty much like any other additional display unit except a few surprising differences, as noted below:

1. There is very little external control. So adjusting the screen's parameters (mainly brightness) is via the System Preferences Panel.
2. The display actually detects power usage when the thunderbolt port is connected. After this, you can connect a usb cable to one of the three ports at the back to do pretty much anything such as charging a USB modem, charging your iPhone or connecting a USB printer. Even after you disconnect the thunderbolt cable, the units continue to charge. So it's a great overnight charger for my iPhone.
3. You cannot switch of the thunderbolt display, even under system preferences -- easy to ignore if you just limit your mouse movements to your laptop's screen real estate, but it's easy to slip the mouse across to your thunderbolt display accidentally (which is annoying)
4. The speakers are at the bottom of the thunderbolt display whilst the camera and the microphone is at the top front and top edge respectively. This means when you're skyping, you look like you're being a snob as you tend to move your mouse towards the location of the microphone for better sound recording quality. I found the microphone's location is not very effective (based on feedback from listeners on the other side).
5. Apparently, some people have reported that the audio settings plays up sometimes, so make sure you go to "Sound" under System Preferences first to select the input and output to the USB Thunderbolt display, which is described as "Display Audio" under Type: USB.

Hope that helps.

• Answered by Jason C from Mitcham
• Feb 25, 2012
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Yes you can run the hard drive off the thunderbolt display at full (FW800) speed, while running the audio device at FW400 from the Macbook FireWire 400 port.

• Answered by Dean S from Encino
• Jun 17, 2012
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Yep! Works on mine!

• Answered by Brad S from Pinckney
• Mar 29, 2012
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