Reviews for Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Just got this display in a new company, one for the office, one for home. After a few days have some thoughts...

Working on it is awesome, colors are bright, everything is sharp, etc. Unless it's exposed to the daylight :( It's sooo glossy. I've heard there's a new model coming better in that respect, but this one is GLOSSY! This makes working on it really hard at times.

Another thing is connectivity. Can't connect my older MacBook Pro, just because it doesn't have a Thunderbolt display? No HDMI, so can't connect my Apple TV? No AirPlay? I mean, for a $999 device, it's crazy - only one form of input?

Additional ports are quite handy, but somehow, whenever my Retina MacBook goes to sleep (in clamshell mode), the keyboard stops responding. Have to reconnect the cable in the back - somewhat annoying, but can't be 100% sure if it's the display or something else.

Wish Apple tried harder - this could be awesome.

I've had my display soon for a week, and I am quite content with it. It is quality all through. There is however one problem. My display won't wake up with my MBP. The display stays in sleep mode.

I was in contact with apple support regarding this and got the answer that it is a known bug. The work-around is that i have to pull out the thunderbolt cord from the MBP and put it in again. Then the screen wakes up again. That is HIGHLY annoying. Until apple fixes that issue I will have to keep on doing that.

The display is amazing! Graphics are unbelievable crisp, the colors are awesome!

The glare issue is pretty bad... you really need to be strategic where you place it to avoid reflection... also it can be pretty intense sitting too close to it all day... need a good 2' deep desk to really be at a comfortable distance.

Okay, this is a great display. And okay, it has more then ample pixels for most people. But, for developers and designers creating stuff for the new 2012 iPad, using this display requires either zooming back or panning to create native art. Obviously, less than ideal and not what you're looking for when you're shopping for a mega-display. Hopefully, Apple has something new waiting in the wings, but until they release that phantom, this is their best offering for us and it fails a bit.

Don't hope to use this monitor as a 'docking station' for your thunderbolt-equipped MBA or MBP; there's no microphone, headphone, or SD-card reader built in. A pity - could have made a fantastic home-base for the mobile crowd. Seems silly, to have lowered the bar, all for the sake of shaving a few dollars off the bottom line.

The 27" Thunderbolt is one inch shorter than the iMac 27", so the displays don't line up correctly. How on earth does an aesthetically sophisticated company like Apple allow this to happen?

I hope they get someone to make a one-inch platform that I can put under the Thunderbolt in order to line them up. I refuse to clutter my desk by putting a book under the monitor.

Also, Lion doesn't appear to allow me to use the speakers from both monitors in stereo fashion. Basically, I have to get the sound out of one or the other -- which doesn't line up with the visuals. I'll have to purchase external speakers in order for this to make any sense.

These are simple things that Apple could have easily thought through, and can easily fix.

This is the first Apple product I'm not willing to give a five star rating, as Apple's subcontractor seems to have some serious quality control issues.

The good part: The display looks stunning and matches all my other Apple gear, as well as acting as a docking station. Being able to connect my 2011 MacBook Pro with just two cables, hooking everything else up to the display, is great.

The bad part is quality of the screen itself, though. I'm now on my third! Apple Store replaced the first one during the remorse period, due to a hot pixel. The replacement was worse however, having a couple of dead pixels, what appeared to be some sort of dust or debris within the panel, as well as poor backlighting in general, and particularly poor and non-uniform backlighting along the lower edge of the screen. The current one has a funny smell, that I'm hoping will go away, and what seems to be some smudges or fingerprints within the panel or behind the front glass at the lower part of the display. However, as it is only visible against a solid background, and the panel has no pixel errors and the backlighting is much better, I will keep it. I am sure Apple Store would exchange it if I complained though, they've been very understanding and helpful so far, it's just such a hassle and I'm afraid I might get an inferior one instead.

The Verdict: If you get a perfect sample, this is a great product, but be prepared not to. Apple Store's customer service has been great, though.

I purchased this to extend the desktop of my 13" MBP (a great little laptop incidentally). The monitor detects automatically and I get the brilliant display, which matches up with my MBP's display wonderfully in terms of color and temp. But, the audio which is supposed to automatically pipe into the monitors speakers almost never actually does. I have to reboot with the monitor attached for it to recognize. I've also noticed that the external hard drives that I have attached to the firewire 800 port don't mount either.

I'll agree with the issue of integration with Lion's full screen mode. You throw iPhoto or any other app into full screen and depending on the program, sometimes it goes into full screen in my laptop, sometimes in the monitor. You'd think that it would automatically go into full screen into the display that the app window is in but it doesn't. Then to top it off the other monitor goes gray with the pattern of the sign in screen. So rather than being able to work full screen on one screen and being able to have say your mail and browser apps open in the 2nd, you basically end up with just one screen. A big screen but just one screen. This is very much a software and not a hardware issue as the screen itself is beautiful and does what it should do, which is display my information.

I don't have an iMac but I did notice the issue with the height of the monitor. Why would they make the 27" display a couple of inches shorter than the current 27" iMac? That makes no sense at all. Unless it's a harbinger of the 27" refresh it's a pretty glaring oversight. If the refresh is the same size as the current display then I guess that'll explain it. As it stands there is a company that sells a pretty nifty shelf that gets the 2 within mm of one another and provides a shelf to store your keyboard and an integrated usb hub. An option for those considering the purchase to match up with their iMacs.

I would've given this display a 5 start if it wasn't for this problem. I have an 24 inch samsung LCD that uses DVI, it works when I hook it up direct with my 2011 MBP via a mini display port to DVI adaptor, but if I plug it into the thunderbolt port on the back of the new thunderbolt display, the monitor won't be recognized. I thought it would work fine since it is the same thunderbolt port, but for some reason it doesn't.

So, if you want to buy this monitor and also wants to use your old non-thunderbolt monitor, be ware of this problem. I hope they come up with some kind of update or adaptor soon.

Other than that, the display itself is great, the picture quality is superb, and the glossy screen doesn't bug me that much even in the bright room. Audio is also decent, good enough for day to day use.

It's difficult to decide how many stars to give because some things about the monitor are impressive, while there are also some very annoying glitches.

If you use the monitor with a laptop, the system becomes very temperamental if you put the laptop to sleep and wake it up. I've had the following issues after waking up the computer:
-the screens blink and never recover; forced to reboot
-lose ethernet connection and can't get it back unless you reboot.

Also, you have to remember that closing the laptop puts everything to sleep. To continue working you have to wake the system back up.

The Thunderbolt port is also very delicate. If the wire gets wiggled, I lose the connection to the monitor and anything docked to the monitor. So any external hard drives are disconnected and you will get "please eject disk before disconnecting errors". This can cause major headaches if you're in the process of video editing.

Despite these glitches, I find the image quality to be impressive and the docking ability to be convenient. It's very easy to configure your screens, choosing the main screen and secondary screen, etc. I hope the sensitive port doesn't prove to be a problem. The other issues will probably get worked out with firmware.