Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Reviews for Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 208 reviews

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    BEST DISPLAY & HUB FOR MACBOOK PRO!

    • Written by from Rio de Janeiro

    This display is absolutely stunning in beauty. I absolutely love it. I can connect my just outdated macbook air 13" and my new macbook pro 15". Yea, add a bluetooth key board to that and a magic mouse and your are set to go. If you are looking for the ultimate setup this is the way to go. This pretty much is the ultimate setup if you get the new 500gb retina macbook pro 15" and a 1tb seagate thunderbolt ssd. 5 Stars!!! Highly recommend.

    22 of 29 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    I dig it!

    • Written by from Carlsbad

    At first I wanted to use this as second larger display for my macbook air, but it's got such a high resolution that I just use it as my sole display, and I use Better Touch Tool to get AeroSnap-like ability. Then with spaces, I can use separate virtual desktops with two apps side by side, or four windows in quadrants. No glare issues for me, it's bright enough that the glare is not a problem. I'm using wireless and not the integrated ethernet interface, so I'm not getting intermittent issues which others are reporting.

    Looks great, works great, but not cheap. Hey Mr taxman, I'm writing this bad boy off!

    If your work puts you behind a monitor all day, I say treat yourself and go for it.

    26 of 37 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing

    • Written by from Westminster

    This truly is the ultimate docking station for your MacBook Pro. Screen looks spectacular and built in MagSafe adapter is brilliant!

    28 of 41 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing Display

    • Written by from Irvine

    I've been using my new Thunderbolt display for just over a month. This display is amazing. I use it with my MacBook Air at the office and I simply connect the Thunderbolt display and I am connected to the network via gigabit ethernet. I also have access to my external kit - Firewire 800 HD, USB printer, etc. Little to no effort when connecting, it just works, very well. I highly recommend this display. In fact, I just ordered another one for the house. You can't go wrong with the 27" Thunderbolt display.

    20 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Makes the Ultimate Workstation for an MBP

    • Written by from san Jose

    I am a video editor and love this display with my MBP not only because it gives me a huge, immersive workspace, but that's just the beginning. It's also a very convenient dock for my ubiquitous external drives and makes disconnecting the laptop and heading out much easier.

    It creates a more ergonomic workstation for me and reduces desktop clutter. This allows me the enjoy and combine the best elements of a desktop computer with the convenience of the laptop.

    I highly recommend adding the bluetooth keyboard, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and a Twelve South BookArc Desktop Stand to create the ultimate, state of the art video editing workstation with MBP portability.

    I have not had it long, but the performance and resolution are excellent and you really haven't surfed the web or watched web videos until you've surfed with this setup (on Lion especially, with the Safari zooming enhancements). Load a page, hit a few CMD+'s and your jaw will drop.

    Intense.

    38 of 61 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Size Matters.....

    • Written by from McKinney

    I have this monster connected to my 2011 MacBook 11 inch Air i7 at the office. When I travel I enjoy the freedom of the Macbook Air 11inch, but when in the office, I can connect this with the one cable, have everything connected to the back of the Display, as my Cat6, USB's, Bluetooth Keyboard, Mouse/Trackpad, power, and etc. Then connect it to the Macbook Air and now have a screen that I can enjoy and work from at the office as a full 27inch desktop. This is a must have at the office, so I have another one at home.

    59 of 103 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

    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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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great for Photo Processing

    • Written by from Carmel

    I am an advanced amateur photographer, and am VERY happy at the beautiful graphics and the amount of room I have when processing shots in Photoshop. I have had no problem with the fact that the screen is glossy, I simply adjust the screen and it's fine. Definitely worth the bucks!

    15 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Awesome

    • Written by from Denver

    The perfect companion to any thunderbolt laptop. I would definitely recommend.

    26 of 38 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing Display

    • Written by from HIGH POINT

    I am in absolute awe of this display. I use my ThunderBolt Display on a desk placed in my office which is full of sunlight from all different angles at different times. It never has bothered me as previous readers have mentioned. I love having the extra desktop space which is excellent for multitasking. I use this display along with my MacBook Pro and they are a perfect companion. The speakers could be better for blasting your iTunes tracks, but hey, this product is not made for blasting tunes. The clarity and contrast in this display is mind boggling. My other complaint is that you cannot use other sources of input with the display, only the ThunderBolt Cable. It would be nice if you could use other technology like HDMI, etc.

    25 of 36 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    A Beautiful Beast

    • Written by from Rex

    Yes, to answer the first question; It's BIG! You get a lot of gorgeous territory to play with once this creature is hooked up. And "hooking it up" could not have been easier. I already keep my 2010 15" MacBook Pro in sleep mode when not in use, so attaching it was simply a matter of attaching the power cord and Thunderbolt cable, and it picked it right up. You have to go into preferences and set you microphone, speakers and network cable which takes about 1 minute tops. I would suggest to all who are going to use this as a desktop replacement and not use the laptop screen you may want to get a Henge Dock to keep your laptop out of the way. Mine sits in the corner of the desk in it's Henge Dock, and when I want to take it elsewhere I simply pull it out of the cradle. Could not be simpler. This display is absolutely beautiful, and Apple thought of everything in port replication. Absolutely worth the expense if you plan to use your MacBook as a desktop replacement. To the people who complained about no power switch my answer would be that most people don't turn their computers off anymore. It's just as cheap to put them in sleep mode, uses no more power, quicker to start and much less wear on the computer.

    25 of 36 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Fantastic Product

    • Written by from Falls Church

    The Thunderbolt Display is an absolutely amazing product, though the price is hardly stomach-able. The USB ports on the back, plus the Ethernet, are great. No more cable-shuffle when you need to get going. The built in MagSafe charger is certainly helpful as well. It lives up well well to its description of "The Ultimate Docking Station". What's missing? An audio jack for headphones, or better yet optical out and enough for 5.1 sound.

    19 of 24 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Take the plunge. You will be happy you did.

    • Written by from Kalispell

    I made the jump from PC to Mac less than a year ago. After relocating across the country we decided to commit to Mac. Our home office has two 27 inch Thunderbolts, 1 Mac min, 1 Mac book, and a few odds and ends such as routers, mice, keyboards, and such.

    The monitors are exquisite. Sure they work great, they are bright, the sound is wonderful but the quality of them is outstanding. They are beautifully to look at and into all day long. Before I spent the money on them I looked over comparable sizes from other manufactures and the decision was made to go with Apple. The other monitors are flimsy and cheaply made. They may cost 2/3 less but you get what you play for.

    These are sturdy solid pieces of equipment that are well thought out by the Engineers. Yet the pieces come together as a seamless work of art. The design clearly illustrates a unity between the Engineering, Marketing, and Support teams.

    I would highly recommend them. Its clear that Apple innovates while the competitors copy and mass produces. My wife's brandnew laptop from work is just as large and bulky as they had been 10 years ago just as an example. Come on.

    20 of 26 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing image quality and size

    • Written by from Osasco

    I confess I was very worried after seeing some of the reviews here. Not enought power to use the wired keyboard? Sound not good enough? Wow, those were some serious issues pointed out by very angry users. But then I tested it out on the store and everything ran smoothly. The wired keyboard, sound is great (not like some home theater or anything, but hey - it's a monitor. C'mon).

    So I bought and I'm using it to work with my MBP with video and imaging, and til now it is perfect. I highly recommend it to anyone willing to see everything in crisp, sharp detail of their work. Not to mention gaming! Left 4 Dead 2 looks freaking amazing!! :P

    26 of 38 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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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Eventually Bought two for my 15" MBP

    • Written by from Saint Louis

    I run a 2,2 GHz i7 MacBook Pro with 16 GB of RAM. I has issues with my earlier "LED Cinema Display" (that is, the non-Thunderbolt stye) that caused problems after upgrading my laptop - the display would blank out every hour or two. I gave the display to a colleague of mine as part of an in-house troubleshooting process. We could not replicate the problem on his laptop (non-Thunderbolt vintage), but in the meantime, he fell in love with the display. I subsequently bought the Thunderbolt LED display at my local Apple Store with the understanding "if problems continue, return it." Well, the problems went away, and a month laster, I bought a second Thunderbolt display, and daisy chained it off of the first. What a workspace! Beautiful color accuracy, fast, and plug and play. And my colleague loves my old LED Cinema Display on his MacBook Pro.

    I did discover that when daisy chaining, you must use an external Thunderbolt cable (you can not use the dongle cable that would normally plug in to your laptop).

    This is a fantastic setup! Not cheap, but works great. All of my external connectivity is through one cable!

    14 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    TBD, Another Excellent Apple Product!!!

    • Written by from Brunswick

    Display works great turning my 15" late 2011 MBP into a wonderful desktop workstation.

    I have had the display for about a month now and love it. I have not experienced any of the issues that I have seen discussed in other reviews, such as the USB ports not working correctly or issues waking up my MBP. I did however experience the screen blacking out a few times within a two day period where the screen turned off an on in a split second sequence which was mentioned by several users as an issue on another Mac forum, but after doing some further investigating, I found my Thunderbolt cable was a bit loose and this seemed to fix the issue which has not occurred again.

    I use an Apple wired keyboard, which is left plugged into one of the USB ports on the back of the display along with a wireless Trackpad and simply hit the space bar to wake the MBP up when it is in sleep mode and connected via Thunderbolt.

    I usually use the display with my MBP in clamshell mode in a Bookarc, and love the graphics of the TBD. I have also used the TBD with my MacBook Pro open as a second screen and think the design is fantastic and simple to adjust depending on the physical location of each screen.

    Another great product!!! Two thumbs up!!!

    20 of 27 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Amazing

    • Written by from Austin

    Definitely deserves 5 stars. I think the average rating on this product is being weighed down by people giving it 1 star because they didn't bother reading the product description, or even the title. This is a thunderbolt display, meaning you must have a thunderbolt connection. I don't understand the confusion, but this has been getting many 1 star reviews for that reason.

    Besides that, this display is amazing. It is crisp, sharp, and very bright. Games and videos just look great. And the screen real-estate allows you to multitask very easily as well. I'll never be able to go back to anything smaller. Surprisingly, the speakers give off amazing sound. There are 2 speakers, and a one inch subwoofer inside that are great for casual listening.

    Overall, this display is incomparable with any other. If you look for any other monitor with thunderbolt connection, similar speakers, or similar pixel count, you'll find that $999 is a great deal. Definitely worth the money. I highly recommend you go to an apple store and try it out if you have any doubts about purchasing.

    26 of 39 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Awesome!

    • Written by from Calgary

    I just brought this Thunderbolt monitor home to pair it up to the MBA and the setup is just awesome. The docking features are great where I can hook all my accessories to while keeping a really clean desktop. It is so clean, I am actually using it on my kitchen bar since that is where I spend most of my time.

    It is well worth the price since if you look at comparable spec monitors, they cost just as much or even more than this unit. Samsung will be bringing a 27" with similar specs out in 2012 but it will be $200 more. Totally happy with this purchase and I am a converted former Sony fan.

    15 of 17 people found this useful

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